A 1,000 Mile Walk on the Beach Continues

March 23, 2009 - PRLog -- Chicago, IL--- Loreen Niewenhuis, writer and adventurer, set out this month to do what no woman before her has done.   The Michigan native, who has had on-going love affair with Lake Michigan since childhood, began her walk all the way around Lake Michigan.  She began last week with a 72 mile segment stretching from Chicago, IL to Union Pier, MI.  

The outcome of this projected seven month endeavor will be a book Niewenhuis proposes to be a “cross between Bill Bryson’s humorous and information packed A Walk in the Woods and Elizabeth Gilbert’s self discovering Eat, Pray, Love.”  

The first segment of the Lake Trek began March 16, on the end of Navy Pier in Chicago.  From there, Niewenhuis walked to Union Pier, Michigan in five days.   “This was the most diverse segment of the trek, traversing three states with portions ranging from the extremes of a major metropolitan city (Chicago), to major tracts of industry (including the defunct U.S. Steel's South Works facility and the recently expanded BP refinery installations), to the miles of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore,” Niewenhuis said.

The adventurer/author went on to say:  “Chicago is my favorite big city. Part of the reason is that it is on Lake Michigan, but it is even more appealing because the city has preserved its relationship with the lake. Twenty-four miles of Chicago's thirty miles of shoreline has been preserved for parks, beaches, museums, and other public spaces.”

The next segments of the trek take her up the west coast of Michigan’s lower peninsula.  First, she will trek from Union Pier to South Haven, then from South Haven to Grand Haven.  The segments are 60 and 50 miles respectively.  

The trek will be recorded on the author’s blog http://laketrek.blogspot.com  Visitors to the site can read about Niewenhuis’s journey which proceeds counter-clockwise around the lake.  Her website, www.LoreenNiewenhuis.com will also provide additional information and insight on the author and her work, both published and in progress.

Niewenhuis has a Bachelor of Science degree from Calvin College, then a Master of Science from Wayne State University.  This makes her uniquely qualified to explore and discuss some of the pressing environmental issues facing the lake:  invasive species, pollution, water usage issues, and the effects of climate warming on the lake.  

Most recently, Niewenhuis received a Masters of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing from Spalding University.  Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of publications including The Antioch Review and The Bellevue Literary Review.  

For real time information on the trek, please contact:  Loreen Niewenhuis at 269-753-2605

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