Not sure about that title but if it were to fit for me any day than today would be that day. I think I hiked more today than I have in the past 6 months! I had a nice day today, spent entirely by myself except for my trusty dog Gavin. We started the day today at Peterson Park. I recall recently an article in the Leelanau Enterprise about drivers and bicyclists needing to share the road. Apparently some of the nut jobs on bikes today didn’t read that article. The county was LOADED with bikers today and of the hundreds that I passed, I saw only ONE person signal with their arm when they intended to turn. Had he not done that, he would have been either seriously injured or killed (not by me but by they guy in front of me). I don’t generally have a problem with bikers in Leelanau. There is not much car traffic this time of year and it’s a great way to see the county. I DO have a problem with bikers who can’t (or won’t) share the road with cars. We have to follow the laws of the road, SO DO THEY. They are not exempt from signaling when they intend to turn. They are not exempt from using bike lanes when they exist. No it’s NOT OK to ride 6 abreast covering 2 lanes of traffic. So, to those of you who travel the county by bicycle, FUCKING PAY ATTENTION and follow the rules of the road or you will end up smashed on it just like the skunks and raccoons.
Now then, Peterson Park was quite pretty today. The sun was out and there was a ship in front of the islands. Whatever company is using that shipping channel lately must have changed the type of freighter they are using. This was not your typical lake freighter. The bow and the stern were raised and were it not for my vantage point about 150 feet above the shore, it would have looked like the middle of the boat was under water. I would be interested in seeing one of those up close. I took Gavin down to the beach and let him swim and chase rocks for a good 30 minutes, he also managed to roll around in a mess of dead fish on the shore much to my delight…or rather his.
From there I headed back towards Leland and stopped at Houdek Dunes Natural Area. Jirar and I had hiked this some time ago but it was in the winter and we didn’t do the whole thing. Today I did. This was a good 2 mile hike in a loop going through multiple types of wooded dunes and open dunes. Thank god it was a cool day or I would have roasted. This hike wore Gavin out but we weren’t done yet.
After that hike I drove down to the National Park and decided I was going to hike the Good Harbor Bay Trail. This was a 4.5 mile hike that went WAY back into the woods away from the lake, crossed a couple different little streams and then looped around back to the trail head. While it was very good exercise, I have to say that this was an exceptionally boring hike. It’s flat nearly the whole way so it’s an easy walk but the scenery never changes. It does not go deep enough or far enough away from the shore to change much in ecosystems. Mostly pine and birch forest. It would be pretty in the fall with changing leaves but it’s just not there yet…I doubt I’ll hike that one again.
Anyhow, I got some great pictures today and have uploaded an album at www.leelanauphotography.com. Be sure to check them out. I was going to try and get a good picture of the big tree at Peterson Park however the bikers had set up a food tent at the park and there were swarms of men and women in Lycra shorts and shirts. Some people (no most people) should just not wear skin tight clothing.
Here is a picture from the new album. Be sure to check out the others.
