15, 16, and 17 of 52
Warren Woods
Warren Woods was a peaceful 1.8 mile trek through woods that reminded me of home in West Virginia. As of April 1, no more hunting is allowed in the area, so there were a good deal of people on the trails, from early bird watchers to families and dog walkers. There were a few areas that you had to climb over relatively large trees, but nothing too difficult. It was the first day I had hiked with forecasted rain, so I kept on my rain layer, but I didn’t need it and because it was just that layer and my base layer, I felt a little overheated from the material sticking to my skin uncomfortably.
Mount Randal Trail (Warren Dunes)
Warren Dunes is no joke and this 4.7 trek had me wanting to quit multiple times and definitely took a lot out of me. There were almost no markings on the trail, which made it difficult to follow because of the nature of hiking on sand and All Trails brought me in near the youth camping grounds instead of the main entrance. This meant that I started my hike tackling Great Warren Dune, and I was not prepared for that.
In most cases, you can bypass the dunes, but I wanted to offer a bit of a challenge to myself as well, because it helps prepare you for coming across such things on longer hikes and helps you understand better what you need to focus on when training. I took a bit of time to myself at the top of Great Warren and did a bit of a change, taking off my second layer and my gloves and gulping down some much needed water. Even though it sat at a cool 60 most of the day, the dunes were just warmer and more muggy.
A good portion of this trail is walking along Lake Michigan, which was a nice, relaxing thing to do, especially as the lake was calmer than I have ever experienced it before. Then, you cut through the woods on your way up to Mount Randall, another, smaller dune. I made it about half way up before I literally crawled to the top and I spent a good ten minutes sitting at the bottom psyching myself up for it.
If you want to do the full trail (there are 7 miles worth of them at Warren Dunes State Park), I would suggest going in at the parks main entrance, which will help you build up to the more challenging aspects of the hike, like Great Warren Dunes.
Baldtop (Grand Mere)
Even after the exhausting trek at Warren Dunes, I had another, short trek planned for the day and, although it had started raining, I figured I could knock it out quickly and get back on the road home. 1.9 miles at Grand Mere introduced me to two other dunes, which were actually easier to tackle with the layer of wet sand on top of them. I took it slow though, because I was starting to have some issues with my left thigh, which I had last week but am unsure where the pain is coming from. (I’ll be trying to determine this and probably baby the area for the next week as I prep for my next set of trails.)
Baldtop is not marked at all, so I actually missed my access to the dune originally, taking another to get back to the Lake Michigan shores. There was a suggested loop in 50 Hikes in Michigan but the terrible marking of the trails, the exhaustion from my day, and the worsening weather made me abandon the idea of trying to find it and I stuck more to the All Trails map. I found Bald Top from the Lake Michigan side and hiked back across to the woods. Then, after stripping off my soaked clothing for a quick costume change, I headed home. While I kept my camera with me and my gear held up to the rain, I was sad I didn’t get as many pictures of Baldtop, but I was sure to snap a few and try to save my camera from the rain and the sand.
Raven K 