Leelanau Up North

Pyramid  Point  Trail  -  Sleeping  Bear  Dunes  National  Lakeshore The path from my door to the lake climbs to a hilltop stand of pine and locust trees, … and then descends a sandy bluff to the beach. I've walked this path a thousand times, … each little mound and turn now firmly ingrained in my mind. On the last walk, the thought occurred that there will be a Last Walk - someday. Hopefully, not too soon. Knowingly or not, I'll amble up and down the path … F or the last time. Too often in life, we end a longstanding routine, or leave a place we've lived for years, … without giving it a second thought. Without thinking, ... "This is the last time." Before s uch endings and leavings, let us savor the last moments of doing or being. T he Buddha put it wisely: "As you walk … be where you are.  Otherwise you will miss most of your life." So, … on my next walk to the lake, I'll take a deep breath of the earthy, moist...

Leelanau Clay Cliffs Natural Area by Stephanie Schlatter Forested hills, crystalline waters and majestic dunes define Leelanau, the "Land of Delight." We know how these natural wonders came to be - through the intricate interplay of climate and geology, over millions of years. But why? Why does nature exist in the first place?  More generally, why is there something (i.e., a universe) instead of nothing? This was the question famously posed by the German philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz, in the 17th century. "Why is there something rather than nothing?" One of the more modern theories about the "why?" of the universe is that there has always been something - like quantum particles, strings and membranes - the most fundamental building blocks of the universe.   So, the moderns say, ... there was never nothing. Still, Herr Leibniz would likely ask:  "But why was there always something?" And there was only one answer that satis...

Sleeping  Bear  Dunes - Leelanau Often, as I gaze upon these monuments of sand, I try to comprehend that they are 11,000 years old - remnants of the last ice age.  For some perspective, the dunes were sentinels on the big lake long before Christ traversed the hills of Judea. Yet the dunes, in geologic time (a measure of earth's multi-billion year history), are mere toddlers compared to other inhabitants of Leelanau. The rocks scattered throughout the Lakeshore, from car size boulders to the smallest Petoskey stones, date from the so-called Devonian Period - some 350 million years in the past. And if the dunes are toddlers in geologic time, we humans are but infants - having come to this land in our prehistoric form just 9,000 years ago. So, ... as you behold the Land of Delight, consider the ancient lineage of all that you see. But know that, as the infants of Leelanau,  our time , geologically speaking,  is now.   Let us make t...

February  Surf  -  Empire  Beach Let there be biting cold ... so that I may feel warmth. Let there be raging wind ... so that I may know stillness. Let there be drifting snow ... so that I may forge a path. Let there be crashing waves ... so that I may hear silence. Let there be freezing water ... so that I may see it flow. Let there be ... Winter ... So that I may come alive. See You Up North, Chris                           Visit A Leelanau Landmark:  Get up close and personal with                           Winter on a ranger-led snowshoe hike in the national park.                          Every Saturday at 1pm, join a ranger for a guided hike in the                         ...

Empire  Beach - Looking  North  From  The  Bluffs As I walk along the Lakeshore from Empire Beach, whether heading north or south, it appears that I'm traveling a fairly straight path. But about twenty minutes into the hike, when I look back to see where I've been, it's clear that my path was anything but straight. In fact, I see that I've followed the curve of a large bay, bordered on each side by towering dunes jutting into the big lake. I can only appreciate the curvature of my path by the perspective gained from a distance. "And so it is in living," (I say with the highly respected authority of a new grandfather.) How often it is that we see things differently, and perhaps more clearly, in the rear view mirror of life. And what is more, the perspective gained from the passage of time can make all the difference in the way forward. AKA ... wisdom? Another life lesson from the Land of Delight. See You Up North, Chris     ...

Empire  Bluffs  In  January On my first hike of the new year .... Frigid, gray blue water ahead.  Crusty, frozen sand beneath my feet.  Snow capped dunes towering above the jack pines. All ... just ... being. The waves do not race to be first to the shore.  The trees do not compete to be at the top of the bluff. No.  Nature is content simply to be - not to become something more than it is. Not so with us.   Especially in our younger years, we strive to become ... professional, expert, well-off, accomplished, whatever. Perhaps that is how it should be, in our younger years.  Always striving to become, to make our mark upon the world.   But now, on my first hike of the new year, in perhaps the last third of my life, ... Like the waves and the trees, ... I'm happy just to be. See You Up North, Chris                           Visit A Leelanau La...

Empire Bluffs - Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore About a year ago, I had this idea for a creative space in the blogosphere - to capture the essence of Leelanau ... and its inspiration for life. The idea became "Leelanau Up North," and the rest is mostbeautifulplaceinamerica.com history. Now, more than ever, we need a place like Leelanau to escape the clamor of the world. A place at the summit of the dunes, where the blue waters flow to the horizon ... beneath the whisper of the wind and the waves. Many thanks to my family and to the thousands of reader friends around the world who have encouraged and supported "Leelanau Up North." (A special shout-out to my 153 friends in Viet Nam.  Cam O'n Ban!) "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; ...." John Muir See You Up North, Chris                           Vi...