KEEN Ambassadorship!

I love my KEEN boots. They kept my feet pretty happy during my 1000-mile hike. The boot on the left side of this photo has about 350 miles on it, the boot on the right is the new pair I got in Escanaba that took me all the way to Chicago.



KEEN has acknowledged my 1000-mile adventure and the work I continue to do to educate people about the importance of our Great Lakes by making me a KEEN Ambassador!

Check out their site HERE.

Winter on Lake Michigan

For many people, the Great Lakes are a summertime place, a place of heat and sand and cooling waters in which to play.

There is a certain beauty, though, of the lakes in other seasons. And a serenity to these waters after the first snow of winter.









Some people have never seen the shelf ice form on the lake and stretch out miles from the shoreline, quieting the waves. Some have never seen that ice break up in the spring to get tossed around by a late winter storm and stacked like crazy ice houses on the sand.


There was one Easter Sunday when my family drove to the lake and met up with some friends. The day was incredibly warm and the sun had thawed the frozen ground to the point where we could shed our shoes and walk barefoot on the warm sand. The ice, however, still decorated the beaches, large slabs of lake ice marooned on land and slowly melting in the springtime sun.

The lake speaks to us in all seasons and I am thankful for my time on the shores of Lake Michigan this fall
and winter.

Tales from the Book Tour...Part 14

I had a great time on this last full week of my book tour. Events in Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago were packed, and I'd like to thank everyone who hosted my events and those who came out to hear a lecture or reading.

A 1000-MILE WALK ON THE BEACH
has spent time on the Heartland Indie Bestseller List this year!

Thank you all, and the Happiest of Holidays!

Support your local indie bookstore this Holiday Season!

Webinar takes on Clean Water Act rollbacks, invasive species, SS Badger

Click HERE to get access to a recent webinar about important issues
that impact our Great Lakes.

There are efforts to weaken the Clean Water Act at a time when our lakes are approaching a crisis due to invasive species, algae blooms, and other threats.

Be informed.
Contact your representatives in Congress.
View from the Empire Bluff Trail

Author shores up lake trek with new book -

Nice review of my book from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Time on the Lakeshore

Here are some highlights from my time at the lakeshore this fall.

Even after encircling Lake Michigan with my footsteps and recording it in my muscles and bones, the lake continues to captivate me.

Next year I will undertake another 1000-mile hike in the Great Lakes region.

In the Shadow of Giants

Two hundred years ago it was easier to move through Michigan by water -- rivers and the Great Lakes -- than to move through the land.

That's because the land had old growth forests that were dense and impassible in places.








While walking the lakeshore this November, I followed a stream inland, tracing the water's path as it meandered toward the lake.







The trees that lived near the stream shaded
the area and their fallen leaves decorated the surface of the slow moving stream.









This oak towered over the other trees.

It's not old growth, but it is a grand tree
and a glimpse of the past when this size
tree would have been growing in the
shadows of giants.

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.

Sand Landscapes

The waves of Lake Michigan constantly pulse or roll or pound the lakeshore, continually grinding stone to sand.



The reach of each wave on the sandy shore leaves a mark of wet-on-dry.

The waves often leave an edge where grains sorted by the motion of the water are left in a line at the crest of each wave before it retreats back into the lake.


The waves repeatedly flow over the land and these minimalistic landscapes are shaped and reshaped on the sand.


Sometimes they are embellished with a rock or feather.





Sometimes it seems there is fog in the distance.

...and sometimes the hills seem to stretch on forever.