Duck Lake State Park covers about 728 acres in Fruitland Township, Muskegon County, and is run by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources from 4733 North Scenic Drive in Whitehall. The DNR calls it a day-use park, and it sits on two bodies of water at once. Duck Lake is the inland one, running east from the shoreline. A shallow channel at its west end slips under the North Scenic Drive bridge and empties into Lake Michigan.

Getting the two sides straight matters here. The beach most people mean is on the Lake Michigan side, west of Scenic Drive, along the half mile of shoreline the park owns. The Duck Lake side holds the picnic area, the boating access site and a carry-in launch. Two parking lots serve the park, one per side, and a boardwalk runs under Scenic Drive to link them. The DNR states plainly that Duck Lake does not provide access to Lake Michigan, so the channel is for wading and looking, not for boats.

Both beaches are sand, and the strip at the channel mouth is mapped as sand as well. No lifeguard works here. Michigan state parks do not staff them at all, which the DNR says outright on its beach safety page, and the agency leans instead on buoyed swim areas and the Great Lakes flag warning system. Buoys go in seasonally and can be delayed by ice. When they are absent, the DNR does not treat the water as a designated swim area. Lake Michigan here is open shoreline with the currents that come with it.

Entry runs on the Recreation Passport rather than a gate fee. A Michigan-registered vehicle pays $15 for the year when the passport is bought at license plate renewal, or $29 for two years; motorcycles are $7. Out-of-state plates pay $42 annually or $12 for the day. Buying at the park adds a $5 convenience fee, and Duck Lake is one of the handful of parks with a self-serve kiosk for it. Day-use hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The park closes to motor vehicles in winter, though skis and snowmobiles can still get in.

Water quality in Muskegon County is handled by the county Environmental Health program together with Grand Valley State University's Annis Water Resources Institute. They sample 29 public beaches for E. coli through the high-use season and post next-day results to BeachGuard, the state beach monitoring database, which EGLE moved into its MiEnviro Portal. Whether this particular beach appears on that roster in a given year is worth checking on BeachGuard before a trip, since the sampled list changes.

The land came to the state through Boy Scout organizations and The Nature Conservancy, with Michigan taking possession in 1974. The old scout camp buildings were pulled out, the park was dedicated in 1988, and a new entrance was finished in 2005. Behind the shoreline the dunes climb into mature forest and pine plantation with pockets of open meadow between, enough cover that the DNR flags it as nesting and stopover habitat for Cerulean and hooded warblers. Seven miles of natural surface trail run through that. There is an accessible pavilion in the day-use area with picnic tables, charcoal grills and electrical service, bookable a year out through MiDNRReservations.com, plus a modern restroom that is not itself accessible. Kayak rentals operate in season. Dogs are allowed along the whole Lake Michigan shoreline and on Duck Lake.