So I have to split July 3rd into two days because so much happened and I have so much to say about it. Saturday my destination was the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was the along the shores of Lake Superior and it was gorgeous!! I grew up around Lake Ontario and never thought the Great Lakes were something to be marveled over. This water was blue/green and clear as could be. It reminded me of Florida actually (but 20 degrees cooler on its hottest day). My first stop was outside of Grand Marais, Michigan. I hiked out to the Grand Sable Dunes.
I had been to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado 3 times so I wasn't as impressed by the size of these sand dunes. However, I was impressed at the sheer cliffs and "ghost forests" that they formed. A ghost forest is when a forest grows but then the dunes take over and starve out the trees to they are "ghosts".
There were really no trails so I hiked over to the shore and the sand just dropped off a cliff so I became a little more cautious. The oddest thing was hiking through the forest and then the trail turns to sand and then you are in the middle of dunes and then there's a Great Lake in front of you. Quite the changing ecosystems. I then hiked over to Sable Falls. They were very picturesque.
My next stop was the Log Slide overlook. Apparently the UP relied on timber, copper and ore for their economy in the past and this area was where a lot of timber was harvested. So I hiked out and I see the following sign
That's right. This park lets people fall down a sheer sandy cliff that apparently was previously used to shove logs down!! I didn't think anybody would actually do it since it takes less than a minute to go down and about an hour to come back up. But of course, there were some idiots doing it. When I stepped out of the forest and onto the sand I was immediately swarmed by flies. I wasn't that concerned until I realized these flies sting! What!? What kind of heinous devil spawn of a fly are these things? I had never heard of killer flies but these things were swarming me and I could barely take any pictures. I barely lasted a minute there and I ran back to my car through the woods like I was on fire.
The main road through the park was closed for construction so I headed back and took a 12 mile detour down a dirt road. Every roadtrip I'm on I always hit at least one dirt road, usually unintentionally. Luckily, this one wasn't in too bad a shape and it shaved about an hour off the detour I thought I had to take. I then caught another 5 mile long dirt road to a trailhead. I hiked to Chapel Falls.
The nice thing about Michigan is that it's covered in trees so the hike was nice and shady. The Fall were pretty. I decided to hike 1.5 miles further to Chapel Beach.
There's a really pretty rock (Chapel Rock of course) that sits above the beach. I was walking past it and thought, oh my gosh this is the most beautiful beach I've ever seen! It's crystal clear water and there's Chapel Rock and then a little waterfall that runs into Lake Superior and the beach runs along the shore until it hits these beautiful cliffs (the pictured rocks). I started running down to the water and all of a sudden here come the damn satan flies! Now I realized why this beach was nearly deserted.
I was so hot I dove into the water in my jean shorts and yellow tank top and glasses. I was so disappointed because I wanted to spend some time relaxing at this gorgeous spot but I couldn't escape the flies. After submersing myself as much as possible, I surfaced to leave. I sighted in my shoes and bag on shore and took a deep breath and burst out of the water, ran across the burning sand, grabbed my shoes in one hand and my bag in another and took off running through the forest. I was soaked and my hair was dripping onto my glasses so I couldn't see and my feet were covered in dirt and I was swatting the flies so I got sand and dirt all over me. I'm pretty sure the other hikers thought I was some feral creature running through the forest.
I had been to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado 3 times so I wasn't as impressed by the size of these sand dunes. However, I was impressed at the sheer cliffs and "ghost forests" that they formed. A ghost forest is when a forest grows but then the dunes take over and starve out the trees to they are "ghosts".
There were really no trails so I hiked over to the shore and the sand just dropped off a cliff so I became a little more cautious. The oddest thing was hiking through the forest and then the trail turns to sand and then you are in the middle of dunes and then there's a Great Lake in front of you. Quite the changing ecosystems. I then hiked over to Sable Falls. They were very picturesque.
My next stop was the Log Slide overlook. Apparently the UP relied on timber, copper and ore for their economy in the past and this area was where a lot of timber was harvested. So I hiked out and I see the following sign
That's right. This park lets people fall down a sheer sandy cliff that apparently was previously used to shove logs down!! I didn't think anybody would actually do it since it takes less than a minute to go down and about an hour to come back up. But of course, there were some idiots doing it. When I stepped out of the forest and onto the sand I was immediately swarmed by flies. I wasn't that concerned until I realized these flies sting! What!? What kind of heinous devil spawn of a fly are these things? I had never heard of killer flies but these things were swarming me and I could barely take any pictures. I barely lasted a minute there and I ran back to my car through the woods like I was on fire. 
The main road through the park was closed for construction so I headed back and took a 12 mile detour down a dirt road. Every roadtrip I'm on I always hit at least one dirt road, usually unintentionally. Luckily, this one wasn't in too bad a shape and it shaved about an hour off the detour I thought I had to take. I then caught another 5 mile long dirt road to a trailhead. I hiked to Chapel Falls. 
The nice thing about Michigan is that it's covered in trees so the hike was nice and shady. The Fall were pretty. I decided to hike 1.5 miles further to Chapel Beach.
There's a really pretty rock (Chapel Rock of course) that sits above the beach. I was walking past it and thought, oh my gosh this is the most beautiful beach I've ever seen! It's crystal clear water and there's Chapel Rock and then a little waterfall that runs into Lake Superior and the beach runs along the shore until it hits these beautiful cliffs (the pictured rocks). I started running down to the water and all of a sudden here come the damn satan flies! Now I realized why this beach was nearly deserted. 
I was so hot I dove into the water in my jean shorts and yellow tank top and glasses. I was so disappointed because I wanted to spend some time relaxing at this gorgeous spot but I couldn't escape the flies. After submersing myself as much as possible, I surfaced to leave. I sighted in my shoes and bag on shore and took a deep breath and burst out of the water, ran across the burning sand, grabbed my shoes in one hand and my bag in another and took off running through the forest. I was soaked and my hair was dripping onto my glasses so I couldn't see and my feet were covered in dirt and I was swatting the flies so I got sand and dirt all over me. I'm pretty sure the other hikers thought I was some feral creature running through the forest.
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