Beaver Lake Epic Hike

Last week I went on a 12-mile epic hike with Helen Riley in the Beaver Lake area.  It was chilly at the start with temperatures in the mid-20s.  It was also quite windy.  However, the colors were absolutely beautiful, as was the trail.

The drive into the Beaver Basin was amazing.

We hiked the trail in a counter-clockwise direction.

Yes, there was just a trace of snow.  However, some of the bridges were VERY slippery.

We stopped for lunch at Trappers Lake.  The photo below shows our view.

A section of the trail went along Lake Superior.

Shipwreck log on the beach....

Log jam at the mouth of Beaver Creek.

Beaver dam on Beaver Lake.

Fall Colors and More

This weekend I spent time with my uncle and aunt as well as with friends, Catherine and Tom O'Brien.  With my uncle and aunt we did a fall color tour into the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

The first bridge on the trail from Sable Visitors' Center to Sable Falls is broken off on one end.  It is just resting on dirt, but is not real stable.

The flow rate over Sable Falls looks more like spring melt flow rate than it does the usual fall flow rate.

 Catherine and Tom....

Recent storms have eroded the entire beach at the mouth of Sable River.  The storm surge and waves were washing up to the bottom of the bluff, so we could not even get down to the beach!

Craig Lake Hike

This week I was supposed to celebrate the end of the museum's season by going on a three day backpack in the Pictured Rocks with my friend, Helen Riley.  However, the weather did not cooperate so we had one day to go on a hike.  Neither of us had ever hiked Craig Lake, so we went for it.  This park is one of the most isolated in the state's park system.  It is located a little over an hour west of Marquette and is accessed by a seven mile long dirt road off of US41.

Fall colors on the drive from Marquette as well as in the park were near peak.  Just beautiful!

The previous night we had a tornado watch.  Nothing developed, but the wind did knock trees down.  We had to move the tree shown below off of the access road ourselves.

Getting started....to begin the temperature was only 34 degrees!

Awesome shelf fungi that looks like a carnelian agate!

The forest floor was almost as colorful as the forest canopy!

First rest stop of only a few minutes.

Thankfully there were some fairly new bridges over some of the rivers crossing the trail.

There were boulders of all sizes!

Weird fungi....

 

Lunch spot.....

Lunch included sandwiches made by Helen's husband, Jimmy, as well as Fritos and cookies.

Craig Lake views....

End of the trail....