North Manitou Island of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore

Chris and I agree that North Manitou is no Isle Royale, but it was beautiful just the same. Amber fields splattered with fuscia and maze, sandy slopes vanishing into waves of crystal blue. The scenery was breathtaking.

We spent three days and two nights backpacking the southern half of the island, camping along both the East and West shores.

We saw a bit of wildlife on the island. There are several types of bird including mergranser ducks and the endangered piping plover. Monarchs float across the fields, and chipmunks rustle in the leaves along the trail.

But by far the most plentiful creatures on the island are the ribbon snakes and garter snakes. They rush off the trail under your feet as you trek along. Chris and I found this quite amusing as we occasionally had to skip a step to avoid squashing a straggler!

There are also fox and coyote on the island, but we only saw tracks on the beach as a reminder they were around.

The mosquitoes on the interior of the island made for a pretty quick few miles of hiking. We sped through the trail, developing blisters and aching muscles, for fear that should we stop to rest and readjust we would quickly become anemic due to the hundreds of little bloodsucking pests. That was the only part of the trip that we could have done without. There were, however, some very interesting and even beautiful other "creepy crawlies" on the island that were a pleasure to encounter!



It was so great to spend a few days getting away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We went to bed with the sun, and woke with the birds; time of day was irrelevant. We splashed in the waves and soaked up the sun to our hearts content.

And after each day of lugging our packs eight or so miles, we enjoyed the quiet sounds and the gentle breeze as we set up camp to take a well-deserved rest and reflect on the day.

It was a great trip. The weather was perfect. We put in a lot of physical activity and were rewarded with beautiful sights and experiences. I think that for both of us this was a much needed escape. And for as much as a relatively close and inexpensive vacation spot as it is, we'd recommend to anyone who gets the chance - go.