July 19, 2024

By Tim Briese

Clark and Lewis Peaks: 6.6 miles, 3400’ elevation gain, 7:00 roundtrip time

Bull Mt.: 0.2 miles, 15 minutes roundtrip

Brian and I left Walden first thing in the morning and drove a few miles to the North Michigan Creek Reservoir entrance to State Forest State Park. We paid the $10 entrance fee at a kiosk and proceeded on a series of roads toward the Jewel Lake Trailhead. The roads were good except for the last mile and a half which was 4WD. We drove part way up this rugged road and parked off to the side when it got too rough to suit us and just walked the last 0.6 miles up the road to the trailhead. It was a pleasant and scenic hike on a good trail up to Jewel Lake.

on the trail to jewel lake (photo by brian schultz)

clark peak is in the distance to the right

at jewel lake, with lewis peak above to the right.  clark is off the photo at the far right.

From the lake we bushwhacked up a fairly steep grassy slope toward the saddle between Clark and Lewis and continued up to the summit of Clark Peak, gaining 1700 feet of elevation from the lake.

the grassy slope to the saddle, with clark's summit to the right

me on the summit of clark peak (photo by brian schultz)

a nice view to the north from clark.  lewis is at the far left.

The weather was holding okay but rain showers were visible in the distance. We left the summit and hiked down to the saddle and climbed the slope to Lewis.

view of lewis from the saddle

brian coming up the slope approaching lewis' summit, with clark peak beyond

view of jewel lake from near the summit of lewis

After a short stay on top we descended back down to the lake and watched a marmot nearby as we took a break.

A handful of other hikers were at the lake now. The weather surprisingly cleared off and we enjoyed a sunny stroll back down to the truck. This proved to be only a respite from thunderstorms as menacing clouds soon began to form.

On our way out of the park we drove the Bull Mountain Road to its crest and made a short stroll over to the summit of Bull Mountain before heading back to Walden.

the summit of bull mountain