Earlier this week, I spent an early morning at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. On my monthly trips to Sleeping Bear, I usually leave home without a plan. When I reach Copemish, two hours into the three hour drive, I check the weather map and decide whether to take County Road 669 to Good Harbor Bay, County Road 677 (the old Benzonia Trail) to Glen Lake, or continue on M115 toward Frankfort to enter the park from the southern end. This week, I knew exactly where I wanted to go and traveled the country roads until I got to Bass Lake and Otter Lake, south of Empire.
Bass Lake and Otter Lake are joined by a small stream. Water flows from Bass Lake into Otter Lake and from there into Otter Creek, which meanders its way to Lake Michigan at the Esch Road Beach. The area is home to a large number of eastern red cedar trees.
I wanted to visit the area to photograph the roots of cedars that had fallen over. Eastern red cedar trees generally have a network of lateral roots not far beneath the surface. As such, the the trees seem to be prone to tipping as the surface soil erodes. I am intrigued by the roots of fallen cedar trees, the way they twist together in the struggle to keep the tree erect. Torn from the ground and bleached in the summer sun, the roots become nature’s sculpture. Here are some of the images I took.
