Is still late Fall in Michigan and we are still going strong! It's November 7th and it is a glorious day of 50 degrees, sunny and no wind. Dave and I have decided to dedicate the whole afternoon to hiking again ,as the weather surprised us this late in the seaon and gave us another wonderful Fall day for walking in the woods. The leaves have all fallen covering the forest floor and they rustle as we walk. They still create color as now a dried burnt orange against the many silver Maple , white Birch , green Pine tree trunks, and green ferns- it is still beautiful! There are a million tiny white moths flittering to and fro around all the leaves that have fallen. I have never seen that before! The forest in a symphony of things for the eye to behold. Thank you Lord for another day of peaceful pleasure.
We have decided to hike to a waterfall and beach and then along part of the Lake Superior Lakeshore trail above Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to another beach and then a short hike back through the woods to our start. It is a bit ambitious as 10 miles total, but I have the energy to try it today and so talked Dave into the longer route. The first part of hike took us on a wide rather flat trail through the Maple and Birch trees to Chapel Waterfall and beach. The leaves rustled under our feet and moths entertained us along the way. Green ferns still stood among the leaves as though it was just spring or summer yet. The only thing that was a bit tricky today were the hidden pockets of water under the leaves that get a bit muddy if you hit them just right(wrong I should say), the occasional hidden "wooden plank bridge" over the known wet spots and the many many many hidden tree roots that can catch your foot and send you flying if you are not careful. For the most part it is dry and easy walking but we did almost get our feet caught in one of the few "water troughs" made by the park service to aid in draining the trail- just two little 2x4's set parallel to the trail in spots where the water is worse. It would not be a problem but the leaves are covering these spots now that would normally be visible in summer hiking. I wonder if the park service thought about that?? Anyway no sprained ankles today!! Thanks goodness for that, as the trail is pretty deserted now- only saw one family at the beach after the waterfall and a few backpackers later on the Lakeshore trail.
The waterfall was a beauty,falling in many tiers down the rocky hillside. You could hear the sound of rushing water as we approached the waterfall and the park service had two platforms , one on either side, to view it and take photos. We brought our 35mm camera today as it's so fun to take long view scenery shots and also close ups of beautiful natural things all around us. I have to remind myself to pause and appreciate the small things we see close up, like tiny moss and ferns pushing through the leaves on the ground, bright green ferns popped in all along the trail, tree trunks intermingled with each other as if dancing or chatting a bit, and of course our little moth friends today.
Then on to Chapel Beach- it was beautiful and started with a rock formation called Chapel Rock. It was one huge grey and white sculpted rock with one enormous pine tree on top of it. The giant tree roots reached across thin air to the ground to the right as if trying to hold on. The roots were exposed and looked like giant snakes bridging the gap. It was awesome. Just below was the mouth of a rushing river that flowed onto the rock and sand beach. The water just off shore was cold and clean (as always in Lake Superior) and actually had a rust color from the minerals in the rocks it flowed over, with a white spray as each wave curled to reach the shore. The water was calm except for the final curls of wave as the water depth changed and shallowed by the beach. The sand on the beach was very fine and almost white. It looked beautiful as it curved around the bay.
Just to the right you could see the huge curve of high rock cliffs called Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore that we would be following as we walked along on the top to the cliffs on the Lakeshore Trail. Chapel Rock is one of the cliff formations you can see by water on the PRNL boat cruise that leaves from the town of Munising on Michigan's Lake Superior coastline.
The four miles of Lakeshore trail took us in and out of the woods very close to the coastline but now on top of the cliffs called Pictured Rocks. There were dozens of viewing paths off the main path to give you continual glimpses and opportunities for photos ops of Lake Superior and the cliff formations as you hiked along the trail. Sometimes you could actually walk out and along the rock cliffs. One was like a wide strip of beach(sand coverd rock) but on TOP of the cliffs ..it was amazing and gave us great views of the cliffs and the depths to the water below. This one I had to sit down and just gaze at the awesome beauty of God! You felt like an ant on a giant ant hill. Just one speck in the world of nature.
The Lakeshore trail continued and we got glimpses of quite a few of the Pictured Rocks cliff formations including: Chapel Rock Battleship Row( three giant outcropping of rocks that look like the pointed fronts of three giant battleships of war), the Indian face, and Grand Portal( a huge rock arch that you can actually kayak through) . It is really a breath taking hike that i would recommend to all( except perhaps small children due to the access to and the heights of the rock cliffs on this part of the trail).
We continued along the Lakeshore trail until we came to Mosquito River and beach where we woulod pick up the last section of trail. Again it was a lovely little river that flowed right into Lake Superior with a lovely sand beach at its mouth. It was as if Chapel Beach and Mosquito Beach(by the way NO mosquitos were present) were the two bookends of this section of the lake shore trail. We took some great photos and headed back into the woods for the last section of trail back to our car. It had been sunny and pleasant all along the Lakeshore trail but now it got a bit damp and dark as we headed into the heart of woods.This last part of the trial would take us about 2 hours with a lot of roots and muddy spots to circumnavigate, but all went well. A young couple were hiking right behond on on this section of trail so made us keep up a good pace for this last stretch. All in all ,we hiked for about 5 hours and 10 miles and although we hiked at a very good pace , sometimes even cross country ski pace with wide steps , the careful stepping over roots and wet spots made us average 2 MPH. We did have stops for photos and cliff gazing a bit, but no stops to just sit and rest. We had a minimum of water and snacks with us which we used sparingly. But all in all except for some sore feet/toes( from all the up and down and strange "wet-stepping" we did), we were no worse for wear but surely were tired and ready for dinner! What a great afternoon of fresh air ,exercise and exploring in the woods!
What a treat! What an unusual day for November in Upper Michigan! We could not have asked for greater walking weather or sights to behold. It was a privilege to be sure. We had missed so many October weekends as too cold and rainy and so even though it has been a full month between our two 10 mile hikes of the fall season...i do believe we got two of the most spectacular weekends of Fall weather for being outside and enjoying all the God offers us in nature. I will never take this privilege for granted. Thank you Lord!
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