Rogers City Library

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 speaking tour took me to the Lake Huron town of Rogers City.

Lakeside Park sculpture

Rogers City has an enormous limestone quarry that is over a century old.

Calcite mine is in the distance

I gave my Isle Royale talk at the community library.

Eager audience awaits...

September Book Tour

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 September book tour found me traveling the state of Michigan for many engagments.

Grosse Pointe's Senior Men's Club invited me to speak at their luncheon meeting on the shoreline of Lake St. Clair.

Senior Men's Club of Grosse Pointe

Men's choir

And I returned to the Clarkston Library to give another of my 4 lectures about the Great Lakes.

Nice audience

This month I began giving my lecture about Isle Royale, the island that captivated me on my Great Lakes Island Adventure.

I'm beginning to book engagements for 2017. If your group/library/school would like to engage me as a speaker, please e-mail me at:

LakeTrek@gmail.com

Tales from the Book Tour

During mid-April, I headed north to speak at libraries in Mackinaw City and Rogers City.

Icy Straits of Mackinac!

I was greeted by a bit of snow -- and a RAINBOW that landed on Mackinac Island -- but that didn't stop the intrepid northerners from coming out to hear my presentation about my second hike touching all five Great Lakes.

Library in Mackinaw City

The city of Cheboygan is located in between these two towns, and I stopped in to meet the 

Exterior of Purple Tree Books

owner of the bookstore there, 

Purple Tree Books. 

This is a great little bookstore, and Emily said she'd stock my new book about the islands when it enters full distribution in June.

Emily Clare, bookstore owner  

Thanks to everyone who came out to hear me speak in these wonderful Great Lakes communities!

Library in Rogers City, Michigan

The Day I Held a Lamprey

The United States Geological Service (USGS)

 has a research facility on northern Lake Huron dedicated to studying and controlling the invasive lamprey. This creature (it resembles an eel, but is actually in a separate class) suctions on to large fish and literally sucks the life out of them.

I interviewed Dr. Mike Hansen, Field Station Supervisor, for my second book. 

While back in Rogers City recently to give a talk at the library, I stopped in at the facility to see 
Dr. Hansen and tour the facility.

USGS Station signs

 Lamprey entered Lake Erie through the Welland Canal in the 1930s. Prior to this, the lamprey had populated Lake Ontario, but were prevented from moving into the other lakes by Niagara River and the mighty Niagara Falls.

Lauren (a communications rep) with the eggs from just one female lamprey 

A single lamprey lays tens of thousands of eggs. It is impossible to eradicate them, so controlling the population is the best option.

Lamprey are kept in these containers for study

 This facility studies the lamprey, organizes monitoring of streams and rivers where they spawn, and coordinates the treatment of waterways to kill lamprey when they are in the larval stage.

It's best to keep your eye on the lamprey...especially if it's got an eye on you

The multi-toothed suction mouth of the lamprey

Juvenile lamprey. Not so scary, but they'll latch on faster than the adults 

You can stop in and get a tour of the station located on Hammond Bay just north of Rogers City on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2pm, or by appointment.

Learn more about the station HERE. 
And read about this important work in my second book, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk.

Lighthouses on Lake Huron

Sturgeon Point Lighthouse, Harrisville, MI

 Lake Huron has long been a dangerous place for boats.  Huron has  shallow, rocky shoals that stretch out from the shore and there are long stretches of the lake where no safe, natural harbor exists for boats caught in storms.

Presque Isle, MI

Pictured here are a few of the beautiful lighthouses I walked by in June as I made my way from Bay Harbor to Mackinaw City.

40-Mile Point Lighthouse near Rogers City

Looking out of the 40-Mile Point Lighthouse

Old Mackinaw Point Lighthouse

 Each of these sentinels still stands due to the restoration and preservation efforts of many people who love these lights on our lakes. 

Rogers City & The Purple Martin Inn

The Purple Martin Inn

Marilou and Ruth showed me around the inn and town

When I got to Rogers City, I stayed at a unique place.  This building (to the left) used to be a commercial laundry facility that would do laundry for lake freighters working the Great Lakes.  The business closed long ago and the building is now undergoing a radical transformation into an inn/community gathering place/non-prof to support work with foster kids.


Cindy Vezinau is the  visionary behind the Purple Martin Inn.  She is working to make it as "green" as possible, using recycled, reclaimed, and repurposed materials at every juncture of the renovation.  


The inn is named after the Purple Martin colony that returns to summer at the property every year.  It was a joy to sit on the balcony overlooking Lake Huron and watch the birds in flight.  The Purple Martin population has been dwindling in recent years, so it was encouraging to see this thriving community of birds in Rogers City.

Purple Martin in flight

The Purple Martin Inn is also a place for the community to gather.  This year, the first "Martin Mania" weekend festival which included a dance at the main intersection in Rogers City and a bonfire on the beach near the inn.


When the inn is complete, profits will be used to support work with foster kids.  Rogers City has had a camp for foster kids for many decades, and the partnership with the inn will help to continue this important work.  

Interior of Inn

Reclaimed barn wood finishes this ceiling

The inn is still undergoing its transformation and will open sometime next year.  To learn more about this project, check out their Facebook Page.

CMU Students Give Back

Last month I had the privilege of speaking to Professor Lorie Tuma's class at Central Michigan University. Her students are studying in the tourism and hospitality fields and many of them are also shooting for a leadership minor.

Part of the leadership minor is doing community service, and a large group of students headed north to give back in Rogers City, Michigan. The Purple Martin Nature Center & Lakeside Inn was recently certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Wildlife Habitat. The mission of the Inn is to not only provide an ultimate retreat, but for the owner, Cindy Vezinau, to fulfill a lifelong passion of providing a respite program to children in the foster care system.

The CMU students put in a day of hard work renovating the old building and working on the grounds of the center on the shores of Lake Huron.



. .

Renovation in Rogers City from EHS Life on Vimeo.

Next year, my 1000-mile hike will take me along the shoreline by the center. I will be sure to stop in to check on the progress of getting The Purple Martin Nature Center & Lakeside Inn renovated and open to do this important work.