June 13, 2023. 3 miles.
On Tuesday we planned to get in some hiking, and we both decided we didn’t want to drive an hour to get to one of our old favorites, the Jordan River Pathway. And also, the skies were looking rather threatening, but only slight mist so far.
Reviewing our maps, we chose to head for Old Mission Peninsula. There’s a fairly large park at the tip of Old Mission Peninsula that I’ve managed to miss over many years of visiting that spot. Perhaps I was so focused on biking that my interest ended as soon as the road ending. In fact a hiking trail starts in front of the Old Mission Lighthouse and hugs the shore of Lake Michigan and then curves with the edge of the peninsula to head south.
There was only a slight mist as we headed out on the path. The trail went through dense woods with oak, pine and white cedar. A little path led out to the shore and we had a pristine view of the natural environment.
We headed back into the dense forest. Numerous roots criss crossed the path and I stumbled on one, falling to the ground. Thankfully I had learned the flex and roll method to avoid injury and no harm was done. It also helped that the surface was not rocky. I remembered how the trekking poles, which we forgot to bring this trip. had really stopped several near-tripping events on the camino.
We climbed up a surprisingly high ridge and continued hiking and came upon a tree that looked like it had been clawed by something….. a bear? Our imaginations went wild, but there was no other evidence or sighting of a bear to confirm it.
We continued into a more sedate, flat section of the trail that seemed more like farm land or orchard land gone fallow. The rain got heavier, so I designed a short cut to get back to the car. We still got 3 miles in but gladly cut off the last portion of the hike.