6-9-2018
Ludington, MI
11:30 am – Today is the day that we visit a bunch of light houses. We have finally arrived at the first one. The trail head promises a 1-2 mile walk down a paved road. Mason decides he wants more adventure, so we instead wind through the forest for a longer hike.
We stumble upon a sign promising a shipwreck. Gob and Mason leave our current course in the name of adventure. Unfortunately, they are disappointed and cannot find any signs of a ship wreck. The only interesting thing among the sand are four tree trunks that all seem to have been stuck by lightning at one point or another. We head back to the original trail and pass 4 children with their father. The children cannot contain their excitement about seeing the shipwreck. We warn the father of our disappointment so that he can begin to prepare.
Our sandy path turns to asphalt, and soon the light house is in view. We walk around and I snap a few pictures. It begins to look like rain. Nevertheless, Mason opts for the long route back through the dunes, adding another couple of miles to what should have been no more than 2 miles round trip. I let out the appropriate amount of grumbles and we set out.
The views are beautiful, but walking through deep sand is proving tedious. The path is poorly marked with a single post every quarter mile or so. I am having flash backs to our experience in the Tetons. It sprinkles for a few seconds and then stops. I grumble a few more times. Mason with his long legs keeps looking back to check on me. I attempt to explain the physics of how our different leg lengths impact our paces. He calls me a “Petoskey butt,” which has somehow become our term for “lazy” during this trip.
We eventually reach the partition of sand and forest, which of course is an extremely steep slope of sand (at least 200 meters in length at an angle of 50 degrees). A family is struggling up the slope, so we graciously step off to the side to allow them to summit before we attempt to go down. Once the path is clear, we decide that sprinting down the slope is our best option. It is incredibly fun.
Once in the woods, we pick up our pace. I grumbled about a few more things but cannot recall the subject. I’m sure it was justified though. Gob attempts to dive into a pit of black mud, but we intervene in time.
Interested in checking out this park? Find out more here!
Check out my other Michigan State Park adventures!
Hypertenuse 