Parking
Use the large paved lot just after turning off M-109 and before the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive ranger booth. A vault toilet is listed at the trailhead; a national lakeshore pass is required.
Overview
About Shauger Hill Trail
Why go
- Quiet, shaded hardwood forest
- Spring wildflowers and fall color
Heads up
- No Lake Michigan overlook or water access
- Four road crossings and rolling hills
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Sleeping Bear Dunes map
Full mapElevation830–1,053 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Sleeping Bear Dunes alerts
- ClosureManitou Islands closed during dock constructionNorth and South Manitou Islands have major access and facility closures during dock construction; the passenger ferry will not operate in 2026.Official details
- CautionHunters may be present during fall seasonsHunters may be present in Sleeping Bear Dunes while fall hunting seasons overlap with visitor use. - Several Michigan hunting seasons overlap and begin in mid-September.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Sleeping Bear Dunes Tour Guide
Your drive to Shauger Hill Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Sleeping Bear Dunes audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Shauger Hill: Woods Instead of Lake Views0:00 / 0:23
“Shauger Hill's trailhead is coming up near the entrance to Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. Choose this for shaded beech-maple woods and spring wildflowers, rather than a lake view.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Sleeping Bear Dunes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Windy Moraine: Woods and an Old Apple Tree
- Pierce Stocking Covered Bridge: The Porcupine Problem
- Cottonwoods Connected Under the Sand
- North Bar Lake Overlook: A Picnic Above the Water
- 73 audio storiesacross Sleeping Bear Dunes’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Piping Plover, Bald Eagle, White-tailed Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 34 trails, 89 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Shauger Hill Trail
A shady woods walkShauger Hill Trail is an approximately 2.
Shauger Hill Trail is an approximately 2.4-mile loop through the hilly forest near the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive entrance. It's a good pick for shade, beech-maple woods, and seasonal flowers, not for a Lake Michigan view: the loop reaches neither the water nor an overlook. Allow about an hour to an hour and a quarter. The rolling ground and short climbs make it an easy-to-moderate walk rather than a flat stroll.
Follow the loopThe loop is generally walked clockwise.
The loop is generally walked clockwise. From the parking lot, cross paved Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive and unpaved Shauger Hill Road, then climb into the woods. The trail rises between wooded dunes, dips and climbs again, then descends more gently toward the second paved crossing. You'll cross each road twice. At the signed junction with the Scenic Drive Ski Trail, take the east/right-hand branch to stay on the hiking loop; the other branch climbs toward the scenic drive near North Bar Overlook.
Beech, maple and spring flowersAbout a third of a mile into the clockwise walk, look for a large stand of mature beech.
About a third of a mile into the clockwise walk, look for a large stand of mature beech. The route winds through beech-maple hardwood forest, with birches in small clearings and striped, red and sugar maples. Spring wildflowers are easiest to see before the canopy fills in, and black raspberry bushes grow near the start. The woods are especially colorful in fall.
Start at the scenic-drive entranceThe large paved lot is just after turning off M-109 and before the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive…
The large paved lot is just after turning off M-109 and before the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive ranger booth. There is a vault toilet at the trailhead, and a national lakeshore pass is required for trail use. No water source is listed at the lot or along the loop. Pets must be leashed when allowed, but are prohibited on this trail from December 1 through March 31. A separate 1.5-mile walk along unpaved Shauger Hill Road leads toward North Bar Lake and Lake Michigan; it is not part of this loop.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Sleeping Bear Dunes
27 sightingsPiping PloverMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
70 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
56 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
68 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
58 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
31 sightingsLoonMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Sleeping Bear Dunes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
