Sunny Dune Hike

It was supposed to be sunny the last two days, but I woke yesterday morning to very gray skies.  But by mid afternoon, the sun finally came out!  It has been a long while since we have seen the sun here in the U.P.  Since the wind has finally also dies down, I decided to head up into the dunes.  Friends and I parked at the Masse Homestead trail head, hiked down the trail and then up into the dunes.

A few photos from the trail in the woods....

And then in the dunes....

I love taking pictures of Au Sable Lighthouse from different angles.  I'm not sure I have ever taken one from this high dune that allows you to see not only the lighthouse, but also some of the out buildings.

Yet another 120 year old telegraph poles...

The extreme winds that we have had lately have made some neat patterns in the dunes.

The view looking west...

It looks like just another bush in the dunes, but...

There was a huge block of birds feeding...

And then they took flight.

Moss by flash...

By the time we started heading back to the cars, the sun was going down.  As many times as we have hiked the dunes, you would think we would be able to find our exit route.  For the second time in a row, we hiked too far east and had to bushwhack through dense woods by head lamp.  We had a compass so we knew what direction to hike.  However, as we crested a high dune it was comforting to see a car on H58 not more than a 1,000 feet away.  That was not an easy dune to descend, but we made it down and then walked the road west back to our car.  I had brought hot soup, crackers, and a cranberry salad which we had not yet taken time to eat.  So we went and parked at Sable Lake overlook and had dinner.  It was a challenging but great hike.  And it sure was nice to see the sun.