Bay City State Recreation Area

Where: Bay City State Recreation Area, Michigan
Trail: Lagoon Trail
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: less than 1 mile loop
Adventure Rating: 1 Star
Pets: Allowed on leash

If you're looking to go for a walk, it's a good place to do it. If you actually want to hike, it's pretty lame. The trail isn't very long and it's pretty uninteresting.

Ludington State Park

Where: Ludington State Park
Trail: Lost Lake Trail, Island Trail, and Ridge Trail
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Distance: 1.5 miles, 4 miles (both)
Adventure Rating: 2 Stars
Pet: Allowed on leash

We started at the parking lot near the beach and the boat launch. We started on the Island Trail, which involves boardwalks that span across the Lost Lake onto several tiny islands. The Lost Lake is peaceful and some day I'm going to go back without my dogs and kayak the lake.

We hiked the entire Lost Lake Trail until it ended at the Ridge Trail. Most of the Ridge Trail is on top of sand dunes which makes the trek a little more difficult. But from up there we saw a raccoon in a tree as well as a group of deer down in one of the valleys. We watched a couple of fawns hopping around playing for about ten minutes.

A flight of wooden stairs brought us down from the Ridge Trail and connected us to the Lost Lake Trail, which took us back to the parking lot. Of the three trails, the Island Trail is the most visually interesting. The Lost Lake trail is the easiest and the Ridge Trail is the more strenuous.

Cedar Falls

Where: Hocking Hills, Ohio
Trail: Cedar Falls
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 1 mile round trip
Adventure Rating: 2 Stars
Pets: Allowed on leash

Of the places we visited in Hocking Hills, I think Cedar Falls was the least interesting to me. It had the most tourists in a small area and there just wasn't as much to see. We parked in the lot, walked a short ways on the trail before we climbed 59 steps and then crossed a sunny field to a bridge over Queer Creek. We followed the trail around until we were at the top of the waterfall. There was a small pool far over 100 feet away from the top of the waterfall, and we felt it was safe to venture into it. It was extremely slippery and icy cold. Thankfully, neither my sister nor I fell in. And then because I clearly haven't learned my lesson about hanging out at the top of waterfalls, I did just that. Thankfully, this time I was much more careful.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Where: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Trail: Lakeshore-North Country Trail
Difficulty: Strenuous
Distance: 14 miles one-way
Adventure Rating: 4 Stars
Pets: Allowed on some trails, see website

Prior to driving to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for camping and hiking, I made reservations with Alger County Transit to have them pick us up at Little Beaver Campground (where we parked our car) and drop us off at Miner's Castle. This allowed us to hike back to our car (since the trail isn't a loop).

We got to Miner's Castle between 8:30-9 AM. Even though it was August, the morning was quite chilly--good thing we dressed in layers. We hiked to Miner's Beach and spent a lot of time exploring the beach, rocks, and boulders.
The hike along Miner's Beach was a bit rough (hiking in soft sand always is), but we weren't in a hurry. At Mosquito Beach, we took the trail inland to see Chapel Falls, except we took the wrong trail and missed it completely and arrived back on the lake at Chapel Beach. Between the Mosquito Falls trailhead and Chapel Beach, the forest thins out and becomes very sandy--which made hiking a lot tougher, especially this late in the trip.

It was about that time that we realized that we were way behind schedule. It was also about this point that I realized that I may have miscalculated the length of our hike. I still don't know how I did this, but prior to the hike, I thought the trip was 7 miles. If you read the info above, you know the hike was actually 14 miles. This posed a problem for us since we were planning to take a Sunset Cruise. We really started pushing hard at this point, trying to get back to the car in time. The last two miles were exhausting. Every rise/hill we came upon, we were sure the car would be on the other side. The disappointment when we couldn't see it was devastating. 

Eventually, we made it back to the car, completely and utterly exhausted. At the time, it wasn't all that fun, but it has become a funny story... Remember that time we accidentally hiked 14 miles? And my brother refuses to ever go hiking with us again.

Bluffs of the North Fork San Gabriel River

Where: Bluffs of the North Fork San Gabriel River, Lake Georgetown, Texas
Trail: Goodwater Trail
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Distance: ?
Adventure Rating: 3 Stars
Pets: Allowed on leash

We started at mile marker 11 of the Goodwater Hiking Trail and hiked out a couple miles (I'm not how far we went) and back. [The Goodwater Trail is a loop that goes all the way around Lake Georgetown and is 28 miles long.] Our hike started out along the San Gabriel River and then entered the surrounding forest. After a short distance, we came to a creek with a tree stretched across it. Judging by the boards attached to the tree, it was meant to be crossed.

A couple of the people in our hiking party were hesitant to cross [unlike me, who couldn't wait to cross it and wishes every hiking adventure had one of these]. They did make the crossing, but when it was time to turn around and hike back, they chose to cross the San Gabriel River, which was pretty cold.

Crockett Garden & Falls

Where: Crockett Garden & Falls, Lake Georgetown, Texas
Trail: Goodwater Hiking Trail
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Distance: 5 miles, out and back
Adventure Rating: 3 Stars
Pets: Allowed on leash









The Goodwater Trail is a loop that goes all the way around Lake Georgetown and is 28 miles long. We didn't have the time or the inclination to hike 28 miles. So, we did a short 5 mile section. We started in a parking lot and hiked through the woods toward the lake, which was a lovely greenish-blue color. We then hiked the rest of the trail to the Crockett Gardens and the spring-fed waterfall. [Note: the waterfall and spring are extremely delicate so don't enter the water or attempt to climb on the waterfall.] The trail is pet-friendly, though we did not bring our dogs for this adventure.