Nordhouse Dunes Again

 
So, today was the actual day of the group hike. Even though I did all the same pieces of trails as last week, there is always something new to see, and the light was different today- overcast. That meant no blue water, but it was also cooler. I'll take that.

We went to the top of the lake overlook at Lake Michigan Recreation Area.



Here's the group we ended up with, six people (I'm not in the picture) and Sadie the dog.



This little cutie checked us out, but decided not to hike with us.



Three hikers bailed after 3 miles for various reasons, 3 of us went on for another mile, and then 1 more left. One of the guys and I did one more loop, down into Nordhouse to the lake and then back to our cars.

There were swimmers in Nordhouse Lake.



The Lake Michigan Trail is perched at the edge of the dune, and lends itself to interesting pictures.



I noticed that an awful lot of the Witch Hazel trees had rolled leaves. You can see the strands of "silk" the caterpillars spin to hold the rolls tight.



I unrolled several, but the caterpillars are gone. All that was left was frass (caterpillar poop).



I wondered if there was one particular insect that does this with Witch Hazel, and there is. It's called the Witch Hazel Leaf Roller (duh), or palmerworm. This is the larvae of Dichomeris ligulella, a small brown moth with narrow wings. I probably could have found some if I'd known what to look for in the surrounding area. You can see them on Bugguide.net.

There was some light rain when we were almost done. It felt good- not enough to really get us wet.

Lake Michigan Recreation Area trails, about 4 miles, Nordhouse Dunes trails, Nippising, Nordhouse Lake, Algoma Ridge, Lake Michigan loop, another 4 miles

The whole day reminded me of a Girl Scout song, "God has created a new day, silver and green and gold, live that the sunset may find us, worthy His gifts to hold." Perfect.

	See Pre Hike #3
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Pre-Hike #3

 
I'm leading a hike Aug 16, and once again needed to make sure there haven't been changes made before I go leading people into the woods. Someone might be watching!



I started at the Lake Michigan Recreation Area and hiked up to the viewing platform, then back down to the beach.



Then I followed the Porter Creek Trail and the outer bicycle loop. This all adds up to only about 3 miles. So I then I did the Arrowhead Trail, which puts you up on top of the dunes south of Porter Creek. I think these trees are doing a pas de deux.



That added one more mile. I was going to follow the Peters Grade (old rail road bed) south to Nordhouse Lake, but it looked like that unofficial trail was pretty wet, so I scooted up the dune again, and discovered they've given the trails actual names and put up signage. Hooray!

So, I followed the Nippising Trail to Nordhouse Lake, which is very full of water. Sometimes, at this time of year it's completely dried up.



Always love the patterns of the waves.



Then I cut northwest on the Nordhouse Lake Trail till it hit the Algoma Ridge Trail and turned north. From this ridge there are longer views of Lake Michigan. You can just see it shining silvery out there.



Then joined the Lake Michigan Trail and back to my car. Added about 4 more miles. Great weather, great hike! If you want to do all this with me on August 16, be sure to let me know.

In other news: I wrote in the morning.

Lake Michigan Recreation Area and Nordhouse Dunes, total miles about 8.

	See What Plan-it Are You On? See Nordhouse Lake dried up
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