Père Marquette State Park

A 23 mile slow cruise landed us at Pere Marquette State Park today. Pere Marquette was a missionary and an early European explorer here in 1673. This park has a Marina basin and nice floating docks with power pedestals but the basin has silted in and it doesn’t look like the power works anymore. The river is wide here so we just dropped anchor outside and kayak in. This park has big grassy areas along the river. Moki and I played with his soccer ball here. Across Route 100 is where the majority of the park lies. There’s a lodge, conference center, some cabins and miles of hiking trails. Not much for interpretative signage outside (there is a welcome center) but the website indicates archeological evidence suggests at least six Native American tribes lived here and there are several burial grounds. The park was purchased by the state in 1932 and the buildings were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. This afternoon Moki and I hiked three trails. Very pretty forest trails.Read more