Summer Day on Lake Superior by Michigan Nut Photography
John took this in late June near Munising on Lake Superior. Head over to Michigan Nut Photography on Facebook or his website for lots more! He’s even got jigsaw puzzles from some of his photos!
Cool down at Horseshoe Falls
Horseshoe Falls by Greg Jarman
The premier resource for Michigan waterfalls is GoWaterfalling, and their entry for Horseshoe Falls in Munising says (in part):
Horseshoe Falls is a scenic, privately owned waterfall in Munising. There is an admission fee to visit the falls. It is spring fed, so it may be flowing when the other five falls in the area are not.
Horseshoe Falls is located in the middle of Munising, just a few blocks away from M-28 … It plunges about 20 feet, and then tumbles down a long series of cascades for another 20 feet or more. The waterfall is spring fed, so it may be running when the other nearby falls thin out in the summer months.
In addition to the falls there is a trout pond, where you can feed the fish.
You can read on for more info including other nearby waterfalls & see dozens more Michigan waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures!
Greg took this in mid-June. See lots more in his 2020 Upper Peninsula Road Trip album on Flickr & have a great week!
A Peaceful Moment on Lake Superior
Peaceful Moment at Lake Superior by Michigan Nut Photography
One of my favorite photographers on Michigan in Pictures is John McCormick aka Michigan Nut. He caught this peaceful moment at Lake Superior near Munising the other day, remarking that “you don’t often see the big lake this calm.
Prints of this photo and a whole lot more Michigan beauty are available at michigannutphotography.com.
TBT: Columns of Ice at the Eben Ice Cave
Columns of Ice, Eben Ice Cave, photo by John Clement Howe.
EDITOR’S NOTE: With the rise of coronavirus, it seems to me that we could all use a little reconnection with our lovely state of Michigan, so I’m going to try to dig out some old photos and share some new ones to help keep you close to Mama Michigan as you socially distance!
This photo originally appeared March 20, 2007 and is one of a nice set titled At the Ice Cave of Eben taken in March of 2007 at the Eben Ice Caves in the Upper Peninsula near Munising. My friend Dr. John Anderton of the Northern Michigan University Department of Geography who has since passed away explained their formation:
The Eben Ices Caves are located just a few miles north of the little town of Eben, within the Rock River Canyon Wilderness Area (RRCW). The RRCW, which became a Wilderness in 1987 as a part of the Michigan Wilderness Act, is located approximately 15 miles west of the town of Munising, MI, within the Munising Ranger District of the Hiawatha National Forest. It comprises 4,460 acres and contains outstanding natural features including Rock River, Silver Creek and Ginpole Lake. Within its interior there are two short user-developed trails (totaling about 1.75 miles) leading to Rock River Falls and the Eben Ice Caves. An estimated 1,700 people visit the area annually (USFS records) …
The Ice Caves are not true caves at all. They consist of walls or vertical sheets of ice that form across the face of overhanging rock outcrops. In the summer, small unimpressive waterfalls and groundwater seeps may found along the overhangs. In the winter, however, the water hits the cold air, drips downward under the influence of gravity and freezes, creating spectacular ice caves. Each winter they look a little different, but typically there are openings in the ice that allow you to walk behind the ice walls.
The rock overhangs, where the ice caves form, consist of outcrops of Munising Formation (Cambrian) with a capstone of AuTrain Formation (Ordovician). The outcrops are found along the south side of the valley of Silver Creek, which is part of a network of secondary glacial drainage channels that formed during the Marquette Advance (about 10,000 years ago). Theses secondary drainage channels flowed easterly into the AuTrain-Whitefish Channel, a primary glacial meltwater channel that flowed south to the Lake Michigan basin. Groundwater naturally seeps from these rocks, providing the water necessary to form the ice caves in the winter.
For directions and more info, check out Munising Ice Climbing from Travel Marquette!
A Blaze of Green at Pictured Rocks
Untitled, photo by Steve Nowakowski
It’s hard to convey the unique beauty of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in a single photo, but the stunning green of this picture really triggered memories for me of some of my best and brightest days in one of Michigan’s crown jewels.
Steve took this on a boat tour in August of 2016 with nearly perfect conditions, likely with Pictured Rocks Cruises. View the photo background big and see more in his 2016 Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore slideshow.
There’s a whole lot more goodness from the Pictured Rocks on Michigan in Pictures.
Words escape me: Grand Island Ice Caves, 2015
Words escape me, photo by Lake Superior Photo
Words escape ME on the beauty of the video that Shawn of Lake Superior Photo shared. The ice caves on Grand Island near Munising didn’t happen this year, a very unfortunate thing for everyone in Michigan who makes their livelihood from winter recreation. However, thanks to the magic of the video below, we can travel back to 2015.
You can view Shawn’s photo from winter of 2015 bigger on Facebook and purchase the photo right here. I can’t stress enough that you should follow Shawn and Lake Superior Photo on Facebook. Please do it.
Now here’s that video. Be sure to turn your volume up and watch in HD – there’s a “boom” from the ice sheet at 4 seconds that’s incredible!
Hard Luck Lights: Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse
Grand Island Lighthouse, photo by Steve Nowakowski
Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light shares the story of one of Michigan’s hard-luck lighthouses, the Grand Island East Channel Light. Work began in 1867 with the the clearing of a sandy peninsula on the southeast shore of the island:
As a result of the chosen site being both on low ground and close to the water’s edge, a considerable amount of cribbing was installed along the shore line to help stave-off erosion and undermining of the station’s foundation. Plans for the station building called-out a typical “schoolhouse” style combination dwelling and tower similar to that used frequently throughout the lakes. However, in order to minimize cost the building was to be of timber frame construction with wood siding, as opposed to the more common brick or stone materials used in such structures elsewhere. Painted white to increase its value as a daymark, the 1 ½ story dwelling incorporated a forty-five foot tower its southern end, and was outfitted with an oil-fired steamer lens with a focal plane of 49 feet.
…The combination of a wooden structure in such an exposed location, and its location on the low sandy area close to the water’s edge created an ongoing maintenance nightmare for the district engineers, with the station listed as one at which considerable repairs were taken every year for the following thirty years.
…Without any care throughout the years, the structure deteriorated rapidly. Without regular scraping and repainting, the once bright white structure had turned a dismal driftwood gray, and the cribs installed a hundred years previously had disintegrated completely, with the waters of Munising Bay lapping directly at the stones of the structure’s foundation.
Read on for much more including efforts that stabilized this structure and the lighthouses that replaced it after decommissioning in 1908.
View Steve’s photo background big and see more in his 2016 Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse slideshow.
More Michigan lighthouses on Michigan in Pictures!
See for miles & miles at Pictured Rocks
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, photo by supernova9
Maybe if I looked at this view every day for 50 years I would get tired of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Maybe.
View supernova9’s photo bigger and see more in his Michigan’s Upper Peninsula slideshow.
More Pictured Rocks on Michigan in Pictures.
Miner’s Castle, before it fell
Miner’s Castle before it fell, photo by spauldi1
Today is the 10th anniversary of the collapse of one of the turrets on the Miner’s Castle formation in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
On Thursday morning, April 13, 2006, the northeast turret of Miners Castle collapsed. One turret remains on Miners Castle, the best-known feature of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The collapse was reported via cell phone by fisherman in the area, according to chief ranger Larry Hach. Most of the rock fell north and into Lake Superior, and there were no injuries. The lower overlook platform near Miners Castle appears to be unaffected.
While the rockfall at Miners Castle on April 13 was startling, such events are not rare along the Pictured Rocks escarpment.
Click for the full report on Absolute Michigan.
Sue took this back in 2003. View it background big and jump into her slideshow for more pics from “before the fall”at Miner’s Castle.
Chapel Rock in Winter
Live Anywhere, photo by Jay
When you think about it, it’s not only miraculous that the white pine on Chapel Rock in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore survives with barely any soil, but also that it endures winter after winter in the teeth of Lake Superior.
Jay took this shot on February 20th last year. View it background bigtacular and jump into his slideshow for some more spectacular winter photos from the Pictured Rocks.
