Kayaking, hiking and Wicked Tuna
Kayaking, hiking and Wicked Tuna pretty much sums up our Saturday. The forecast for today was cold but sunny. We had big plans to get in lots of outdoor activity and then Gabe woke up not feeling well. 🙁 We had a little Saturday morning TV on and quickly got sucked into a new to us show “Wicked Tuna.” It was actually quite entertaining. If I don’t turn the TV on I’m great! When I do turn it on it’s so easy for me to get sucked in and get stuck. How many of you can relate?
Again…on to plan B
So plan B we hang with Gabe some and then he dropped Joe and I off with the kayaks at the first bridge up the road. This a shorter trip than the one we took Tuesday. It was 50 degrees out, at the most, so I was relieved when Joe suggested the shorter trip. We packed for cold weather, but it was a little colder than we anticipated.
I sported the awesome look of Smartwool socks inside my Keens for the kayak ride, but really regretted not packing a hat. Yesterday, in my search for a hat I found a cute soft on the inside, warm hat in tones of pink with a pom-pom on top! An awesome hat with a $37 price tag that made me completely disregard buying it. My forehead felt frozen on our kayak trip. I fantasized about the cute, soft on the inside warm hat and how warm it would have kept my head as I paddled. $37 no longer sounded unreasonable! 🙂
Why we love the outdoors…
On this trip we saw a couple of turtles. They were cute little turtles…not like some of the snapping turtles we see at home sometimes. While it was cold, we still had a nice slow current that took us along so we could see the the wildlife. The river meandered through a flat plain and there were lots of small islands so sometimes, it was hard to know which way was downstream. Thankfully the water was super clear and we could see the water plants leaning with the flow to show us which way we needed to go.
When we were almost to the end, we caught a whiff of a beautiful smell. There was a large bush with white flowers that had a wonderful scent. It the made a wide swath of the river smell amazing! Moments like that make a little discomfort from the cold and exertion worth every moment.
By the end of the kayak trip I was warm, except for my forehead. I was happy we reached our destination, and at the same time a little sad the trip was over. We both grabbed an end of each kayak and walked the short distance back to our cabin. The close proximity to the beach and the river was definitely a selling point when we booked this cabin! We are enjoying it fully!
Hiking
After supper Joe and I headed out for a hike in the Hiawatha National Forest just a few miles up the road from our cabin. We hiked the approx. 2 mile loop songbird trail. Along the trail there were several signs with a pictures of birds of the area and a few of their distinguishing characteristics. Many of them we see at home on a regular basis, but there were also several that were completely new to us. We didn’t actually see any songbirds on the trail, but we did hear their beautiful songs!
Joe kept talking about wolverines. Anytime a squirrel or a bird made a noise, he would mention it could be a wolverine or a bear. Sometimes his conversation and sense of humor makes time go by lightheartedly. Sometimes, not so much 🙂
Trail tip–take insect repellent. The mosquitoes were crazy thick, some of the worst we’ve seen on our entire trip! The Songbird Trail easy trail, but over grown in spots which made it fun and a bit of a challenge to follow. Joe had the map on his phone and between that and the blue blazes on the trees we easily stayed on the correct path. A great hike to wrap up the day with.
Next week wraps up this blog post with our last day of vacation. The last day was definitely the best! Lighthouses, waterfalls and sandhill cranes! I can’t wait to share them with you!
Enjoy a few sights from hiking in the Hiawatha National Forest/Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore area:
To help you plan your own visit to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula you can learn more about the places we visited through the links below.
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Seniors check out the Simply Seeking Photography Senior Experience
A week in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
More posts in this series:
1: We’re Off for a week in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
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