A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and dynamic speaker. 

She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has authored three books about these adventures: 

A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach  [A Heartland Indie Bestseller]

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk   [Winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award] 

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure  [Long-listed for the Chautauqua Prize]

 

To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/

Today is the seventh anniversary of my hike around Lake Michigan. 

I began that journey on Chicago's Navy Pier on a cool March day. 

1,019 miles later, I walked back into Chicago completing my loop around my favorite place.

I have completed a trio of Great Lakes Adventures now. I learned so much on these journeys. Our Great Lakes are vast inland seas that we all should cherish and protect.

Books about my three adventures are available wherever books are sold. The first two adventures are now available as audiobooks.

Our Great Lakes are waters vital to us all.

Post Viewed Most in 2011

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and Great Lakes speaker. She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has written three books about the Great Lakes [A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach *a Heartland Indie Bestseller*, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk *winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award*, and A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure]. To learn more about her work, or to book her as a speaker, go to http://LakeTrek.com

My blog has now surpassed 150,000 page views. Here is the post with the most views in 2011:

The Case Against Mylar Balloons

I have spent the month of October on the shores of Lake Michigan near the lovely town of South Haven, Michigan. It has been a wonderful time to reconnect with my favorite place while preparing for my next 1000-mile hike.

Every day, I have hiked a couple of miles in one direction, then returned to my cottage retracing my steps. And every day as I returned, I picked up trash along the shoreline.

Day after day I have picked up plastic bottles, aluminum cans and collapsed juice pouches.

The big surprise in lakeshore trash is the number of mylar balloons I have found. These festive inflatables take FOREVER to degrade. Some, like the one to the left, has all of the color worn off by wind and waves, but it is still intact. These three (below) were tied together and washed up together.











This photo is ONE DAY'S gathering of trash.


Sure, there is the expected plastic and aluminum...













and there were FIVE mylar balloons just this one day.

Oh no...








Et tu, SpongeBob?









Et tu?

Post Most Viewed in 2010

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and Great Lakes speaker. She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has written three books about the Great Lakes [A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach *a Heartland Indie Bestseller*, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk *winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award*, and A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure]. To learn more about her work, or to book her as a speaker, go to http://LakeTrek.com

Thank you all for reading my blog. It has now surpassed 150,000 page views!

Here is the most viewed post from 2010:

Lake Michigan Rocks!

I've always been a rock hound, and my Lake Trek gave me a golden opportunity to collect rocks from the entire shoreline of Lake Michigan.

The series of four 'waves' of glaciers that formed our Great Lakes dragged rocks from as far away as within the Arctic Circle and deposited them in our lake. You won't find this wide a variety of color and mineral composition anywhere else in the world.

In the video below, I've placed my collection of Lake Michigan rocks on a map of the lake.

Post Viewed Most in 2012

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and Great Lakes speaker. She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has written three books about the Great Lakes [A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach *a Heartland Indie Bestseller*, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk *winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award*, and A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure]. To learn more about her work, or to book her as a speaker, go to http://LakeTrek.com

Thank you all for reading my blog. It has now surpassed 150,000 page views!

Our fascination with Great Lakes shipwrecks made this the 
post with the most views in 2012:


Shipwrecked!

Along the Great Lakes shoreline there is evidence of how dangerous these vast inland seas could become in a storm.

Shipwreck on North Manitou Island

Even with the guiding lights along the shoreline, many ships were lost. The Manitou Passage between the Manitou Islands and the shoreline of Michigan's Lower Peninsula was especially treacherous.

Portion of shipwreck in water near North Manitou Island

One clue that a ship (specifically, a steamer that burned coal) has gone down is the presence of coal washing up on land. Along the NW corner of North Manitou Island, I came across handfuls of coal mixed with zebra mussel shells.

This wreck was recently exposed near Sleeping Bear Dune