Magoon Creek Natural Area
Manistee, MI
Magoon Creek Natural Area sits on a bluff more than 150 feet above Lake Michigan just south of Manistee, with about 2,300 feet of shoreline below. Picnic tables and pavilions line the top, and a long stairway drops to the beach. Local rock hunters rate it the best stretch in the county.
Great stones and a quiet beach, but the stairway back up the bluff is steep.
How we score beachesCheck the creek mouth first. Stones collect where Magoon Creek meets the lake, especially after a north wind.
A small lot at the natural area off Red Apple Road.
A long stairway leads down the bluff to the sand; not suitable for wheelchairs or strollers.
Rock hunting peaks in spring and late fall after storms churn the shoreline. On clear summer evenings the bluff has a view north to the Manistee pier lighthouse.
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