North of the road, south of the lake, and sandwiched between Beach No. 9 (Pine Tree) on the west and Sunset Point on the east, there’s a quiet, undeveloped area of mostly meadow that we call (rather arbitrarily and unimaginatively) Pine Tree Meadows. Beach, dune, lake views, meadow/grassland, and scattered brush and pine and other trees. No infrastructure other than a dirt utility road.

Seasonally, good for birding, excellent for insects – esp. butterflies and dragonflies. But beware of ticks.

For access, park at Pine Tree or Sunset Point and follow the dirt road east or west, respectively. Alternatively, park at the west end of Pine Tree Trail, and follow the informal trail on the other side of the road:

The trail peters out quickly. Wander the meadow along the tree line, or turn north towards the lake to quickly find the utility road. A nice birding or ‘insect viewing’ (insecting?) loop is to parallel the park road along the tree line, cut over towards the dunes/beach, and parallel the dunes/beach back to your starting point.

View west:

View west/northwest from different location:

View north towards the lake. The vague, parallel line in the picture below is the dirt utility road:

Lake view:

Utility road, looking east towards Sunset Point parking area:

Utility road, looking west towards Beach No. 9:

Dune and beach area, looking east:

Dune and beach area, looking west: