This past weekend was the second camping trip that @mrsbozz and I have taken this year. It was pretty wet and messy, but before all of the rain started we were able to get some good adventures in.

We pulled into the campground around 2:30 on Thursday and got everything setup. We arrived at the campground just a little bit behind our friends, so they were already setup and relaxing. We had a beautiful evening on Thursday night and Friday morning started out just as lovely.

This is the beach at Young State Park from Thursday night.

I still wasn't feeling the best, so @mrsbozz got up early and took Jovi for a walk around the campground. After she got back, we began talking over breakfast and she asked if I wanted to go to this place she has seen online. I said sure and we started getting around to head out.

In the middle of that process, our friends asked what we were doing and they indicated that they would like to come along as well. We left the campground and took the short drive back down the road to Boyne City. It is a cute little town on the shores of Lake Charlevoix but it wasn't our ultimate destination.

After a couple of wrong turns, we found the area we were looking for.

This is the approach leading up to Avalanche Preserve Recreation Area. It is a 300+ acre area in Boyne City with trails for hiking, bike riding, and a disc golf course.

Although it looks like there is a path up the hill, the actual path starts just to the right of that where you can see that opening in the trees.

At the opening in the trees, you come across this sign...

I'm not in the best shape, but I am not a slug either. I didn't really think 462 steps was going to be that big of a deal. What I didn't take into account was my compromised respiratory system (I'm on antibiotics now).

Thankfully, there are a lot of benches strategically placed along the path up the stairs. We had to stop frequently to regain our legs and our breath. Even @mrsbozz who has been working out religiously every day for the past six months was struggling a little with the climb. The only one who seemed to be unfazed was our friends young son. I guess youth does have its privileges....

Eventually the path through the woods cleared out to something more like this. As soon as I could see the sun again, I knew we were probably close to the top.

In fact I was right.

The top of the climb has several viewing areas where you can look out over Lake Charlevoix and the surrounding area.

Besides the viewing platforms at the top of the bluff, there were also some markers:

As well as some other trails heading off to other parts of the recreation area. We noticed that one of the disc golf hole baskets was at the top of the hill which surprised me. I would have a hard time justifying the 462 stair climb just to play a round of 18. Unless there is another more gentle way up the hillside...

They also had this cool drinking fountain at the top right next to one of the viewing areas.

It was pretty cool because Jovi was good and thirsty by the time she got to the top of the stairs. I should mention all the way up and down the stairs we kept passing by people who by some act of insanity were repeatedly running/walking up and down them for exercise.

We stopped in town for some lunch (that will be another post) and headed back to the campground. After taking a walk with @mrsbozz in the morning and conquering the 462 stairs, Jovi was pretty much worthless the rest of the day.

Which was a good thing because, that is when the rain started. We got close to two inches in a 24 hour period and by Saturday morning @mrsbozz and I decided to head to the local Walmart so we could buy some muck boots and walk around our campsite without worrying too much about the flooding.

By Saturday night, things cleared up and we enjoyed a final evening by the campfire before we headed home on Sunday.