Grand Sable Dunes hike plus rock shop building ready for remodeling

The process of remodeling the building that will house the Agatelady Rock Shop began a year ago when I had new windows installed. Last fall I had the new parking lot installed and began clearing out the rock shop building. It was full of some of my things, but also wood and other items left by the previous home owner. Two Suburban loads were taken to recycling/landfill last fall, and one more load this spring. During the last two days, I moved the rest of the usable wood to my wood shed and some furniture (some of which will be used in the new rock shop) to my garage. Then I had to remove the rest of the old and critter-impacted insulation and sweep. It was a huge effort!

As you can see from the photos below, other than one piece of furniture and structure for stacking wood (left over from the previous owner), everything is ready for remodeling. The main people door shown in the first image below will be removed, framed in, and a new people door will be built on the north wall. Also, the large slider will be removed, the opening will be framed in, and a 32" x 64" area of glass bricks will be installed as well as a small viewing window I can use to see when cars drive up my driveway. We are installing a drop ceiling, insulation, and interior walls. Because critters have chewed on the wiring, we decided to completely rewire the building and add new light fixtures. For the floor we are using garage floor epoxy with colored grit that we will spread to resemble agates. I had to clean out the building this week since all the remodeling materials are being delivered on Monday.

Two small additions are also being added. One will be built off the southeast corner of the building in which cases of books will be stored. The home-made people door shown in the center of the image below will be replaced.

My sales counter will sit in front of the horizontal windows shown on the left side of the image below.

When I removed all the wood that was sitting on the platform which was located in the southwest corner of the building, I found a huge pile of scat. A weasel was lived in the building for at least a few years. It was impossible to keep critters out of the building since the home-made doors had gaps (especially the sliding barn door). I saw the weasel a few times. He had a very cute face! Once the wood was removed, I moved the structure to the middle of the floor so the new interior wall boards can be stored when it is delivered on Monday. The really gross scat pile is shown below.

On your mark, get so go!

Then to celebrate getting the building cleared out, I went hiking with friends in the Grand Sable Dunes last evening.

Mackinac Island

This past weekend was the 35th anniversary of the Allnighters. We originally started this celebratory weekend to take time away from husbands, kids, and responsibilities. We originally started at a house in the school forest (the house is now gone due to erosion). For the past 14 years we have met on Mackinac Island. Due to life issues and commitments, only six of us attended this year. Thanks to those who attended for a great time. We missed those who were not able to attend.

We caught the ferry from Saint Ignace....

Grand Hotel

Fort

Most of our group. One more friend joined us the next day.

Living room of the house in which we stay.

I love this painting.

Stairs to go up to the bedrooms.

Side porch (there are cushions inside the door). We had one day of sun, although it was cold. However, we did sit out on the porch for a while in the afternoon.

View from our front door.

We had steak for dinner.

Renee was not able to join us, so we brought with us a picture of her.

We went for a walk. Below is a photo of the Mackinac Bridge from a road above where we stayed.

A local who allowed me to take a photo.

Dinner...

We had a cake to celebrate #35.

On the weekend we went to a local play. I was very impressed with the performances, the sets, and the coordination by the whole crew. Great job and a good time!

Two of us had to leave a day early. I snapped the following two photos showing how few tourists are on the island in April. There were very few stores/restaurants open.

Two of us were waiting for the ferry, while the others saw us off.

It was even empty at the dock.

Sable Lake to Lake Superior hike across the Grand Sable Dunes

Yesterday was still winter-like with temperatures in the low to mid 30s and light snow, but we decided to hike across the dunes. The road commission has plowed the snow, so we were able to drive all the way to Sable Lake. So up into the dunes we went.....

We saw lots of animal tracks in the dunes including deer, mice, seagulls, and what we think are wolf tracks shown below.

As we climbed to the top of the first big dune, I turned around and took a picture of the still frozen Sable Lake.

Throughout the dunes, there is evidence of spring. Below shows moss and lichen already turning green.

The photo below shows a plant starting its spring growth. We used an online plant ID app which identified it as a couple of different plants. We think it is snow plant.

 

 

The large mushroom below is an old puff ball. It is around 9" in diameter.

 

The following photo shows one of the telegraph poles still standing after around 140 years. The telegraph line connected AuSable Lighthouse with Grand Marais.

Finally, after around 75 minutes of hiking we reached the bluff over Lake Superior. The view with shelf ice mounds, floating ice on the lake, and pools of water at the base of the dunes was absolutely beautiful and dynamic. These photos do not do the view any justice.

 

 

We spotted a couple of male merganser ducks swimming off shore. The zoom on my camera allowed me to get a few photos.

 

 

We sat near the bluff for a long break that allowed us to take in the view.

 

 

 

The photo below shows a close up of melt water coming off the face of the dunes.

After an hour break, we headed back across the dunes.

We looked up this scat online and determined it to be porcupine scat.

After another hour, we arrived back to Sable Lake. In total we hiked 3.5 miles.