His Trail, Her Trail

Back from the northcountry. For the past week Wendy and I have been vacationing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I'm a gotta go, gotta do kinda guy on vacation so lots of walks and hikes. We like to see wildlife on these trips so we were really hoping to find a bear (a friendly one, of course).

Our longest hike took place at Grand Marais along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior. First stop was at the visitor's center there where the sign said, "Closed. See you in May 2009." Oh, well. We didn't need any stinking maps. At nearby Log Slide Overlook, so named because of the logs dumped into Lake Superior here during the lumbering era, we saw a trail that descended to a nearby lighthouse.

Nearby is a relative term. One sign said it was two miles away, another said three. I only told Wendy about the two-mile sign to keep her enthusiasm and confidence up. You can see the lighthouse in the first photo if you click on the photo to enlarge it, Au Sable Point Lighthouse appearing as a speck of white on the distant shoreline. Off we went.

The trail was narrow in spots, with rather thick brush on both sides. Kinda scary. I think we found some bear poop too. See picture. Oh, yes. There would be bears. Or so we were hoping. Then Wendy thought she saw one but it was just a trick of the lighting and some strange growths on a tree. Can you see it in the picture?

Along the way there were some beautiful views of Lake Superior. We were hiking or climbing down the whole time, something that did not go unnoticed by Wendy. When we reached the lighthouse--quite a hike--Wendy said for me to retrieve the car and pick her up. But the only road to the lighthouse was closed. She would have to hike one way to a distant public campground, while I had to climb back up to the cliff overlook to get the car.

I wasn't sure separating and hiking alone in bear country was such a good idea. But what the hea. We did. On the way back, I saw an animal standing on the trail. He had already seen me and was turning to spring back into the forest. I thought surely it was a predator of some type. A small wolf or perhaps a coyote? Or maybe even a bobcat I thought from the way it sprang.

Thought about trying to track it into the woods to get a picture but maybe that wasn't such a good idea. What if it was a young wolf who then returned to his extended family?

"Look mommy who followed me home."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

"Oh, oh."

So I hustled on to the top of the trail and got the car. And Wendy was waiting for me at the campground when I drove the five or so miles down the road. She had encountered a snake, but nothing else. I'm glad I just ran across a meat-eating predator. I hate snakes.

Per requests, I posted lots of pictures. It was an adventure and, more importantly, great blog fodder.