By the time we left our house this morning, it has been raining in Chicagoland for most of the last 36 hours. Not storms, just on and off steady rain. I'm sure the farmers love it. I had to get out of the house and Chrissy had a rare Sunday off, so we took the dogs to Mount Baldy.
There were some distinct and unusual birds calling on the hike through the woods. Nola had to react to all of them.
It looks like the NPS has given up on trying to maintain a trail down to the beach on this collapsing dune.
Here's a shot without Nola's head in it.
I could hear the surf way back on the trail. We may not have sunshine. But we have real waves today.
The old timers having trouble staying on the trail.
This sign fell onto the beach from the eroded base of Mount Baldy.
There are huge sections of the cliff at the base of Mount Baldy that have fallen off in the two weeks since I was last here. The sand is extremely soft which made for great footprint pictures.
Oslo's tracks on the left.
With the waves and rough surf, I'm guessing the only reason there is any beach along this section is because so much dune collapsed into the water.
These waves were perfect for body surfing...almost perfect. They were breaking right on the incline up to the beach in most places. The one area they were breaking 20 feet from the shoreline is where I went in to try to ride them. The floor was way too soft. I sank into the loose sand in a few places and had trouble walking out due to the soft sand. It killed me to be so close but I couldn't get out far enough to ride any waves.
Oslo decided to rest.
I love this dog...
...this dog is a bit harder to love, but she's alright.
A girl and her goofy dog...
...a dog and his goofy girl.
This is a common occurrence...
...this is not. When Nola laid down, we both were so surprised.
Hanging out on the beach.
I brushed Oslo and the breeze took his fur across the beach.
We walked out to Pirate's Cove, but could not get to the break wall. I have not seen the water all the way into the rocks on any visit here. I attempted to walk out there but it was like quick sand. I sank in up to my knees.
So I stood here and tried to get a wave crashing through the break wall...finally success.
The waves were rolling all the way to the dunes in this area. Made for cool reflection pictures.
Even with the heavy grass cover, this low dune is beginning to erode into the lake.
Of course CSI Nola has to inspect everything.
I love this picture.
I was just playing with the different colors and textures when I realized there were paw prints in the sand.
I can not get over how quickly the landscape is changing here. I wish I could setup a time lapse camera to watch the dunes. It would really cool to see the results.
Walking back to the trail head.
The few plants left appearing to be doing quite well. Finally some color near the bottom of the dunes.
Another post that fell of the cliff of Mt. Baldy...when I saw this...my mind went to this...
...I never said I was normal.
The dark clouds seemed endless this weekend.
This cliff was probably 5-10 feet closer to the lake two weeks ago.
There is so much driftwood on the beach, it's hard to tell if it fell from the dunes or washed ashore from somewhere else.
Oslo hates turning around on a hike because he knows we are heading back to the car. This was the third time he "rested" on our way back.
Nola always being our guard dog.
Oslo gave me that 'sideways fuck you look' when I said "C'mon boy let's go"
Back where we started, this time climbing up the dune.
I couldn't believe it when the sun broke through the clouds and onto the trail through the woods. We stopped and chatted with a friendly park ranger and a few other people in the parking lot. It is so nice to spend time with people who love the natural beauty of our world.
I took this picture of the backside of Mount Baldy because I was stunned by the clear blue sky over the lake. It was a 15 minute walk from the completely cloud covered beach to here.
We stopped at this locally owned place for lunch in Michigan City. They have car hops (not on roller skates) that take your order and their home brewed Root Beer is served in a glass mug. Definitely worth stopping at if you are in Michigan City...Carlson's Drive In.
Another great Sunday.
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