Did You Know...

...there are over 150 invasive species in the Great Lakes. These range from fish like the alewife, to plants like the purple loosestrife, to mussels like the zebra and quagga.


...zebra mussels are native to the lakes in southeast Russia. They have been transported to the Great Lakes in the ballast water of ships.



...zebra mussels can produce up to 1 million eggs a year. All of the white in the photo here is from dead zebra mussel shells both in the water and piled up in a long windrow. This was just south of Cross Village, Michigan.


















This photo shows a mixture of zebra and snail shells along with stones from the shore of Lake Michigan.

Revisiting the Lake Trek: Segment 6

This segment spanned the 147 miles between Suttons Bay and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It included both the Grand Traverse and Little Traverse Bays, and Fisherman's Island State Park and Wilderness State Park.

I reached the half way point of the trek on this segment, reaching 500 miles within sight of the Mighty Mac Bridge.

Some of the most interesting geology was on this segment in Antrim County where there is an enormous deposit of shale. I was joined along part of this county by Gerry and her two fun dogs, Miss Sadie and the Cowboy.

Then, my college friend, Rick, joined me for a few hours along Little Traverse Bay.

Near Cross Village, I saw the biggest collection of zebra mussel shells tossed up on the beach and bleached almost completely white by the sun.

Note: You may want to press the 'play' button, then pause it and let it completely load before resuming play. This will allow it to play smoothly.

You can find all videos from the Lake Trek on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/lniewenhuis

Walk with me:

Segment 6, Day 7 Harbor Springs->Cross Village 20 miles

High of 76 degrees.

I picked up the trek on M119 and walked along the road until I found an access point to the shoreline. The beach was intermittently rocky, then sandy, then marshy all the way to Cross Village. I had thought that when the shoreline was no longer on Little Traverse Bay, that it would revert to mostly sand, but this was not the case. There were stretches of huge boulders and very shallow water reaching out into the lake.

I came across a berm of zebra mussel shells deposited on the shoreline by the waves that stretched for probably 50 feet and was two feet high by four feet deep. I had never seen so many shells in one place. There were also some areas with small, black snail shells scattered on the beach.

It was a long stretch of beach to walk, especially with the rocks and marshy areas. On such a gorgeous day, though, it was wonderful to be out on the mostly deserted beach with the ducks and deer.

Phil met me in Cross Village, and we had a wonderful Polish dinner at Legs Inn (photos below).