January 26, Rosy Mounds

Sunday:  After church this morning, Emma and I drove over to the lakeshore to see what we could see!

 It had been years since I had explored over at Rosy Mounds, so we started there. It's a super long walk through many trails to reach Lake Michigan, but it is a beautiful hike--not for the faint of heart, though. There are SO MANY STAIRS ... 217 of them to be exact ... and that does not take into account the ascending paths that had no stairs provided! Please note that the stairs were ICY, so this old lady had to be doubly careful so as not to slip and fall ...

 The weather was not stellar in any way, shape, or form, for photography. It was beyond overcast, no fresh snow to sparkle or dazzle ... no interesting cloud formations, no shadows to allure ... but at least it was 35 degrees, so it wasn't bitter cold. We layered up to the max and climbed (me, panting all the way).

 We stopped along the way to shoot some pictures, and you will be proud to note that throughout the afternoon (both here and over at the pier), I shot ONLY 83 pictures. I really restrained myself!

 It's really lovely back in the woods during the wintertime, isn't it? And there are no nasty bugs, mosquitoes, ticks, SPIDERS, bees, hornets to harrass innocent folk out for a good time in God's great outdoors!

 This is the view of Lake Michigan from the top of the mound. The wind was much more WINDY up here, and so it felt much colder.

 We hiked on and on ... I was hoping to get all the way down to the beach ...

 And I was still hopeful all the way until we got to this lookout ...

 And saw that there essentially was ZERO beach down there to walk on! Perhaps a foot or two, but the waves were coming in all along the shore. I decided NOT to go down.

 There really isn't anything quite like Lake Michigan in my estimation. I am always stunned by its beauty and power. 

 Here you can see that the stairway that USED to lead to beach is hanging in mid-air with essentially nowhere to go ... it's been cordoned off so that dumb people don't dangle off it I guess.

 On a clearer day, you can see all the way to the Grand Haven lights from here ... but we could only just glimpse the pier today.

 We were pretty cold, so we decided to hike back up the trail and drive down to the pier to check out the beach erosion up close and personal ...

Thank you for the beautiful things you create, Lord. You are very amazing and totally Awesome.