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    The northeastern side of the Pictured Rock National Lake Shore starts at the village of Grand Marais, MI.  We made a few stops on the east to west park road today. 

   Sable Falls has a short access trail with 168 steps down, and then back up.  For many the stairs are a bit daunting, for me it was chance to work the legs, 2 stairs at a time on the way up, pfew…  The falls were short and sweet.  A side trail goes to a sample of the high dunes with a view.

  The eastern end visitors center closes for the season today. With words of advice, we proceeded to the log slide for picnic lunch and another short walk.  The path leads to an informational shed with vintage log cart with 10’ diameter wheels used to transport logs to the slide.  The path pushes up a soft sandy path to the height of the dunes. A young woman in a bikini is walking back from the steep slide to the water, think James Bond movie.   I asked her if she went for a swim and she confirmed with a smile and says the trip down the slide is fast, about 30 seconds, the hike back up the 200’ steep sandy wall is a workout and takes 20 minutes.  No picture, use your imagination.   

   The prominence is stunning!! The severe drop with unstable sandy edges takes your breath away and tests you balance and resolve.  I am stunned to watch Linda, who acknowledges a fear of heights push ahead on the narrow path for a big view of the dunes to the east.  We are alone, then two others cautiously join at the edge.  Others come along, a bald eagle is seen gliding in the distance below our perch.  The magical spot gets too crowded for me and we retreat.  A definite best of dunes destination!

   We made a couple of other stops driving west, then took a 4 mile rough road to Mosquito Falls, which was a disappointing outing, but did have a few notable stops.  On the return, we watched a red squirrel for 5 minutes.  This busy guy had been cutting cones from the tree top earlier which now littered the ground.  Without a moment of rest, he would grab a small cone, run to his winter stash, and add to the pile for winter storage in the ground.  I gave up trying to photograph due to the blurry speed, Linda was more patient and captured his pose as I walked on.   

• 2023 Fall