Within walking distances of Suttons Bay restaurants and shops on Main Street is your escape from the madness of mid-summer in this popular tourist town. The Leelanau Conservancy’s newest preserve is Stites Natural Area, an ecological gem located only a half mile up the road from M-22.

Located in the village, so close to Suttons Bay Schools that the high school cross-country team trains there, Stites offers spectacular ridgeline views, century-old hardwoods and rich fall colors. In the spring, the forest comes alive with wildflowers, including trillium and yellow and pink lady’s slippers.

Stites is so new the preserve opened with only a limited trail, but a more extensive system is in the planning stages with segments appearing as soon as 2021.

The narrow, winding ridgelines within the preserve, the result of glacial activity, will provide the terrain for an interesting trail system, including views in late fall and winter that stretch all the way to Old Mission Peninsula.