It has been a beautiful day in northern Michigan. We had a bit of fresh snow overnight, the temperature is in the upper 20s, and the sun is shining brightly. We went cross country skiing this morning at the Old Indian Trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes. Here’s the web link to their site. https://www.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/trailoldindian.htm. We did the green arrow loop. It has lots of small ups and downs, but nothing long or steep. We also did the additional spur out to Lake Michigan. Wow, the dunes and lake look so different in the winter.
Here is our first glimpse of the lake. Do we want to walk all the way down? Sure!
As we got around the last dune we could see Sleeping Bear.
A ball of wire had washed up on shore which in the summer would have been an ugly reminder to be careful how we dispose of things like this, but in the winter, each wave added a layer of ice and sand to form this work of Nature’s art.
This snow drift was along the trail.
This stump has been along the trail for years.
How many years ago did these trees die as the dune encroached on their territory?
The dune grasses hold the sand in summer and the snow in winter.
The dune is transformed by the snow.
We left our skis at the base of the dune and hiked to the lake in our ski boots. We are about to resume our ski back to the trailhead.
So, we skied a bit over 2 miles with a little over half a mile or so to the lake and back. It was a great day to explore Sleeping Bear Dunes.
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