This is how my Sunday morning started with two dogs passed out on my bed. Yeti only raised his head when I took this picture. These two are ignoring the 6-foot social distancing rules. They could care less that the world is falling apart. So we decided to drive out to Mount Baldy and see if we can access the beach. We stopped at Munster Donuts to support a local business but they were closed. So we picked up some tasty baked goods at another locally owned business Jannsen's Dune Mart in Beverly Shores.
It's a gray day for our Sunday Funday hike at Mount Baldy. Since the world has gone crazy these hikes have been the perfect escape for me. I hope we can get down to the beach today.
Nola had no interest in posing at the NPS sign.
Yeti was very excited to be out hiking in the woods and so am I.
Nola and Yeti were practically running along the trail.
The lake looks very calm today compared to yesterday. I love seeing the waves but the damage they have caused has been a disaster. There isn't a clear path to the beach but there is a social trail that appears to angle down the dunes.
It's a long way down to the beach and there is a narrow trail right along the edge of a 40-foot cliff.
Yeti and I waited while Christy and Nola made it down to the beach.
The view halfway down the dune. I'll admit I'm pretty excited to be able to hike here at Mt. Baldy. It's been a long time since I've been on the beach here.
This is the most beach I've seen on Lake Michigan in a very long time. This looks like it's going to be a fun hike.
Yeti ran right into the lake. I can't wait for it to warm up so I can go in with him. He loves going into the water.
It will be easy for us to practice social distancing, we are the only ones on the beach now.
This is the dune we just hiked down. The upper part of the trail to the beach is on the edge of that ridge in the middle. There are already cracks in the sand below the trail. Even though the destruction of the dunes is incredible to see and photograph, it does bother me to see it. Especially because it just keeps getting worse every time I visit the dunes. I've used the term beautiful disaster to describe what is happening here.
We started hiking west toward Central Beach when we saw something beautiful among the destruction. There are so many trees that have fallen onto the beach as the dunes collapse. I spotted an ice-covered tree along the shore with icicles hanging off the branches. In my head, I started singing "Something Beautiful" by Trombone Shorty
"Can you show me something beautiful?
Can you show me something beautiful?
Beautiful, show me something beautiful"
Yeti started running up the sand dune chasing something. I couldn't see any animals or birds. Then Christy realized he was chasing sand falling down the dunes.
The dunes here are half gone. Most have collapsed from the highest point down to the beach and out into the lake. The tree roots extend down the dune 40 to 50 long.
All kinds of things get washed ashore during the storms.
The dunes side of the beautiful disaster...
...and the shoreline side. I kept seeing more ice dangling from trees as we walked west on the beach. And I kept singing.
"Can you show me something beautiful?
Can you show me something beautiful?
Beautiful, show me something beautiful"
"Do you feel temperatures rising?
Do you see flashes of lightning
So brightly?"
I was amazed to see so many icicles hanging off of everything near the lake. It got cold last night but not bitterly cold.
"Do you know who
Who would love to love you?
I do
Can you let your worried mind move?"
It was about this point that I was as excited as a kid in a candy shop. The photographer in me couldn't stop taking pictures. But that wasn't the only reason I loved being on this beach. The solitude of being the only people walking along the lake was very relaxing.
As I kept singing "can you show me something beautiful", Mother Nature kept obliging me.
"Can you show me something beautiful?
Beautiful, show me something beautiful
Can you show me something beautiful?
Beautiful, show me something beautiful"
This reminded me of the White Walkers from Game of Thrones.
"Can you show me something beautiful?
Beautiful, show me something beautiful
Can you show me something beautiful?
Beautiful, show me something beautiful"
There's something beautiful and tragic about this hike. I guess I've come to the conclusion that there is nothing I can do about the destruction of the dunes. It is a natural 35-year cycle of the lake rising and falling. So I made my peace with that. It saddens me at times but not this morning. I was ecstatic to be out here and very happy we chose this beach.
"Do you see the colours changing?
Can you feel them rearranging?
Amazing"
"Do you know who
Who would love to love you?
I do
Can you feel the things that I do?"
As you look at these pictures, you would think that it is bitterly cold. It was about 30 degrees when we got here.
"When the push comes to shove
When the world is hiding love"
"And it's fading and cold
When the world has grown dull"
"Can you show me something beautiful?
Beautiful, show me something beautiful
Can you show me something beautiful?
Show me something beautiful"
I rejoined the rest of my family and we continued hiking toward Central Beach.
The landscape is pretty barren. Yeti blends right in.
"Show me something beautiful
Can you show me something beautiful?
Beautiful, show me something beautiful
Can you show me something beautiful?" - Something Beautiful by Troy Edwards
We got a chance to video part of the dunes collapsing.
Christy and Nola providing some perspective on the height of these dunes.
When the dunes collapse, the compressed sand at the bottom gets exposed. It feels like a soft rock on the beach.
We walked to the creek that divides Mt. Baldy and Central Beach. Since there is no beach to walk on across the creek, we walked along the creek.
Eventually, we ran out of sand to walk on again.
So it was time to turn around.
But Yeti kept chasing the shifting sands on the dunes.
He was enjoying our hike as much as I was.
While Christy and Nola walked back on the beach.
Yeti kept trying to pull me into the lake.
Then Nola joined him.
The things I do for these dogs.
Now Yeti and I sat on the beach waiting for Christy and Nola who were searching for sea glass.
After many attempts at a selfie with my eyes open, this is the one that made me laugh the most.
My artistic shot of the girls on the beach.
Another picture where Yeti blends in.
These are not little trees falling from the forest at the top of the dunes.
Some of the fallen trees are getting buried on the beach...
...and coated with ice too.
There's nothing better than a Sunday Funday walk on the beach with your dog.
On the trail through the woods, Christy took this picture showing that Spring is almost here.
We ran into a few people on the beach and the trail back to the parking lot. Just about everyone we meet out here is very friendly. That must say something about the people who decide to hike on a cloudy, dreary but also beautiful day.
There are Ranger led hikes on Mount Baldy. I highly recommend taking one. This is an amazing place that is a living dune. It moves about four feet per year. You can read about it online but it is much cooler to have a park ranger "show you something beautiful" while walking across it.
