Saturday and early Sunday at Dune Lake was cloudy but by
mid-morning, it cleared and was beautifully cool. This morning (Monday) it’s
overcast, humid, 77 degrees, and breezy.
We left Dune Lake at 9:45 and stopped at WalMart for a 30
foot extension cord for the RV, in case we run into more places that have
hookups a mile away. Now we’ll probably never need it. In spite of that stop
and one at our new favorite store, Meijer (pronounced Meyer) for food and ice,
we pulled into #74 Oak Loop around 2 o’clock. The recreation.gov had the
directions a little wrong – told us to turn onto “Forest Trail Road” and the
only sign we found was for “West Forest Trail Road”. Turns out, West Forest
trail was it…
We were all set up and sitting outside with a cold drink in
the wonderful quiet and a brisk breeze before 3. There’s a small dune that runs
along the side and back of our site, thus making it very nice and private. The
whole campground is beautiful – very wooded (hard maples, oaks, yellow poplars,
and hemlocks are the ones I’m familiar with) with ferns nearly covering the
forest ground. This will be a “boondock” camp (one without electricity or
water) but we’ve got several gallons jugs of water so are all set. Note to
self: DO NOT use hand sanitizer in the RV in the middle of the night!
There is a walkway to the beach down the road to the picnic
area so went down there and walked (slid, stumbled, rolled) down a path on the
dune to the beach, and wandered by the water’s edge. Rich actually waded and I
walked along the edge. It was too cold for me. It was quite windy – had trouble
standing a couple of times – and there was a lot of sand blowing and wave
action. Even less than knee deep, the current was ferocious. The beach was
spectacular and like nothing I had ever seen. I have to keep reminding myself
that this is a lake and fresh water, in spite of the fact that you can’t see
across it. The dunes here are larger and higher than in the south end of the
lake and I understand that at Sleeping Bear, there are some that are 450 feet
high. It amazes this Floridian. I had been puzzled by the dunes we saw about 20
miles inland on our way up here, then remembered they were made over thousands
of years as the glaciers melted. As we began the climb back to the top of the
dune (and believe me, I do mean climb) we wondered why we ever wanted to go
down to the beach.
We sat outside until around 9, then went inside and read a
while. At 10 PM, it was still light outside – how strange!
This morning we awoke at 6 and fixed coffee and tea and sat
outside for a couple of blissful hours. As I sat in the cool, quiet morning
drinking my tea and enjoying the sound of the wind in the treetops, I realize
how much we have missed this kind of camping. The only man-made sound we heard
was the faint “thunk” of an axe on a piece of wood. No TVs, radios, phones, or
kids screaming on their Big Wheels.
Later we drove to Ludington, about 25 miles from here
(probably 5 as the crow flies) and wandered on the pier. It’s a beautiful
little town and very picturesque.
We’ve finished dinner and will get things cleaned up and
stowed away shortly so we can leave in the morning and take our time to a
campground in Empire, which is very near Sleeping Bear Dunes. And so, on to our
next adventure.
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