Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Matt Miller, Breanna Miller, Holly Eller, Jacque Kelly, Nick Kelly, Elizabeth Kelly
Date: August 6, 2022
Celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary early, we rented a five-bedroom house in New Buffalo, Michigan for the entire family. Nearby, the state park has three miles of shoreline along Lake Michigan. We began hiking the Warren Dunes wooded trail and ascended a steep hill. At the top the trail was all sand with tall grass on either side. We were in wide open hot 80+degree sun with the only breeze blowing off Lake Michigan. We split up and Matt, Holly, Nick and I hiked over a half mile or more as the trail eventually completed its 260-foot climb to the top of a large dune. The dune summit gave us a beautiful view of Lake Michigan (Photo #4). Matt, Holly, Nick and I took turns sprinting over a quarter mile down the steep, ankle-deep dune. I almost lost my balance and face planted several times. At the bottom I was exhausted. The small speck you see in Photo #6 is Matt at the bottom of dune with Breanna, Rosie, Jacque and Elizabeth as specks on top of the next dune watching. After all of us crazy runners were completed, we met the rest of the group and hiked another quarter mile to the lake where we rested and waded into the water. The mile hike back in the heat over the smaller dunes was very difficult for me but I made it.
