Gillette Sand Dune Visitor Center in Grand Haven, Ottawa County, United States | Dune

The Gillette Sand Dune Visitor Center, located in P.J. Hoffmaster State Park Grand Haven, is nestled among one of the nation's most impressive Dune systems. Perched at the top of a large sand Dune surrounded by a pristine wooded back-Dune, the center features state-of-the-art exhibits to tell Michigan's unique sand Dune story.

In the center's main exhibit hall, "Michigan Coastal Sand Dunes Like Nowhere Else on Earth" features:

* Dioramas that depict the four Dune habitats in all seasons and include models of the animals and plants that live there.

* An animation station where visitors can see how sand Dunes are formed.

* An interactive audio/video station that shows the ant lion at work and offers a play-by-play account of its hunting skill.

* An interactive computer station that features other sand Dune parks in Michigan.

The Gillette Sand Dune Visitor Center Grand Haven also includes a classroom with seasonal live animal displays and an auditorium where an audiovisual presentation orients visitors to the park and its surrounding sand Dunes. Visitors are encouraged to venture outdoors to experience first-hand the park's beautiful scenery. Within easy access from the visitor center, the half-mile Lake Michigan Trail goes up and over the park's sheltered backDune forest and leads visitors out into a grassy foreDune with a sweeping view of the beach and Lake Michigan below.

The first portion of this trail, known as the Sandy McBeath Trail, is universally accessible, thus allowing all visitors to experience the solitude of the sheltered backDune, and giving them an opportunity see the spring and summer wildflowers and hear the diversity of singing birds.

At the end of the McBeath Trail, stairs and a short path lead to the popular Dune Climb Stairway. This 193-step structure, perched on top of one of the park's largest parabolic Dunes, has lower and upper observation decks to give visitors a sweeping view of Lake Michigan and the surrounding sand Dunes from the Gillette Sand Dune Visitor Center.