National Park Centennial

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/

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the law establishing a new federal bureau, the National Parks Service (NPS). At that time there were 35 national parks and monuments. Today there are 59. The NPS is responsible for protecting and managing these national treasures.

Michigan is home to 5 of these parks.

Two are national lakeshores:

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan

One is a historic district on the Keweenaw Peninsula:

Map of National Historical Park on the Keweenaw

One is a battlefield near Monroe:

The site of a pivotal battle during the War of 1812

And the final one is Isle Royale, the second-largest island in the Great Lakes.

A shed moose antler on Isle Royale

This week marks the centennial of the NPS.

Happy 100th!

Enjoy and explore our National parks. 
Learn more HERE and HERE.

Horseshoe Harbor on the Keweenaw

Ben standing before a wall of 

conglomerate stone

While hiking the shores of Lake Superior on my 1000-mile Great Lakes Hike, I explored a bit of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Ben was along on this part of my adventure.

A solitary sandpiper works the marshy edges

I enjoyed learning about the geology of this unique landmass. The peninsula is actually a  syncline, the tilted edge of the earth's crust. Eons ago, this area bubbled with lava and the weight of that cooled magma depressed what would become the basin of the lake and the earth's crust tore and lifted at the edges.

I hike along a trail at the tip of the Keweenaw 

Ben scurries down a rocky hillside

Ben stands on the tilted edge of a slate layer 

I explore the geology of Lake Superior and its edges in my upcoming book:

A 1000-MILE GREAT LAKES WALK

The book will be released in 2013. Please "like" my Facebook Author Page in order to keep current on the release of the book and my speaking engagements.