The US Supreme Court declined Tuesday to review a Michigan case affirming the right of people to walk on Great Lakes beaches. The action in effect reaffirms a Michigan Supreme Court decision that walkers can follow the waterline even on property that is privately owned.

This Detroit Free Press article quotes an attorney who supported the rights of beach walkers as saying that the action by the nation's highest court has the effect of securing the right affirmed by the Michigan justices last year in a 5-2 vote. The dissenting justices in the Michigan decision also recognized a right to walk along beachfront property, but only on the wet sand at the water's edge, while majority held the area between the water and the ordinary high water mark was open for strollers.

Kick off your shoes. Let's go find some Petoskey stones.