Three nights around one Sears home: a lake morning on Big Lake, a river morning on the Muskegon, and the short drive to Evart.
Big Lake sits a couple of miles south of the US-10 junction, eighty-five feet deep down its middle, and it is the reason to build a weekend around Sears instead of driving through it. Two hundred and eighteen acres of water. A county park on the east shore — a swimming beach, a boat launch, a place to put the day. That is the anchor. Everything else here is a short drive off it.
This is a three-night plan, Friday to Monday, built for a family — kids who want water, at least one adult who wants coffee before anyone else is up. It runs off one of our Michigan A-frame rentals, Rivers Edge Retreat, which puts you near the lake and near the road that reaches Evart in about ten minutes. Here is how the three days go.
Friday: get in, get wet
Arrive, unload, leave the bags. Drive to Crittenden Park at 3651 50th Avenue, on the east shore of Big Lake. The county keeps a beach here, a marked swimming area, a playground, and rowboat and paddleboat rentals when the season is running. A DNR launch sits right beside the park if you towed a boat north. The water warms slowly in a lake this deep, so the shallows off the beach are where the kids will stay. And that is fine.
Swim until the light goes. Then cook at the house — the first night is not the night to hunt for a table. Sears runs to a post office and a gas station, and our Where to eat in Sears notes lay out the radius, but tonight the grill at Michigan waterfront rentals, Rivers Edge Retreat, is the whole plan.
Saturday: the lake morning
This is the day the lake earns its keep. Coffee early, out on the water before the wind comes up. Big Lake holds bluegill and bass, and the DNR lists it among the county’s fishable inland lakes, so a cheap rod and a bucket of worms off the Crittenden dock will keep a seven-year-old busy for two hours. Rent a paddleboat if you didn’t bring one. Swim again after.
By early afternoon, dry off and drive west. Evart is about six miles down US-10 — ten minutes, less if the light at Main cooperates. Aim for Riverside Park in the southeast corner of town, seventeen acres along the Muskegon River, with a splash pad, a walking trail on the bank, ball fields, and two playgrounds. The splash pad is the reason the kids will forget they spent the morning in a lake. There is a boat ramp here too, which matters for tomorrow.
Dinner in Evart. Sixth & Main, at 202 North Main Street, runs burgers and pizza and cold drinks, open Saturday from 11:30 in the morning until 11 at night. Closed Monday and Tuesday, so Saturday is the night to use it. Walk the block afterward — the downtown made the National Register of Historic Places in August 2025, and the storefronts are the reason.
Sunday: the river morning
Eat first. The Lamplighter Cafe at 313 West 7th Street opens at seven on weekdays and eight on Sunday, and the Farmers omelet is the thing to order before a morning on moving water. Load up. You will burn it off.
Then the Muskegon. Evart is a launch town — the Riverside Park ramp puts you straight on the river, and J & J’s River Run rents kayaks, canoes, rafts, and tubes and shuttles you back to your car. The full run from Evart down to Big Rapids covers roughly twenty-five miles and eats a whole day at a steady paddle. With kids, skip that. Take the short float instead, a couple of hours on flat water, and let the current do the work while somebody trails a hand over the side.
Back at the house by mid-afternoon. One more swim at Crittenden if the beach is calling, the porch if it isn’t. The lake will be warmer than it was Friday. Deep water takes its time, then holds it.
Monday: out slow
Coffee on the porch. A last hour at the beach before checkout if the drive home is short, the road otherwise. Nobody wants the last morning to be a scramble, so pack Sunday night and leave Monday for the water.
The plan, tightened
Book Rivers Edge Retreat for a Friday-to-Monday stretch — three nights is the length that lets you have a lake morning and a river morning and still leave a day for doing nothing. Come in summer. Big Lake needs July and August to reach a temperature a kid will tolerate, the splash pad runs warm-season only, and the river is friendliest when the flow is down. The drives are the easy part — Crittenden Park is minutes from the house, Evart is ten, and the whole weekend fits inside a fifteen-mile circle.
Everything above is on Sears. The lake, the river, the two tables in Evart worth the drive.
Bring the worms and the sunscreen. Bring the dry shoes too. The rest is water.