Turning Northwards

Summer is on the way again.  We had a solid week in the upper 70s and lower 80s, and the cooler 50s predicted for the upcoming days keep getting pushed back further in the forecast.  Sure, we might have another frost, but the leaves are already popping on the trees, and the grasses are coming back to life again.  As such, my mind turns northward, ready to discover more of why Michigan is called a pleasant peninsula (though it has two).

This was taken from one of the scenic viewpoints on Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, one of the most lovely drives in Michigan, and the most comprehensive tour through Sleeping Bear Dunes.  A trip around it gets you access to the dunes, interior lakes, several types of forest, and detailed descriptions of what you are looking at by way of signs and guidebooks.  With the exception of the boreal forests that occur on the Mio Plateau in the upper center of the state, nearly every ecosystem that occurs in the northern upper peninsula can be found here.   In the picture above, in fact, that is pretty much the case.  While it might seem that there are only forests and lake-shore, what you see are two different types of coniferous forest, several different types of hardwood and mixed forests, swamps and bogs, riparian habitat, beaches, dunes, and of course, the freshwater marine world of Lake Michigan.