March 9, 2019 My Saturday Morning Hike with Oslo, Nola & Pink Floyd

This morning was a rare instance when I felt like relaxing at the crib for the day. I have tickets to see Flogging Molly at the Aragon tonight, so I knew it would be a late night. Then Oslo, my 12 year old male dog, came bounding into the room like a fun loving puppy that wanted to go somewhere. Despite the temperature being 20 degrees below normal for March, I couldn't deny my four legged friend his Saturday Morning hike. On the ride to Central Beach at the Indiana Dunes National Park, I listened to Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd. So I had the songs in my head as we wandered across the frozen and isolated beach. All lyrics on the post are by Pink Floyd.

"Breathe, breathe in the air 

Don't be afraid to care

Leave, don't leave me

Walk around and choose your own ground"

 -Breathe 

It's been a long cold winter with very few sunny days. But I still love getting out of the house with my dogs. So what if the sandhill cranes are migrating north and wetlands of the Great Marsh are still frozen in early March. There is still beauty to be found walking between the gray skies and the monochrome ground. So outside I go...searching for something beautiful. 

This view is beautiful to me. These two love going on an adventure and so do I.

Oslo has always loved car rides and hiking but he seems to really enjoy or maybe appreciate his time hiking even more in his old age. He always looks like he is smiling on our adventures.

We've had several days of high winds in the past couple of weeks. This paved path to the beach is now covered with a couple inches of sand.

Nola searching for critters in the dune grass.

"The lunatic is on the grass

The lunatic is on the grass

Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs

Got to keep the loonies on the path"

- Brain Damage 

This five foot high wall of sand blocking the entrance to the bathrooms wasn't here on my last visit. 

"Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time 

Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

The time is gone, the song is over

Thought I'd something more to say"

- Time 

The recent winds have pushed the shelf ice up against the sand dunes.

Cold isolation and beautiful destruction out here on the southern shore of Lake Michigan.

"And all you create

And all you destroy

And all that you do

And all that you say"

- Eclipse

There is something incredibly powerful happening to the dunes out here. I keep referring to it as beautiful destruction. But it is more than that. It is the ebb and flow of time and the power of natural forces condensed for my viewing pleasure. During the past 20 years, Lake Michigan has had record low water levels and now it has very high water levels. So in relatively short time, I've seen huge beaches disappear and now the sand dunes collapsing into the lake.  

"For long you'll live, and high you'll fly

But only if you ride the tide

And balanced on the biggest wave

You race towards an early grave"

- Breathe 

"Us (us, us, us, us) and them (them, them, them, them)

And after all we're only ordinary men

Me

And you (you, you, you)

God only knows

It's not what we would choose (choose, choose) to do (to do, to do)"

- Us And Them

"And who knows which is which and who is who

Up (up, up, up, up)

And down (down, down, down, down)

And in the end it's only round 'n round (round, round, round)"

- Us And Them

My fascination with shapes, lines and forms created by nature is never ending.

Nola loves to investigate...today she jumped into this ice cave.

"The lunatic is in my head

The lunatic is in my head"

- Brain Damage

"Run, rabbit, run

Dig that hole, forget the sun

And when at last the work is done

Don't sit down it's time to dig another one"

- Breathe

"And I am not frightened of dying 

Any time will do, I don't mind

Why should I be frightened of dying?

There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime"

- The Great Gig In The Sky

Still having photographic fun with all the different shapes out here on the ice and on the dunes.

Oslo loves being off leash. I only do this if we are the only ones on the beach. I only let him off leash because he is old and can't out run me.

This looks like the terminus of a mini glacier on the beach.

Nola's little pinhead in this picture made me laugh.

I always wonder how the different shapes are formed on the shelf ice. This looks like water rushed in to the high point then flowed over the top causing the mound to get higher on the edges.

"Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you

No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun"

- Time 

"There's someone in my head but it's not me"

- Brain Damage

These little ice caps only appeared in this area on the beach.

"You raise the blade, you make the change

You re-arrange me 'til I'm sane

You lock the door

And throw away the key"

- Brain Damage

Besides the lines and textures of this sand dune, there are big chunks of concrete rolling down from the top of the dune. I'm guessing these were exposed when half the dune slid into the lake. 

Finally at the west end of Central Beach, there is some beach...

...and open water moving into the shelf ice. 

The shelf ice was solid along the rocky edge. So I was able to enjoy the views of the ice coated rocks along the shore.

"And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon" 

- Brain Damage

"Money, it's a crime

Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie

Money, so they say

Is the root of all evil today" 

- Money

This is so incredibly beautiful to me. 

Mother Nature always provides something amazing on these hikes.

"Far away

Across the field

Tolling on the iron bell

Calls the faithful to their knees

To hear the softly spoken magic spell"

- Time

"When I come home
Cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones
Beside the fire"

- Time

"So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking

Racing around to come up behind you again

The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older

Shorter of breath and one day closer to death"

- Time

While I climbed out here on the ice, I left the dogs tied to a downed tree on the beach. I heard someone surprisingly say "Oh shit". A young man and his dog climbed down the rocks to find Nola and Oslo alone on the beach. I yelled, "they are friendly" and ran back to the beach. He and his dog were hiking along all the beaches from the state park to Mount Baldy. We talked for a few minutes about how we both loved the outdoors and hiking with our dogs. Then he continued east toward Mount Baldy.

"And all that you eat

And everyone you meet (everyone you meet)

And all that you slight

And everyone you fight" 

- Eclipse

"All that you touch

And all that you see

All that you taste

All you feel"

- Eclipse

There is so much to see along the battered southern shoreline of Lake Michigan.

"Down (down, down, down, down)
And out (out, out, out, out)
It can't be helped that there's a lot of it about
With (with, with, with), without
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?"

- Us And Them

"Money, get back
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack
Money, it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet"

- Money

"Home

Home again

I like to be here

When I can"

- Time 

"Out of the way
It's a busy day
I've got things on my mind
For the want of the price
Of tea and a slice
The old man died"
- Us And Them

"And all that is now
And all that is gone
And all that's to come
And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon"

- Eclipse

"The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more"

- Brain Damage

"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day

Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way

Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town

Waiting for someone or something to show you the way"

- Time

"And all that you love
And all that you hate
All you distrust
All you save"

- Eclipse

"And all that you give
And all that you deal
And all that you buy
Beg, borrow or steal"

- Eclipse

There isn't much beach here but the young man I met earlier is already out of sight. He must have made it to Mount Baldy.

"Long you live and high you fly 

Smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry

All you touch and all you see

Is all your life will ever be"

- Breathe 

With warmer weather predicted next week...

...this could be my last look at the shelf ice this winter.

"And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear

You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"

- Eclipse