Tawas Point State Park

Tawas Point State Park, offering two miles of sandy beach, separates Tawas Bay from Lake Huron.

Tawas Point State Park is a sandy peninsula separating Tawas Bay from Lake Huron. It offers swimming from a two-mile beach, boating, sailing and fishing.

Many people visit the park to see the Tawas Point Lighthouse, which stands 70 feet above Tawas Bay and is operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The lighthouse has been in continuous operation since 1876.

The park has 193 campsites, eight are wheelchair-accessible. The campground closes Nov. 5 and opens the second weekend in April. The mini cabins are open year-round, but are only accessible by hiking, snowshoeing, or skiing when the campground is closed.

Birdwatchers come to see the resident endangered piping plovers, as well as loons, horned grebes, coots, double-crested cormorants, blackbellied plovers and many other species.

Brochures help naturalists identify vegetation and other natural features along a 1.5-mile trail around the point.

Fishermen take steelhead, perch, walleye, trout, salmon, smelt and bass from the lake. A boat launch is available just outside the park.

Paddlers use the park as a base for canoeing on the nearby AuSable River, the location of the longest and most demanding canoe marathon in the country.

The park also has the Lumbermen's Monument Auto Tour, which begins at the lighthouse and travels past areas of historical and natural interest in and outside the park.