Besser Natural Preserve, Michigan, United States

5John 5:00 PM Aug 5, 2018

Historical site in Presque Isle
In addition to being a lumbering and fishing community, Bell later became a focus of exploring and fun. Kamp Kairphree, a summer camp for young women developed by the University of Michigan's first official photographer and his wife, operated in Bell from 1922-1927. It was then relocated to Lake Charlevoix. The fireplace along the Besser Natural Area is all that remains from the Kamp Kairphree lodge. For more information, see the book Grand Lake and Presque Isle.

4KMF 5:00 PM Sep 18, 2017

Beautiful Besser Natural Preserve
We hiked today from Rockport State Park and ended at Besser Natural Preserve. We first went out on the beach which had some sand but a lot of rocks (not the best for swimming had it been warm enough). From there, we took the trail that is about 1.5 miles and basically runs in a circle inside the preserve. The virgin forest was beautiful. It is clear that the area has never been logged just by looking at the standing trees. We were able to clearly see from trees that were cut to remove them from blocking the trail what the heart of a white pine looks like. Additionally, we were looking at a downed tree when I discovered a chimney standing by itself. We went to examine the area and learned the chimney was part of a house that was once lived in by a quarry worker from decades gone by. We also found another area where there had been other housing at one time and discovered an old safe, saw a sand dune type area as well as a small lake that appears to have formed right next to Lake Huron. There are numerous opportunities to go out on the beach when along the east side of the trail. There is a cemetery inside the preserve that we learned of from a friend who has lived in the area all his life, and we will look for it next time we are out at the preserve (we were given some information on where to find the cemetery). There are a number of trails that go through the preserve as well as shoot out off the main trail and when we have more time, we will explore more. The preserve is small and getting lost was not a concern for us. We were at the preserve for about 1.5 hours.