Day 2: Hiking

On our first full day in Michigan, we were excited to get out and see some wildlife. particular birds, though we are very bad birders as we don't have binoculars! (This trip revitalized our interest in birding and we have binoculars on order that will hopefully be here by the end of the week).

There was a nice hiking trail withing walking distance of our cabin, so that's where we headed.Stopping at a stream, hoping to see something:
I got a little hot with my jacket, so Brian offered to (insisted on) carrying it. I think it was so he could have more bug protection! Luckily for me, the bugs were bothering him and leaving me alone!
Unknowingly, Brian had trapped a bug on his head when he put my jacket over his head to keep the bugs out. And then wondered why there was non-stop buzzing! He finally realized what had happened, got the bug out, and resumed his protective head cover.
Taking a rest and contemplating the beauty:Most of our wildlife sightings were signs of wildlife rather than the animals themselves, such as woodpecker holes:
And deer tracks:There were all kinds of interesting fungi growing:
In the middle of the trail, we came across this sad little chair (we did not sit on it!):
They are camouflaged, but here are two black-capped chickadees who were building a nest on top of this tree:More beautiful scenery:
Finally, the bugs got to be too much for Brian, who tried to scare them away with his jacket:

You can see Lake Superior in the background:We needed to cross a stream to get over to the lake. The first bridge option was pretty rickety:The more stable looking bridge had a barrier placed so we had to go over it to get to the bridge:A pretty wildflower growing on the barrier:Side view of the rickety bridge. Yes, that is a round trunk used as support!When we finally got to the lake, we skipped some rocks:A butterfly:We heard a frog, so we tried to locate him in the pond. These guys hide very well, but we finally saw him:
We walked back over the bridge:But then realized we needed t go back over the bridge again in order to follow the (confusing) trail. This bridge looks unstable, but we were walking over solid ground, so if we'd fallen off, our feet wouldn't have even gotten wet.It took us a lot longer to finish the hike than we anticipated. We had a great time, though! We walked back to the cabin. We ate lunch and then Brian did a sauna while I read and napped a bit. And did more of that through dinner. It was wonderful!