Rising Great Lakes

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

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

To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to 

http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/

I got out to the Lake Michigan shoreline today. I went to one of my favorite beaches. It has a 50-step set of wooden steps to get down to the shoreline. The steps are well away from the rising lake, but recent windstorms allowed the waves to ruin the bottom few steps:

The wild waves deposited driftwood all over the beach...

and even this uprooted tree was tossed on the shore.

With the missing steps, I was the only one on this beach for over an hour. Perfect for social distancing. Stay safe, everyone.

A Tree's Life on Isle Royale

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

Isle Royale is an island in wild Lake Superior. The terrain is rugged and rocky. 

The winters are brutal and snowy, icy and windy.

All of this makes for a harsh environment. There is evidence on the island of the struggle of trees.

Scrabble of roots inside a tree trunk

Me (left) and fellow Moosewatch hiker, Jenny (right) by fallen tree

Roots

And there are beavers to contend with...

Beavers decrease the tree population

And lightening takes a toll:

Tree struck by lightening

Close up of tree struck by lightening

Here are some other shots of trees on this wild island: