Author Who Hiked Around Lake Michigan Continues Book Tour in Northern Michigan

July 14, 2011 - PRLog -- When Loreen Niewenhuis turned 45-years-old, she felt compelled to break out of the day-to-day routine and to seek out a big challenge.  She decided to walk all the way around her favorite place:  Lake Michigan.  “Instead of having a mid-life crisis,” Niewenhuis said, “I had a mid-life adventure!”  

In March, Crickhollow Books of Milwaukee published the book about her 1000-mile hike around Lake Michigan, the fifth-largest lake in the world.  The book, A 1000-MILE WALK ON THE BEACH, was awarded a Finalist medal in the Science/Nature/Environment category of the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.   Partners Book Distributing said, "Loreen's book has been the surprise regional bestseller of the season for us. I believe we have sold out of her title at least three times now."  

Niewenhuis has been on her book tour since the spring and will finish the month of July with a return to the Greater Grand Traverse Bay and Mackinaw areas.

She will begin in Northport, Michigan, at Dog Ears Books  (http://www.dogearsbooks.net/) on Tuesday, July 26 where she will sign books from 4-5pm.  Later that same night, she will give a presentation with photos from her adventure at the Leelanau Library in Northport at 7:30pm.  This presentation has been well-received wherever she has given it.  "I've been to museums, senior centers, libraries and REI stores with this presentation," Niewenhuis said.  "It allows me to take people along with me on the hike and to show them some of the interesting things I saw along the way and to also discuss geology, invasive species, wildlife, and to show off my favorite places along the shores of Lake Michigan."

Then, she heads to Traverse City for a reading/signing event at Horizon Books (http://www.horizonbooks.com/)  at 3pm on Wednesday, July 27.  This event takes place during the Traverse City Film Festival (http://www.traversecityfilmfest.org/).  "I'm looking forward to catching a couple of films while I'm in Traverse City," Niewenhuis said.  "And I hope the festival-goers take a break to come and talk with me about Lake Michigan and my adventure."  

Niewenhuis will finish the month of July in  Mackinaw City for a book signing at True North Books from 3-5pm on the 29th.  And on Saturday, July 30th, she'll sign books at the Island Bookstore on Mackinac Island from 2-4pm.  "I'm looking forward to getting back to the Mackinac area," Niewenhuis says, "and it's always a treat to get out to the island."

Niewenhuis tackled her 1000-mile hike around Lake Michigan in 2009.  It took 64 days of determined walking, and she averaged 16 miles a day.  Niewenhuis said, “I encircled the lake with my footsteps, recorded it in my muscles and bones.”

Niewenhuis is an author of literary short stories (she was a finalist for the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 2009), a mother, and scientist.  She has been constantly drawn to the shores of Lake Michigan and was the perfect person to undertake the adventure and to write about it with a clear voice, avoiding romanticizing the lake or her own undertaking.

Niewenhuis has worked as a medical researcher in the past.  She has a bachelors of science from Calvin College and a masters of science from Wayne State University.  In her book, she offers witness to both the natural beauty of much of Lake Michigan's lakeshore and a concern for the lake’s health as she explored the long and troubling pattern of ecological abuses and environmental challenges.

Niewenhuis discovered that Lake Michigan, like all great places, is not a uniform experience, but is different each day, every step to round the next bend, each beach or bluff. The hike was a discovery of this incredible variety.  Niewenhuis takes us along on the hike from the urban blight of South Chicago, to the popular state parks with grand dunes and sweeping vistas, to small towns and lakefront cottages, to the isolated wild stretches where few people go.

She walked the lakeshore in rain and snow, in gale-force winds and calm sunny days. She had to navigate obstacles ranging from limestone cliffs to deep rivers to steel refineries, to nuclear and coal-fired power plants.  The journey was filled with many challenges that she had to overcome.  

Niewenhuis explores how vital the Great Lakes water system is to the entire country as these five lakes contain 90% of the fresh surface water in the nation.  Niewenhuis conveys a sense of the magnitude and diversity of the lake she loves, a place elemental to the four Midwestern states that form its shores. From a ground-level perspective, the book explores the natural and human history of Lake Michigan and raises important questions about preserving our wild places and protecting fragile ecosystems.

A 1000-MILE WALK ON THE BEACH will offer inspiration to anyone interested in Great Lakes environmental issues (from invasive species to water quality to tourism) and to anyone interested in what it means to take a really long walk and look closely at oneself and one’s place.  

Her complete book tour schedule and a link to her blog can be found on her website http://LakeTrek.com

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Loreen Niewenhuis is the author of A 1000-MILE WALK ON THE BEACH (the account of her hike around Lake Michigan), the novella ATLANTA, and many literary short stories. She gives lectures about the Great Lakes and readings from her work.