Todays Walk in the Parks

It was a very nice day for a walk about so I headed out to see what was happening at our local parks. I began by going to  the Lincoln Township Beach and was discouraged by the loss of the boardwalk and gazebos along with the extreme loss of beach area.

From there I went to the North Lake Park (1 of the 3 Grand Mere lakes) I took a few pictures of people fishing and kayaking and spent a hour or so doing a little metal detecting but only found a few pennies and a good bit of trash metal.

From there it was to the Grand Mere Natural Landmark area, specifically the beach access point and what I found is “NO” Beach area at all. Just a path to the water where rocks/ boulders have been deposited to hopefully inhibit further cliff erosion.  The pictures tell it all here.

From there to the Grand Mere State Park where I took the left path from the parking lot  thru the low lands but the tick warning signs deterred me from staying long on theses’ paths and I went back to the starting point and selected the right  side path toward lake Michigan.

It was a bit of a trek and I should have taken a bottle of water and a walking stick.  Next time I will be sure to notify my next of kin where I am trekking.  Sometimes one forgets that what the mind says you can do isn’t necessarily what the body can follow up on.  At least the return hike from the high sandy dunes was down hill. Yep, I was about out of gas by the time I got back to the parking area.

In spite of that, after downing a cold bottle of water and cooling off in the airconditioned car, I did go to one more place and that was down Livingston road, parallel to the D.C. Cook plant property.

I wanted to see how  much beach was there and checked out the barriers used to inhibit traffic on the lake side of the nuclear plant. I did wave bye at the security cameras when I left. As a side note, there response time to people on that road “near” their property line is very fast so I would not lotter in that area.

As usual, the pictures tell it all.

1st – Lincoln Township Park

Lincoln Township Park Entry path
1st Parking area –
Drive to the beach
Parking area minus the boardwalk.
Looking toward the lake to the left beach area.
Right side of beach looking toward the “Chalet on the Lake”.

2nd – North Lake Park – Off John Beers Road

North Lake Park – nice kayak launch, benches and shelters with fun park for the kids.
Shade tree and benches
Loving the water

3nd. Grand Mere National Natural Landmark

Grand Mere National Natural Landmark – opposite side is the path to Lake Michigan
Path to the beach
Steep drop to the waters edge
Not much beach is there?
Left and right side of the “beach” look like this.

4th Grand Mere State Park

Entry to the park
first greeting signs
Took the path to the left
Lower paths rambled thru the low land
This did get my attention – now where did I put that deet!
This time I took the path to the right 🙂
I don’t care what you think, this is a lot steeper than you think!
Nice smooth path leading toward the dunes
The angle is increasing and the sand is soft (and tiring)
I told you it was getting steeper.

Short cut to the top of the dune – hope to see water soon! Eureka- made it to the top. Now if I can only make it back!

Finally back to the parking are – now the AC and water

#5 – Not Dr. Livingstone I presume, just the end of Livingston Road (Bridgman)

Finally some nice beach area , left of the barriers of course.
Dead end road, do not go further, do not pay $200 fine or more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beach Scene at end of  Livingston road, Bridgman, MI