Up North INDIES

 My final events for 2014 were "Up North," so I stopped in at several bookstores that will participate in the pre-release of my 

Great Lakes ISLAND book 

in May 2015.

All set up for my signing at M&E in Petoskey

Petoskey, MI

Horizon Books in TC

Traverse City decked the streets!

Brilliant Books, ready for holiday shoppers!

Glen Arbor's book shop

Watch for updates about the pre-release of my new book and see the growing list of participating bookstores HERE.

Tales from the Book Tour!

My name in lights!!

The book tour is taking me all over the Great Lakes region.

Earlier this week, I had two engagements on the same day!

There was an enthusiastic crowd at the Houghton Lake Public Library.  Houghton Lake is Michigan's largest inland lake and it (and the town) are named after Michigan's first geologist, 

Douglass Houghton.

Noontiders in Glen Arbor, Michigan

I also gave a lecture to a men's group, 

The Noontiders of Glen Arbor. 

Lecturing in Glen Arbor

Chatting with members of the Noontiders after giving my lecture

Flanked by Frank (L) and Peter (R) at Noontiders

I'm having a fantastic time on 

my book tour and 

I hope to see YOU along the way!

World Book Night

The Cottage Book Shop, Glen Arbor, MI

Giver Box of Books!

My book launch week overlapped with the time to pick-up books to distribute for World Book Night!

So, I chose my pick-up point to be The Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor where I had a book-signing event.

This way, I not only got to grab my books to distribute, but also got to meet other book-givers!

What is World Book Night, you ask?

Well...from their website:



"World Book Night U.S. is a celebration of books and reading held on April 23, when 25,000 passionate volunteers across America give a total of half a million books within their communities to those who don’t regularly read. In 2012, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, and Germany and saw over 80,000 people gift more than 2.5 million books."

Givers picking up their books

More Givers picking up their books

A panel of librarians and booksellers choose 30 books, then writers forgo their royalties on the special editions that publishers print for free distribution. People then apply to be a book-giver. That's it. Free books, passed hand-to-hand, person-to-person to encourage people who don't read much to read more.

The book I get to distribute is Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451, but the book-givers at this pick-up site were swapping a few of their book with others so we would all have a selection of books to give.

Some of this year's choices

A Slice of Summer...

This video is filmed on 

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

A little slice of summer for you:

Listen to the waves....

Friends along the way

The idea of a 1000-mile hike probably sounds pretty lonely, but I have times where I meet up with friends, am tracked down by family members, and even make new friends along the way.

I caught up with Mary Catterlin and Amy Lukas on my way north for this last leg of my hike. 

Mary and Amy have spent the summer paddling and sometimes sailing this little, handmade dugout canoe (with outriggers) around Lake Michigan.

Mary and Amy with their boat called Makeba

Amy and I had met for lunch to discuss the Lake Michigan shoreline before they began their adventure in July. They are now in the homestretch of their adventure and I was delighted to see their boat and drive them to Ludington for lunch. We had a great visit and discussed the importance of having adventure in our lives!

Me, Mary, and Amy (L to R) in Ludington

I caught up with Stef Staley, the Executive Director of the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. We had met back in 2009 shortly after my first hike when I was a volunteer keeper at the lighthouse. Stef rolled out the grill and cooked up a great dinner at the lighthouse to greet me on my hike this time. It was a perfect night on the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. 

Me with Stef Staley

My sister, cousin and her daughter (Leslie, Milene, and Allie) caught up with me in Leland and I took a day off to hang out (and SHOP!!) with them. 

Allie, Milene, and Leslie (L to R)

There's nothing like a day of shopping to make me long to hike all day!

They saw me off at the dock when I caught the ferry to North Manitou Island

I caught up with my friends Bill & Jan in Glen Arbor. They came to several events on my book tour last year and we became fast friends. 

Me, Bill, & Jan 

One nice thing about visiting with friends is that they sometimes snap a photo of me as I'm leaving and then send it to me later (thanks Bill & Jan!).

And the winner of the MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN AMERICA is...

When people ask me about my favorite stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline, I answer without hesitation:

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore!

Well, it's no longer a secret because it was just voted the most beautiful place in AMERICA by viewers of Good Morning America!









I hope this honor encourages the Great Lakes States (and the nation) to protect and preserve Lake Michigan and the entire Great Lakes system. Funding the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is an important step in this direction.

We have a national treasure here and it needs our attention and protection so it remains "The Most Beautiful Place in America"!

Tales from the BOOK TOUR...part 8

The book tour continues in NW Michigan this month. A big thanks to all the venues and organizations who hosted me for an event, and especially to the indie bookstores who have been so supportive of my adventure and book and book tour.

Unexpected Gifts of the BOOK TOUR

There are so many things to occupy everyone's time and energies these days, so seeing people file in to a bookstore or science museum, take a seat, and look up at ME waiting to hear about my adventure and my book...well, I consider that a gift.

And people have been exceedingly generous in their attendance and attentions at the beginning of my book tour these last few weeks. Most of my events have been packed and if anyone straggles in a little late, they've had to stand along the back wall. I am humbled and grateful for this response to my work.

Another thing that people have gifted to me has been THEIR stories of Lake Michigan. Sometimes they even bring a map and photos from their hikes and strolls along the shoreline (like in these two photos).

I met up with a couple in Suttons Bay who even brought along a photo collage of their walks to give to me. Jan and Bill Heston have walked many miles of my favorite stretch of shore from Frankfort north past their home in Glen Arbor.

The Hestons are a lively couple and they came to both of my events in Suttons Bay. A double gift of their presence and questions and smiles.




I had a meeting with Coryn Briggs who is the Director of Marketing for Black Star Farms. She brought her daughter to our breakfast meeting and the little girl quietly colored a picture of a birthday cake while her mother and I chatted.

When the meeting was over, the little girl solemnly gave me the picture of the cake! Since my kids are now 18 and 21, there is plenty of room on my fridge for this festive drawing!

At my first appearance for my book, Jessilyn (owner of Petoskey's wonderful McLean & Eakin Booksellers), was so intrigued with the section in my book entitled "Fascination with roadkill" that she gave me a copy of Roger M. Knutson's Flattened Fauna.

Needless to say, I was charmed by Mr. Knutson's cheeky treatment of roadkill. So charmed that I sent him a copy of MY book and he sent me a card which proves I am now a LIFELONG member of the society that counts and classifies roadkill.

Fantastic.

One of the people who attended my reading at McLean & Eakin brought me a pair of mittens that she had made. To keep your hands warm while you hike she said>>>

I was touched.

After discussing our mutual love of Bill Bryson's work, Lynn (owner of Great Lakes Book & Supply in Big Rapids) gave me a copy of In a Sunburned Country which I had not yet read.






I think it is a rare and special thing to return from a book tour so enriched by all these gifts.

Thank you all, and I look forward to meeting many more fans of Lake Michigan and good books (like Mr. Bryson's and Mr. Knutson's) along the way.



My sister Leslie joined me on the first leg of my book tour. This is a photo of us on the shores of Little Traverse Bay near Petoskey>>>

Keep checking my author appearances in the sidebar here or on my website: LakeTrek.com

The Treacherous Manitou Passage

In Benjamin J. Shelak's Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan, he says that "...treacherous weather, numerous islands,and reefs waiting to smash unwary vessels, and frequent boat traffic, the northern region of Lake Michigan was the scene of some very early wrecks."

On my way home from my time at Torch Lake, I wound my way down the shoreline and stopped to do some hiking in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This is one of my favorite stretches of the lake; the Manitou Islands sit just offshore here.

I hiked several miles south from the Maritime Museum at Glen Haven.

I walked for miles without seeing any other people or even footprints on the shore. There are large dunes here and there are few access points to the lakeshore.

Here's what I came across on this little traveled stretch:

It was rather camouflaged under the sand and pulsing waves, but as I investigated, this was revealed:


















This 25 foot section of wooden boat was held together by metal rods and braces. I hiked back to the Maritime Museum and spoke to the rangers. They didn't know about this find, so when I got home I e-mailed my photos to them.






Here's a photo with my (size 11) foot in the shot to add some scale to the size of these boards:


I've asked the rangers to let me know if they find out more about this piece of ship, so I'll post more when I hear from them.

YES, I discovered a SHIPWRECK!
(Well, at least a piece of it...)

Revisiting the Lake Trek: Segment 5

This segment spanned the 105 miles between Ludington and Suttons Bay, Michigan. It included the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, one of my favorite stretches of lakeshore. You can truly see the hand of the glacier here.

I hiked this segment alone and did some camping along the way. Note the serious backpack.

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 5 Complete!

Segment 5 took me from Ludington to Suttons Bay, May 14-20. It mapped out at 107 miles and took 7 days. A gear mishap on day one of this segment necessitated me omitting some miles from Ludington to Manistee. I will head back north this coming week to cover those missed miles.

I passed the 350 mile mark in the trek, and the total now stands at 355.

The lake has a wild side and I got my first real taste of it in this segment. There were bobcat tracks and deer who had been taken down by a larger predator. While camping in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore I heard owls and coyotes and deer and one extremely loud raccoon.

I visited one new bookstore in this segment. Check out the link for Brilliant Books in beautiful Suttons Bay. And I stopped in at The Bookstore in Frankfort again.

UPDATE: On June 3, I went up to Manistee and covered the missing 18 miles between Manistee and Ludington.

Segment 5, Day 6 Glen Arbor->Leland 21 miles

High of 70 degrees, breezy.

I hiked from Glen Arbor up to Good Harbor Bay where I got out to the lakeshore once again. The orchards along the way were in bloom, along with the trillium and many other flowers.

The lake was fairly calm this day and I made good time covering the 21 miles up to the city of Leland.














Leland (bottom photo) has preserved its historic fishing village and it is also the departure point for the ferries to North and South Manitou islands

Segment 5, Day 5 Platte River Campground->Empire 9 miles

High of 59 degrees.

After a long, cold night, I packed up camp and hiked the two miles back out to the lake and walked the length of Platte Bay up to the city of Empire.

Though I only traveled 9 miles this day, it was a tough hike because the wind pushed the lake up on shore for the last 6 miles and I had to hike in the rolling dunes.



It was a gorgeous day, and the meticulous stone pyramid on the beach was an interesting sight (below).

I was glad to reach the city of Empire, though, and was able to catch a ride to Glen Arbor from George, a crafter of fine writing instruments (he gave me a lovely wooden pen) and an enthusiastic kayaker. I didn't have the stamina this day to trek the middle part of Sleeping Bear Dunes, but this section is the one that I had explored many times before.

I had a restful afternoon in Glen Arbor so I could put in a long day on day 6.