What a glorious day to be out in the woods finding beautiful small lakes, and enjoying the sunshine and breezes. We went geo-caching northeast of Kalkaska and we found everything we were looking for. There are lakes in that area that we had never heard of - small little gems that even had cottages and docks on them.
I was especially happy because I found two of the caches myself - one under a rock, and one stuck to a tree! It was the perfect day.
We started out at around 10:30 a.m. and drove to Kalkaska. We ate lunch at Whitetail's, which is a really nice, newish, American-style restaurant. Then we were off to the woods and our adventure began. There are several two-tracks and gravel roads and phantom trails that we discovered. It was our favorite type of terrain. Gotta love the North Woods. We had excellent luck.
Driving past one small lake, I saw a sign on a fence in front of a small, slightly ramshackle house. The sign said Oleo Acres - The Cheaper Spread.
Driving down Swamp Road (yes, that's right) Dick noticed a small turtle scurrying (yes, that's right) across the trail. He took a couple of pictures of it to prove that we had seen some wildlife.
The last cache was alongside the Manistee River. I was impressed with how much State land there is along that river, and with how well it's managed. Our little Boardman River can't compare, although we do have 3 DNR sites in our area. But our little river is narrower and swifter, and more fun to canoe. Wide, slow rivers are not nearly as exciting.
It was a memorable day.
