Another Loop at Ludington State Park

  I did another 6-mile loop at Ludington State Park today. There are lots of options, but we walked from the first parking area along the Big Sauble River to Hamlin Dam which creates the huge impoundment known as Hamlin Lake.

When I say "we," that would be my friend Loren, and furball Koa. Loren describes Koa as a battery pack that is infinitely rechargable! This picture is taken at the Hexagon shelter in the middle of the park.

We did duplicate a tiny bit of my hike the other day, by going north on the Island Trail. I thought you might like to see that lone tree on an island in different light.

Then we turned west on the Lost Lake Trail. This climbs quickly to the dunes above both Hamlin and Lost Lakes. If you look between the trees you will see a footbrige out there over the water. That is the Island Trail where we had just been. The bridge is humped so paddlers can go beneath it. And this is the connection of Lost Lake to Hamlin.

For the rest of our hike, we were in the woods between Hamlin Lake and Lake Michigan. We took the Lost Lake Trail to a small piece of the Ridge Trail, then to the Logging Trail where we turned north and walked around the upper loop of that trail. Then we returned to our cars via the south end of the Logging Trail. Here's a typical picture within the woods. There are also a number of small wetlands between the dunes.

I had to stop just south of the park after we finished to catch a couple of pix of the big lake- Lake Michigan. It was a little early for sunset, but the color was starting to develop.

When I turned to look slightly north, there was a big freighter out on the horizon!

You know I can't take a walk without looking for patterns. This one is my favorite because it was unexpected.

You can get interesting pictures of these old jetties almost any day, but that doesn't make them less appealing, just more expected.

Awesome hike- it got a little warmer than predicted- I would say low 40s. Very nice for hiking. We did see quite a few other people, but once we got on the wooded trails we had them all to ourselves. Not surprisingly, as most people prefer the trails that go along water.

Ludington State Park: Sauble River Trail, Island Trail, Lost Lake Trail, Ridge Trail, Logging Trail. Total distance 6.2 miles.

In other news: Not much- I worked on that big sorting project I keep mentioning. I couldn't find yet another thing that I want to collect with some other things. It's really annoying. I guess you could say progress was made, but I had to make more messes to accomplish it. No writing. A tiny bit of editing.

See My Favorite Ludington SP Loop