Hiking - Grand Island Michigan

Saturday Morning we landed at Grand Island after a 

long drive Friday and a short hotel stay.

First we hit a local spot for breakfast then headed for the ferry.   

Why yes, that bear DOES have on a mosquito net hat.  

Smart boy.

We didn't have to wait long at the docks.  

The ride over was only about 5 minutes. 

A small pontoon boat takes 6 people at a time.

First wildlife encounter - Look, it's a tree hugging hippy!

I brought home so many shots of the cliffs and lake, 

these are some of my favorites.

That is solid stone on the lake bed with the grid lines through it

We stopped on top of this for a snack.

The park has a lot of lookouts and many have benches

One of many beaches with easy access.

Private Land - Lighthouse. This is as close as we could get. 

The zoom on my camera saw it better than I did from the next clifftop down.

 A couple of kayakers. 

We saw quite a few people kayaking and biking. 

Apparently this bear is not happy with the dinner selection. 

Maybe sandwiches are not his thing.

Needless to say, we used the suggested bear pole at camp.

There are some historic sites on the island 

The descendants of the founding family still reside here

and mixed with hundred year old head stones,

 you will find modern ones

A Masons' compass on top.

Dove (at one time held an olive branch)

The cemetery was a few hundred feet off the 

main path. A very peaceful and serene spot.

This lake front Cabin has been recently restored.  

It's humbling to think this is what was considered a hotel.

As you can see we had near perfect weather. The trails were shady with lake breezes to cool you off for much of the way.  The flip side is that the entire place appears to go uphill both ways. 

The trail runs aprox 22 Miles circumference. We started at 9:30 am Saturday from the West side and camped at Duck Lake that night (18 Miles), then Sunday made our way back to the ferry by 11 am.  We met a couple of young hikers waiting for the ferry as well.   We were happy to share our remaining band-aids and ointment with them. I think it's likely many a hiker takes a blister home as souvenir from Grand Island!  

Hope your feet are healing guys and maybe we will meet again :)