Sixty Lakes Area
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Enjoy Roger’s Donuts, Alward’s Bacon, & Sixty Lakes Area | Iosco County

About 35 minutes west of Oscoda, near Lake Huron, you’ll find the community of Hale within Plainfield Township, Michigan. Despite its small size, Hale offers a lot of great opportunities to enjoy delicious food and recreational activities.

In fact, there are numerous streams, ponds, and lakes in the surrounding area that you’ll want to explore during your Michigan day trip to this region.

Rogers Of Hale

Where to Shop & Play in Hale Michigan

During your Hale visit, you must stop by Roger’s Family Foods, formerly Kocher’s Market, for scratch-made doughnuts. Even before the ownership changed, this grocery store was famous for its fresh bakery items, and Roger’s continues that tradition. Also, you can get everything that you need for a picnic before you leave town.

Another shop that you shouldn’t pass is Alward’s Market. For more than 75 years, the company has been using secret wood-smoking techniques that set its bacon and ham products apart from others. It makes a wide selection of jerky, sausages, and brats. The best part is that all of them are made at the store. You can’t get any fresher than that! Alward’s has a variety of specialty items too — jam, jelly, marmalade, cheese, relish, and salsa.

If you’re in Hale near the end of July, check out the Iosco County Fair. It has been offering family fun for all ages since 1944 — agricultural and livestock competitions, grandstand events, food and merchandise vendors, live entertainment, and children’s games and activities.

Michigan’s Sixty Lakes Area

Traveling to the west of Hale, you’ll enter the Sixty Lakes area. This is where you’ll find — you guessed it — dozens of bodies of water. Some of the lakes in the area include:

  • Loon Lake
  • Long Lake
  • Au Sable Lake
  • Sage Lake
  • Rifle Lake

At Loon Lake, you’ll find Loon Lake Park, which is 1.19 acres and has a swimming beach and picnic area. Further west, you’ll come to Rifle River Recreation Area.

This wilderness park has three ponds, seven lakes, and 7 miles of streams. There are 14 miles of mountain biking and hiking trails and a load of other activities — fishing, paddleboating, picnicking, swimming, metal detecting, wildlife watching, and camping. You can even go cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, and camping during the winter.

If you have pets, you can take them with you too. Just bear in mind that pets can’t go on the beaches or in buildings, and you must keep them on 6-foot leashes and clean up after them.

Alwards Market

Best Restaurants in Hale, MI

To keep up your energy while you explore, there are several restaurants in the Hale area. The Victorian Cafe in downtown serves panini sandwiches, gourmet coffee, and ice cream. You can get brick oven-baked pizza at Mikey’s Pizzeria Hale, while Blue Waters Cafe also serves homemade pizza in addition to sandwiches, burgers, entrees, and all-day breakfast.

Near Sage Lake, Crusins Cones & Coneys serves burgers, coneys, hot dogs, pizza, fresh fries, ice cream, and more. For a traditional pub dining experience, grab a bite at The Cedar Tavern & Grill near the Rifle River Recreation Area.

More Things to Do Near Hale MI

Also from Hale, you can drive the River Road National Forest Scenic Byway toward Oscoda. Just follow the M-65 as it turns into River Road. Along the way, you’ll come across several scenic stops.

The Rollways Day Use area is next to the Rollways Campground and has a short, half-mile path that leads to the Westgate Scenic Overlook, which has a beautiful view of Au Sable River. A little farther along, Iargo Springs has a panoramic view of the river.

Then, stop by the Huron-Manistee National Forests Lumberman’s Monument Visitor Center to learn about the area’s lumbering past and to see the 14-foot monument on the riverbank. Another excellent stop along the scenic byway is Foote Pond Overlook, which offers a fantastic view of Foote Pond from atop high sand bluffs.

Other Nearby Campgrounds in Hale & Sixty Lakes

The Rifle River Recreation Area and Rollways Campground aren’t the only places where you can go camping in the Hale and Sixty Lakes areas. Check out these places too:

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Photos of Hale & Sixty Lakes Area

2 Comments

  1. While Roger’s came to there senses and hire the Kocher’s bakers back after letting them go when they bought out Kocher’s, they only did so after another better bakery opened up. Dad’s Place, in the old Harry’s Coneys building has much better doughnuts. If you want some of Dad’s Place doughnuts, you have to get there early as they sell out early. Roger’s doughnuts are pretty good if you don’t make it in time to Dad’s Place now that they brought back the old Kocher’s bakers. I guess when they were the only fresh doughnuts shop in town it was ok to sell over baked doughnuts so good for Dad’s place to for forcing Roger’s hire the good bakers back so we have good doughnuts even when we can’t get to Dad’s Place in time to get their delicious doughnuts!

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