Lost Horizon

While hiking the rugged dune ridges parallel to Lake Michigan, the horizon seemed to disappear, was lost in the overcast sky. At times, it completely disappeared, which make our hike a surreal experience - imagine hiking along a wooded ridge with a vast open area next to you with no bottom and no top - that's how it appeared at times.

The winter season makes it easier to see distant objects and formations while atop the dune ridge; the lack of leaves makes this possible. We looked back at the trail winding from dune to dune and the woods and blowouts in the distance, and noticed a pair of A10 Warthogs flying just above the beach. They flew north then about 30 minutes later, we saw them again. This time, we were at the top of a blowout, an open area on the dune. We waived and were surprised the pilot of the second craft tipped his wing toward us as an acknowledgment. Too bad I didn't have my telephoto lens on my camera body, I could have had a few photos of the crew.