Winter Hiking

I went out to the lakeshore today to hike my trail for the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes. This volunteer organization does important work to help maintain and improve the gorgeous National Lakeshore. Volunteers do a variety of tasks, including:

• Adopt-An-Access Point (Accessibility)
• Adopt-A-Beach
• Adopt-A-River
• Adopt-A-Trail 
• BARK Rangers
• PSAR Log
• Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail – Trail Ambassadors
• Track Chair Report
• Administrative Projects

I have been a volunteer trail hiker for a couple of years now. I periodically hike the Bay View/Farms Loop trail and report on any down trees or other conditions on the trail.

Chilly, but gorgeous hike

Panoramic of the overlook

I'm not sure what made this tiny little trail in the snow

Lake Michigan from the trail

I love getting out on the snowy trails. 

Clay Cliffs

 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 live in Traverse City, Michigan, and one of the reasons I moved here was for the many hiking trails in the region. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is nearby and I've hiked most of the trails and all of the shoreline there. 

Northwest of Traverse City is the Leelanau Peninsula. This gorgeous area has its own conservancy organization working to protect and preserve natural areas. One of my favorite trails on this peninsula is Clay Cliffs Natural Area located just north of Leland.

The trail has two overlooks, one of Lake Leelanau and one of Lake Michigan.

Here's a video from the Lake Michigan overlook. Great views of the Manitou Islands.

Here's the view of Lake Leelanau:

The wild flowers were in bloom today...

the trout lily amongst the trillium...

And more views out on Lake Michigan...

Empire Bluff Trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

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 took a hike up the Empire Bluff Trail today. This is the most used trail in 

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

 There was a thick fog clinging to the surface of the cold lake. It obscured the view at times, then the fog would roll up the dunes and open up the view for a moment. It was lovely, and I had it all to myself.

 The view from the top!

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Part 3)

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/

Here's the final photo essay of my October hike 

along Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

(Thanks to April for sharing her stunning photos.)

Me, Julie, and Zan

One of the many rivers along the lakeshore

Wonderful rocky beach

Chain coral

One of the best things about hiking in a group is that everyone brings their own experience and knowledge to the hike. This group of women have collectively hiked thousands of miles and bring so much to the experience of hiking together.

On this hike, Julie introduced us to the wintergreen plant and berry.

If you've had wintergreen gum, you've tasted this distinctive flavor. It's much better to munch the little berries fresh off the plant!

The leaves can also be used to brew tea. 

Here are a few more stunning shots of this National Lakeshore:

Chapel Rock

Miners Castle 

Happy on the trail

November Surprise

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/

This November has been surprising so far (on many levels). The weather has been amazingly warm this first 10 days. Yesterday, Traverse City broke a high temp record from 1896! And not just by a degree or two, but by 5 degrees!

So, of course, I went kayaking on that warmest day and hiked several other days.

I kayaked my favorite small lake nearby, Cedar Lake. I noticed there are more than one 'Cedar Lakes' around Traverse City. This one is just west of Long Lake, west of Traverse City.

Today, I headed to the big lake to walk the lakeshore. Since the temps were starting to dip and some rain fell, I had the entire beach to myself.

Lovely.

With the lake levels rising this year, the shoreline showed evidence of erosion.

The lake was turquoise and white-capped. Bands of rain clouds hovered over the lake in the distance. 

Still my favorite place.

 

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Part 2)

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/

With nights in the low 30s and high 20s, we gathered around a fire some nights. April even brought along some popcorn to pop over the fire. 

YUM!

The scenery was breathtaking at times, even for those in the group who had hiked here before.

The most stunning formation in this National Lakeshore is Chapel Rock (below and in video). 

This sandstone pedestal has been separated from the shoreline by erosion, but the lone pine tree on the formation still lives there, attached to the shoreline by long roots. 

This tree is over 200 years old.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Part 1)

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 met up with my hiking friends and headed to America's first designated National Lakeshore,

Pictured Rocks,

along the northern edge of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 

Yes, it was snowy and chilly and exhilarating. 

Me, Zan, Julie and April

The Au Sable Lighthouse

Snowy campsite at Benchmark campground

There is a 12-mile stretch of beach along the lakeshore. We hiked several miles here at the edge of Lake Superior.

Lake Superior Rocks

Can you find me in this photo? 

Massive sandstone formations dominate the western portion of the lakeshore. It's difficult to get the scale of these formations until you find the person in the shot.

We hiked five days...more to come.