One last look ...

Steelhead on the north shore of Grand Haven

I have a friend (whom I used to work with at RVO) that I get together with every now and then ... but actually, it's been close to a year since we had seen each other. We e-mail each other occasionally and decided to get together and take a nice long walk this morning. And why not drive out to Grand Haven while we were at it?

This is what the Grand Haven lighthouse looks like from the tippy top of the dunes at North Park Beach. I loaded these pictures out of order and it absolutely will not let me move it to the right location!

I picked Cheryl up a little after 8:00 this morning and we drove down beautiful Lake Michigan Drive all the way to M-31 ... and came as close as I have ever come in my life to hitting a rather large deer ~ it darted out from a corn field right smack in front of my car ... my heart was in my throat for awhile after that as we drove. We both gave thanks to God that we didn't crash! We started at the North Shore and parked in what is usually an empty parking lot ... but today it was packed to the full with fishermen! They were fishing from the north pier, as well as all along the north beach ... and catching steelhead and some whitefish as well.

It was a gorgeous morning. The wind was up, the waves were nice, the air was brisk and the beach, lighthouse, dunes ... well ~ everything was perfect!

The fishermen were wearing waders and would go in the lake past the first sandbar to lay their bait (fish eggs) and then walk back in and cast way out. We walked north for a little while, talked to the fishermen, and then drove two miles north over to North Park Beach to hike up the dunes.

When Sabrina and her family were "home" this summer, this is where we came to swim and spend the day. We intended to climb these dunes, but we had taken such a long walk on the beach that we ran out of time ... and energy! But this morning, Cheryl and I climbed to the top.

There is a beautiful boardwalk the entire way with dense woods all along both edges ... what an amazing combination to see these fabulous trees with Lake Michigan as a background! I have often walked through the woods thinking how perfect it would be if ONLY Lake Michigan were just around the bend ...

And the morning light could not have been better. I just love those shadows.

These are pretty high dunes. You can see SO far from up there. I love heights. I was wondering what the view of the lighthouse would be from up here ... (and this is where that first picture of the lighthouse in the distance was supposed to be loaded). I took several pictures of the lighthouse from on top of these dunes and not a single one of them turned out ... but the lighthouse is more than two miles from this spot and I do not have a telephoto lens ... (!)

Cheryl had heard of another protected dune area south of Grand Haven called Rosy Mound Natural Area and heard it was good for hiking ... so since it was so close, we decided to check it out.

There were lots of folk out there enjoying this great place ... lots of families and little children. It is a 0.7 mile walk from the parking lot to a great hiking trail through high wooded dunes to the shoreline. There are 1,000 feet of up and down stairs to travel!

I took over 200 pictures today ... I couldn't help myself! We sat down on the beach and listened to the surf and watched the sunlight dance off the water ...

We had temperatures in the low 50's today, and it was real windy, but we were wearing lots of layers and the sun was wonderfully warm.

There are many trails you can take to and from the shoreline. We've decided to come back another time and do some exploring.

We drove north to just pass by the lighthouse one more time before heading back to Grand Rapids early this afternoon. We watched this wind surfer for a long time. He was actually taking the waves and using them to propel himself into the air to do flips and all sorts of tricks. He crashed a few times, but he kept at it!

What a view. In just a few weeks now the cold and winter snows will drastically change the landscape of this place. I turned back with my camera for one last look ... one more glance at beautiful Lake Michigan ...