Hiking again.................

So today on Laura's 2nd day off we had intended to go to Van's Beach at Leland and look for blue stones. It was rather cold first thing and we were not sure what to do. I suggested we take a walk out by our old property. Many years ago we owned 40 acres near Maple City. As it would happen we had to sell it and move, that's a long story. So today we thought we would go for a walk and maybe find mushrooms on the State land at the back. We didn't but it was fun looking. There was always a small pond back there. Well now it's almost a lake. Very pretty too.

The pine trees that were on our property are huge now, well its been a very long time.

We had a good old ramble around. By the time we were done it was too late to go out to Van's Beach so we decided to go visit the old farm area outside of Empire. We took a detour along a lovely road where the horse camp and trails are. Ponds there too but nothing to see. Not even a turtle or frog although we did hear frogs jumping into the water.

We got to Empire finally and turned down the first road and discovered we took a wrong turn as it was the Bluffs trail down there. There was a picnic area though so that was good for us.

We took our lunch so we didn't have to spend money that we didn't have.
After that we took the next road and it went down to the beach. Well.............come to find out that was the beach I had been looking for last summer. It has Otter Creek running into Lake Michigan. Woo hoo.......perfect place to take the kids.


A beautiful sky, beautiful weather. The view fantastic, looking up at the bluffs. We didn't have time to explore a lot because we did have to get back for Tristen.

Sure enough, Otter creek ran into Lake Michigan. What a great place for the kids to play. The water is shallow and I just know they will have a blast there.


The water is so clear. We didn't stay because the May flies drove us nuts. We ran back to the car with a bunch of admirers in pursuit. They will be gone next time we get there.
We took a side road over a wooden bridge that crossed the creek. I wanted to look at the water. I saw this little nest in the brush.

Laura said shall we keep going or should we go back the way we came. We chose to cross the bridge. Not a good move. We had a two track along the river, that was fun and we must go back again. Many trail heads that would be great to explore.

Well it went on and on and we expected it to come out on M22 so we could head back. Well, it was a dead end.
So back we went. Finally finding our road home. Saw deer but could not stop. We were NOT ready to end our day and next time Laura gets a day off we will go back. We had stopped at some old farms along the way.

While exploring this farm we both needed to go potty but could not find a spot. I went over to the barns in the hope of finding a nice spot. What I found was trail cams, phew thank goodness I spotted them.

A few pretty things I did find.


I will have to show more on another day. I am rather tired from all the walking again today. Sure was lovely though. Tomorrow I must work in the garden.