2011-Day2-Hikin the Dunes

Hello all! Colin and Hunter here, delivering to you info on day two of our sleeping bear dunes trip.

In the morning, Mr. Kelly, Dr. C, Brennan, and Mr. Graff Sr. went to a Sunday mass in town, while the rest of us had a five minute prayer service before we chowed down on biscuits and gravy, sausage and watermelon. Then we drove to the dunes and prepared ourselves for the then mile trip that could very well be one of the most tiring things I’ve ever done. We started the hike out with a huge hill, followed be many other smaller hills, leading into a large basin with sand, going up to a very large peak with sand, and leading into a forest down a huge hill of- you guessed it- more sand! Eventually we made it out of the sand and walked down the road to the Maritime Museum.  But before we went there, we stopped and had a bite to eat. For lunch today we had hot dogs and leftover chicken with watermelon, carrots, and celery. Then we packed ahead for dinner, which was sandwiches, chips, and granola bars. After that we headed on over to the museum. There we saw how the U.S. life saving services saved ships sinking into the lake. Parker and Wiley helped demonstrate that.

After that we hiked on over to an entrance to the lake about five minutes down the road. There we swam and attempted to get our socks and boots on without getting them wet and sandy. Then the hard part began. Most of us started the next part of the hike with boots on by the lake. Then we got farther and the lake got closer to land and a branch was on the shore that we had to go around, and the sand sloped down to the water at a 100o angle! So we all stopped and either went bare footed or in sandals/water shoes. We walked a lot further great with no worries about water. We saw a small ship wreck and a huge flock of birds which Brennan scared away! We took a small rest on the last part, then that was all will see of Lake Michigan on this trip for that day. We hiked up, down, up, down, farther up, slightly down, far up, flat, up, down, up, and then down. We made it with a 100% no injury or lost person. We had fun.

When we went down the last dune we were listening to the music from the concert and ate dinner which was a lunch meat sandwich, chips, candy bar, cheese stick, and a bit more. Then we went to get a dip in Lake Glen because we were a group of sandmen! But then we felt 10 times better. By: Colin C. and Gingy K.