On Tuesday, April 9, Matt J., Zach Z., Jenny C., Jean B. and I headed for Empire to hike the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We hoped the weather would hold; there was an 80% chance of rain. Though the skies were cloudy, the precipitation cooperated with us and didn't start until after we had finished our hike. A unique combination of snow and sand. I wondered if my boots would ever be the same. (They're fine.) Here are a few shots taken during our trek.
Do you see Empire in the top left part of the map?
This was the road we "needed" in order to get to the trail where we wanted to hike, so we assumed the sign didn't really mean what it said. We made it, fortunately and discovered that there was another way up, which was the way we took on the way back down. :)
The trail leading down to the dunes
Parts of the trail were covered with ice-encrusted snow. Since my boots were of the non-grip variety, I chose to "off-road" it. I sank in drifts up to my knees a number of times and got a pretty good workout. Is this spring???
Heading up to a lookout point
A beautiful view from up above
Of course, Fleece came along! She rode in the hood of my jacket and was very impressed with the scenery. She seems to be looking the wrong way in this picture, however.
Matt, Zach, Kamela, Jenny
Heading down the dune
On the way down
It's a long way back up there
It was a blast to run down once we (the foreigners) got over our initial feelings of caution.
Back on level ground
Beautiful
Footprints in the sand show where we came from
1 comment:
Yes- running down the dunes is great! :)
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