Rockport State Recreation Area

one perfectly bizarre little place

A few months ago, I came across an article from Detroit Free Press that had the words “eerie” and “state park” in the title and I was immediately fascinated. Turns out, Rockport State Recreation Area is a very cool little spot with a feel of its own.

My best friend came to visit for the weekend and we decided to jump in the car and see for ourselves if this park really lived up to its reputation. Some of the major selling points from the article included: abandoned quarry, sinkholes, and a pier you can jump off of into Lake Huron. What more could you ask for?

So, we got up around 7am, loaded up the car, and started the trek “up north” (as all Michiganders love to say). The drive from Detroit was easy and entertaining as we started to work our way through the small towns along the way. They were mostly charming, save for a display someone (?) set up on the side of the highway. Giant baby dolls posed standing, sitting, in child-size cars, you name it. Yeah, I don’t know. We definitely made sure to keep driving as we passed that unique display. There were teeny tiny motels and endless local dives. In mid-August, some of the leaves were already beginning to turn yellow.

The park, or “recreation area,” was off an unpaved road, its sign placed in front of some trees, not marking the entrance of the park. Persevering, we drove a little further down and hung a quick right. The small parking lot puts you right next to the abandoned quarry/rock pile, which conveniently overlooks the lake. We had planned on hiking a loop trail but found out a little too late that our phones did not have service at the park. The trails are minimally marked, if at all, which makes it fun and wild but also impossible to improvise if you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. We climbed up the giant rock pile and found a smaller trail to explore. The trail was disorienting and we were shocked when we found ourselves back at the rock pile after a mere twenty minutes. The trees were dense and it was hard to keep track of the twists and turns, let alone one’s general location in the world.

After realizing we did a circle, we scrapped the hiking plans and sat by the lake for a bit. We combed through the rocks, tossed some in the water, and saved a couple cool ones. That’s the other neat thing—you are allowed to take up to twenty five pounds of fossils. That is unhear

d of in any other state or national park I have ever visited. I’m really not sure what I picked up, but if anyone knows, please feel free to drop me a line.

After a few minutes spent feeling like little kids sitting on the ground, we got our bathing suits on in the car. This was a debacle in itself, as the parking lot was pretty full and we did not have the luxury of tinted windows. Anyway, we survived. There were a couple teens doing flips off the pier into the water, so we found our own little section to jump off. Peeking over some parts of the pier, it looked like impaling oneself on the wood sticking up out of the water was a possibility. We went for a more controlled approach, slipping into the lake from some rusted metal and concrete landings jutting out from the pier. The water was unbelievably clear and deep. We floated for a while and then packed it in.

There’s a lot we missed, including sink holes, bat caves, and by the sound of it, some pretty cool hiking. I think a return trip will be necessary.

If you ever go, the park is located in Alpena, MI, and Detroit Free Press offered some very useful directions at the end of their article, linked here: https://www.freep.com/story/travel/2016/08/06/michigans-strangest-park-rockport/87260930/