But, for her, that really isn’t the point — even on beachcombing days when she finds nothing.

“If you practice mindfulness, it gives you something to focus on,” the retiree says.

But with time, there are treasures to be found.

A hag stone, which is a rock that includes a naturally occurring hole is a common find on some beaches.

A small, rounded shard of clear glass appears, no bigger than a fingernail, then, later, a not-so-common nugget of dark brown glass. And then a tiny Petoskey.

“I get a nice little ‘ding!’ like I’m getting $3 back from a slot machine,” she says, noting the irony: When she comes home, they’ll end up in jars. Glass makes pretty treasures, but it’s still a form of trash.

She thinks of meeting up with girlfriends to make one of the innumerable crafts that are out there for beach-found treasures. She’d like a simple, framed mosaic of a frog. The North American Sea Glass Association, an educational group just for beach glass, and Beachcombing Magazine are testaments to the range of ideas for collecting, artwork and even ethics.

What’s permitted

All beaches allow, and urge, you to remove true trash, like plastics, but not all parks let you remove the many tiny treasures, like fossilized bits of coral, among others.

Indiana Dunes National Park and Indiana Dunes State Park ban the removal of anything from the beach except for trash. The same goes for all of Indiana’s state parks. It stems from their missions to preserve natural and historical resources.

Indiana Dunes National Park allows you to take smoothened bits of glass because they’re considered trash, ranger/spokesman Bruce Rowe says. But Indiana state parks don’t allow taking the glass, Indiana Dunes State Park Naturalist Marie Laudeman says. Although some may be new glass and worthless, she says, some could be a century old and considered historical. (Note: Be mindful of boundaries when crossing between the state and national parks.)

Trash picking has its rewards. Volunteers once discovered a nesting site for endangered turtles in the state park.

Warren Dunes and other Michigan state-owned beaches limit you to extracting no more than 25 pounds of stones per person in a year. But Michigan state parks don’t allow you to take arrowheads or bits of pottery. Latus points out that if anything looks like it’s a Native American artifact or of cultural significance, you should either leave it or bring it to the park headquarters’ office. Staff can get the item to a state archaeology expert to examine.

Likewise, at Indiana Dunes State Park, you can bring your curious finds to the nature center where she or another naturalist could identify it — and perhaps add it to the center’s collection. Gathering items is OK, she says, “as long as it doesn’t leave the park.”

Likewise, the busy Facebook group Michigan Rockhounds, with 85,000 followers, is great for identifying what a precious find is. Folks post photos of their finds, and others quickly chime in with ID’s.

Both the Indiana Dunes national and state parks host ranger-led beach hikes to look for and leave treasures.

What to find

Latus, a retired math, physics and chemistry teacher who’s been an explorer guide at Warren Dunes for almost 30 years, says, “These are all little clues to the history of Michigan.”

• Fossils: These include crinoids (column-like pieces that are also called Indian beads), various kinds of coral (some look like honeycombs or chains) and brachiopods.
• Petoskeys: These eagerly-sought stones, made of fossilized coral, are more common along northern Lake Michigan but can still be found on southern shores. The corals’ five- and six-sided patterns are best noticed when wet.
• Slag: This is a product of steel production and smelting, having come from Indiana mills as well as steamships that have crossed the lake.
• Hagstones: These are any stone that has a naturally occurring hole through it. Folklore says they have protective powers.
• Fulgurites: This is very rarely found, created when lightning strikes and melts the sand into a crusty-looking tube or clump. Examples of this can be seen in the Indiana Dunes State Park’s nature center.
• Driftwood: Spring and fall is best for this, Schrader says.
• Toys: Schrader once found a doll face, made of china, which someone on Facebook identified as being a “Frozen Charlotte” doll from the Victorian era a century ago.