The U.P. is open for business!
June 1, 2012
Wagner Falls, photo by karstenphoto
The Michigan DNR reports that fire crews are making good progress on the Duck Lake Fire in Luce County and that campgrounds, state parks, resorts and other businesses throughout the region and the Upper Peninsula are ready & waiting to deliver Pure Michigan fun! Tahquamenon Falls State Park was completely untouched and the Upper Falls viewing area and Lower Falls campground and visitor center are open. The fire itself isn’t putting up a smoke plume, it’s in a remote area and there hasn’t been significant activity since Monday.
One of the main businesses of the Upper Peninsula is tourism, and waterfalls like this are one of the draws. GoWaterfalling says that Wagner Falls is located south of Munising. It has its own state scenic site and after a short & pleasant boardwalk, you get to see this pretty waterfall!
Check this out background bigtacular and see more in Steven’s falls slideshow.
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Adams Dry Fly, photo by Mike Cline
This Saturday (June 2, 2012) the Kingsley Library hosts the 1st Annual Adams Fly Festival. They will have northern Michigan fly rod maker R.W. Summers on hand (click for an interview with him on Absolute Michigan today). There will also be fly tying lessons, a silent auction with some great items, music, food and an original Adams fly on display.
In The Adams: History Revisited in Hatches magazine, Tom Deschaine writes that the Adams fly is probably the most famous fly in all of history.
It’s carried in the fly boxes of fishermen in every country where trout are found. It would probably be an understatement to claim that the Adams fly, with all its variations, has collectively caught more trout then any other fly pattern in existence. It can be used in a variety of waters, and, with its brownish-grayish coloration it imitates generally acceptable food items found almost anywhere in trout fishing environments. Most fishermen would agree that if they were allowed to use only one dry fly pattern — it would be the Adams (or some variation there of).
The story of the Adams begins just 12 miles south of Traverse City, Michigan, off County Road 611 in the small township of Mayfield. It was here, in 1922, at the Mayfield Pond where Leonard Halladay created the famous Adams fly.
Leonard Halladay (1872-1952) was originally from New York but his family, lured by the lumber industry, migrated to Mayfield when Leonard was just a young boy. As a growing young man he would see the last of the grayling and brook trout whose demise was brought about by over fishing, and habitat destruction from the logging industry. It was around this time when Michigan began introducing the German brown trout to its rivers.
…The historically accepted story goes on to say that on a summer’s day in 1922 at the impoundment of Swainston Creek known as the Mayfield Pond, Mr. Halladay said: “The first Adams I made I handed to Mr. Adams who was fishing in a small pond in front of my house, to try on the Boardman that evening. When he came back next morning, he wanted to know what I called it. He said it was a ‘knock-out’ and I said we would call it the Adams, since he had made the first good catch on it.”
Mike Cline took the photo and tied the fly. Click through to see it bigger.
You can visit Mayfield Pond in the Boardman Valley Nature Preserve, and you can see how to tie the Adams fly in this video.
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Prescription for a great Michigan summer
May 26, 2012
Flying High, photo by Steven White Photographic Art
Get out. Have fun. Repeat as necessary.
See this photo big as the Sulver Lake Dunes or in Steven’s Our World in Color slideshow.
Have a great weekend everyone!!
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Before we were owls
May 18, 2012
10, photo by Sherri & Dan
The Great Horned Owl article on Michigan in Pictures is stocked with all kinds of information about what this little guy will grow up to be (Sherri & Dan also took that photo). Also see Bubo virginianus (great horned owl) on the University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web and check out this video of three little horned owlets.
See this photo background big and and follow this owl’s growth in Sherri & Dan’s owls slideshow.
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Morning on Pearl Lake
May 15, 2012
Today is the opening day of walleye season in Michigan. I couldn’t find a good walleye photo, but even though Pearl Lake isn’t on the list of top walleye lakes in Michigan, I thought it captured the mood perfectly! Much more at Michigan Walleye on Absolute Michigan.
Check this out background bigtacular and in Jim’s My Most Interesting Photos slideshow.
More fish & fishing on Michigan in Pictures.
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150,000 photos and one big morel!
May 11, 2012
Weekend Find, photo by LadyDragonflyCC – See through my Eyes!
The Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr reached a major milestone that we almost missed: the 150,000th photo was added to the group by Christine aka LadyDragonflyCC!! The 100,000th photo was added 2 years ago. At that time there were about 2400 people in our group which has now grown to almost 3200 people. The group was started way back in August of 2005 and you can go back to the beginning right here.
See Christine’s photo bigger and see more in her tasty morel slideshow.
Speaking of morels, don’t miss the annual Mesick Morel Mushroom Festival today through Sunday (May 11-13) and the National Morel Mushroom Festival next weekend (May 17-20) in Boyne City.
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Ernie Harwell, gone but not forgotten
May 4, 2012
The Old Ball Game, photo by dblstripe
“Ernie (Harwell) is probably the most beloved person who has ever been in Detroit with the Detroit Tigers. He is loved by everybody and rightfully so. He’s a great broadcaster but even a better person. That comes across on his broadcasts.”
~ Detroit Tiger Hall of Famer Al Kaline
Two years ago today, one of the greatest members of the Detroit Tigers organization passed away. It’s no coincidence that Ernie Harwell received a baseball announcer’s highest honor by winning the Ford Frick Award from the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Here’s his Hall of Fame induction speech, set to a scrapbook of photos. There’s much more about Ernie Harwell on Michigan in Pictures.
Bryan shot this photo of the pitchers mound at old Tiger Stadium aka Ernie Harwell Park last fall. Check it out background big and in his Detroit slideshow.
We’ll close with words from Harwell’s farewell address that you can read in full at the Baseball Almanac. Click head over to “Ernie” on Absolute Michigan to read about the play about him by Mitch Albom and to see Ernie with thousands of the fans he talks about here…
“Thank you for letting me be part of your family. Thank you for taking me with you to that cottage up north, to the beach, the picnic, your work place and your backyard.
Thank you for sneaking your transistor under the pillow as you grew up loving the Tigers.
Now I might have been a small part of your life. But you have been a very large part of mine. And it’s my privilege and honor to share with you the greatest game of all.”
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Omagakii: Frog in Anishinaabemowin
May 3, 2012
Ribbit Tell’em, photo by EEKaWILL
Spring is frog season, and today’s Anishinaabemowin word of the day is Omagakii which means frog. Omagakiins means little frog and Omagakiinsag means little frogs.
Anishinaabemow.in is a very cool (though no longer updated) website that used short videos to teach words and short phrases in Anishinaabemowin. They explain that:
Anishinaabemowin is the traditional language of the Anishinaabe people. It is sometimes referred to as Ojibwe, Ojibway, Saulteaux or Indian by people in the community. Outsiders sometimes refer to it as Ojibwa or Chippewa. On this site we refer to it by the proper name in the language Anishinaabemowin.
Some facts about Anishinaabemowin
- During the Fur Trade era Anishinaabemowin was referred to as the ‘Lingua Franca’ or trade language of what is now called Canada, meaning at one time if you wanted to conduct business here you had to speak Anishinaabemowin
- At one time Guiness Book of World Records listed Anishinaabemowin as having the most complex verb structure of any language in the world, a testament to the intellectual capacity of our ancestors
- A number of English words are adopted from Anishinaabemowing including Totem (used in Freudian studies and to refer to West Coast art) which is adapted from Dodem or clan, Mocassin (leather slipper) which is adapted from Makasin or shoe and countless place names.
- Anishinaabemowin is spoken in communities from Quebec to British Columbia, From Northern Ontario to the Midwestern United States. The diffusion of speakers means that it is now spoken in places where there never were Anishinaabeg before.
- Old Anishinaabeg don’t die, they just Maazhiwe.
Check Will’s photo out bigger and also see the Frog slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool!
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Northern Lights squared at Point Iroquois Lighthouse
April 28, 2012
Iroquois Point Light and the Northern Lights, photo by yooper1949
It’s hard to let the Northern Lights go when they come for a visit as they did earlier this week, so here’s one more shot! You can read all about Point Iroquois Light from Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light.
The Iroquois tribe made their home far away in New York. Point Iroquois is located at the east end of Lake Superior, where the lake narrows into the St. Mary’s River. If you’re wondering like I was how this point came to bear their name, the brochure for Point Iroquois has the answer:
The area around Sault Ste. Marie (“The Soo”), including Whitefish Bay, has been called the “Heartland” of the Chippewa Indians. This tribe is also called Ojibwa, and sometimes refer to themselves as “Anishinabeg,” which is their word for “original people.” The Iroquois lived about 400 miles away, mostly in what is now western New York. In the 1600’s these nations were at war, at least in part because of European influence and fur trade competition. The Iroquois often sent expeditions far from their homeland and attempted to control the trade routes leading east from the Great Lakes.
Accounts of an important battle at Point Iroquois in 1662 have been passed down for over 300 years. They tell how an Iroquois war party camped near the point where the lighthouse now stands, and how the Chippewa secretly watched their movements and mounted a surprise attack near dawn. The Iroquois were defeated decisively, and apparently never again ventured this far west.
Here’s information on visiting Point Iroquois Lighthouse and you can also see it on Google Maps.
Carl seems to have a knack for shooting the Northern Lights at the lighthouses of Northern Michigan. Check it out background bigtacular and see a ton more in his Lighthouse slideshow.
Much more northern lights and lighthouses on Michigan in Pictures!
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April Northern Lights over Michigan
April 25, 2012
Reflection, photo by Xavist on the colorful way
Quite a number of photographers in our Absolute Michigan pool caught photos of the aurora borealis. More including a great video over on Absolute Michigan.
See Xavist’s photo background bigtacular, catch another that is currently the cover of our Absolute Michigan Facebook or enjoy some great photos from the U.P. in his slideshow.
Much (much) more northern lights information & photos on Michigan in Pictures.
