Cowles Bog

 

The original plan was to take this hike bright and early Saturday morning, eat a relaxing trail lunch on the beach, and maybe even dip our toes in the water before heading back to the car. However, Friday night our car decided it didn't want to go, so instead we spent Saturday morning at the auto repair shop. Fortunately, they were able to quickly diagnose and repair the problem, and we were out of there in time for an afternoon hike. That was actually fortuitous as well, since even in the afternoon, it took a couple of tries to find a parking spot at this trailhead. (We went back to explore the visitor center while waiting.)

After passing the prairie and going up and down a couple of ridges, we made it to the lake! You have to go down (and then back up) a fairly steep dune to reach the shore, but that's actually kind of fun (the down, not the up).