Petoskey State Park

Petoskey State Park is about six miles north of the city on the shore of Little Traverse Bay, reached via US-31. The park has two miles of beach that is the best Petoskey stone hunting ground in the area — the gravel shore here is particularly rich in fossils, especially after storms churn up the bottom and deposit fresh material on the beach. A Michigan Recreation Passport (or day pass) is required for entry.

The park also has a dune section with a short trail through forested sand dunes and good views over the bay from the ridgeline. Camping is available with sites that book up fast in summer and need reservations months in advance. Outside of peak season the park is much quieter and the stone hunting is actually better — fewer people ahead of you on the beach.

things to do sight
A story
The coral reef that produced Petoskey stones was deposited around 350 million years ago, when Michigan lay near the equator in a warm shallow sea. The creatures that built it were colonial organisms of the same type as modern brain coral. The glaciers of the Ice Age broke up the ancient reef and spread the fossils across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, concentrating them especially along the shorelines of Lake Michigan and Little Traverse Bay.