Glen Lake Overlook

Glen Lake Overlook is a roadside viewpoint at Stop 2 on the one-way Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, above Big and Little Glen Lakes. Stay for a few minutes if you're taking the loop: these inland lakes are a change from the Lake Michigan dune views, and you can take in both from the pull-off without a hike.

Little Glen is closest to the overlook; Big Glen lies beyond the Narrows bridge. Their depths differ sharply: Big Glen reaches 130 feet, while Little Glen is about 12 feet deep. That contrast gives the lakes noticeably different blue tones. For a photo, frame both stretches of water with the bridge between them; the treetops make a natural foreground.

Look to the left of Little Glen for Alligator Hill. Its outline resembles an alligator, with the snout near the bridge. The hill is more than a silhouette: sand, gravel and other material carried by glacial meltwater built it up.

Glaciers carved the Glen Lakes during the Ice Age. After the ice retreated, sand built a bar between Glen Lake and Lake Michigan. Glen Arbor and D.H. Day Campground now sit on that strip of land, while the high debris hills around the lakes record meltwater flowing off the glaciers.

Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is a one-way, 7.4-mile loop with 12 numbered stops; allowing about two hours gives you time to stop at all of them. An entrance pass is required. Vehicle access generally runs from late May through late October; the drive closes to cars in winter and spring but stays open for walk-in recreation. The road has a 20 mph limit, no trailers, and a 13-foot-6-inch vehicle-clearance limit. Leashed pets are allowed on the drive.