Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore -- Hiking the Lakeshore Trail

all images © James Tung, 2001-2008 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore -- Hiking the Lakeshore Trail

These pictures are from a four-day hike in July, 2004. Jeremy and I made a hurried 43-mile trek along the whole length the National Lakeshore, which fulfilled a personal wish previously expressed on this page.

Here are links to the national lakeshore homepage, a park map, and some backcountry info.

Day 1: Munising Falls to Mosquito

We drove into Hurricane River camp at 1 am in the morning, and quickly pitched tent and went to sleep. In the morning we took a shuttle by the ALTRAN public transit from the Grand Sable Visitor Center to Munising Falls, and began our hike there.

Hurricane River	on the trail	not as dangerous as it looks
scenic spot	overlook	overlook

Day 2: Mosquito to Pine Bluff

We traversed through the rest of the rocky part of the lake shore; Spray Falls marked the end of scenaries in the "pictured rocks." Around the Pine Bluff camp the lake shore became a long strech of sandy beaches and dunes.

Mosquito camp	overlook	rock formation
scenic spot	overlook	overlook
overlook	Chapel river	Chapel rock
top of Chapel rock	Spray falls	Pine Bluff camp

Day 3: Pine Bluff to Au Sable East

We managed to finally get up earlier and had a few hours to kill on the beach. It was good timing to arrive at the lighthouse just in time for a nice sunset.

Pine Bluff camp	there is a car on the trail!	beach near Sevenmile camp
"coast highway"	shipwreck near Au Sable Point	sunset near lighthouse

Day 4: Au Sable East to Grand Sable Visiter Center

We decided against running down Log Slide because of time constraint and physical exhaustion. The rest of the hike was unremarkable, but the last few meters of the trail was lined with a row of pretty wild flowers, welcoming us back to civilization.

view at camp	view at camp	Log Slide from the trail
Au Sable Lighthouse	view at Log Slide overlook	almost there...