We had a lovely drive 60 miles back to Munising yesterday morning. On the way we stopped at the "campground" we had reservations at just to get pictures.
Pictured Rocks RV Park in all its glory. Not exactly ready for business.
Our big event for the day was taking the Pictured Rocks Boat Cruise out of Munising. This was our second attempt to do the cruise after being outdone by the weather two years ago when it was so windy the boats didn't go out. The day was beautiful with calm water. Lake Superior is usually rough so we were very lucky.
Dredging Munising's harbor
I had already found out online that we needed to be there early in order to get a good seat. In spite of standing in line for 45 minutes we got the last railing seats on the top deck. While waiting we were entertained by the dredging equipment which was working on the harbor on one side of us and the pneumatic pile driver hammering in huge iron beams on the other.
On our way in and out of Munising harbor we passed Grand Island, a large island accessible only by boat. In 1990 the Forest Service purchased the island from Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company and turned it into the Grand Island National Recreation Area. They have been improving user facilities ever since with hiking trails and rustic cabins. Our boat captain said very few places have electricity, none have running water and there's only one phone line on the island. The cabins must be very rustic indeed. No one lives there year-round.
Grand Island summer homes will be flooded if the lake level rises
There are still some summer homes which are impeccably maintained by their owners. The nearby owners restored the old Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse and added a seawall to protect it.
East Channel Lighthouse, not a school or church
The lighthouse keeper lived here in total isolation with only his wife and twelve children for company.
After seeing the Grand Island shore we took off for Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It was quite chilly getting out there but after the boat slowed down the temperature was comfortable. It was much better than our miserably freezing boat ride to Isle Royal National Park from the Minnesota side of Lake Superior two years ago.
The Pictured Rocks are stunning and well worth seeing although catching them in the right light would be even better. The right light requires both good weather plus going out on either the 5:00 pm or 8:00 pm cruise. Yesterday evening's weather wasn't going to be good so the 1:00 pm cruise was our only option. I took about 140 pictures, most of which turned out well, so it wasn't bad from a photography standpoint.
It's been hard to pick a reasonable number of pictures to post, but here are a few. The colors come from the minerals either in the rocks or washing down them: yellow, orange, brown and red are iron; blue and blue-green are copper; black and purple are manganese; white is calcite.
One of many arches
Miner's Castle with viewing deck. Two years ago we were up there instead of on the water.
One of the caves formed by wave action and the freezing and thawing of the rocks.
The tree growing on top of the rock column has no soil. It somehow got its roots over to the cliff to the left where it can get what it needs to live. (Looks like a rope bridge in the picture.)
Gaggles of kayakers were everywhere. We were going to do a kayaking tour until our campground fiasco made the timing too difficult. We probably saw more of the rocks from the cruise boat than we would have seen from a kayak, plus we didn't get wet.
The kayaks were constantly in danger of being swamped by cruise boat wakes. We saw quite a few of them get washed over. Superior's water is very cold but people up here take it in stride and make good use of their summer by swimming, tubing, and jet-skiing in it. The lake's deep temperature (660 feet and below) stays at a constant 39 degrees. Surface temperature in the Munising area right now is around 62 degrees. We wouldn't go into 62-degree water for ANYTHING. We want the warm water of Lake Keowee. :-D
A few more interesting tidbits about this lake......
Superior is the largest body of fresh water in the world. It has more water than all the other Great Lakes combined. It would take an additional three Lake Eries to match it. If Superior's water was in a five-foot-deep swimming pool, it would cover the entire continental United States.
A big cave-in happens usually once a season. The huge waves (20' to 30') in October and November help knock down sections which have been weakened by freezing and thawing. If anyone remembers Gordon Lightfoot's "Ballad of the Edmund Fitzgerald", it was the gales of November that caused the ship's demise.
The water was so clear we could see at least 15 feet down. The color was fantastic.
Final view as we were heading back to Munising. One of the most well-known views of Pictured Rocks, it's at its best at sunset.
Today has been either cloudy or foggy all day and 15 to 20 degrees below normal. We're 15 miles west of the lake and rain was forecast so I don't think this is lake effect fog. We're saving our trip into Marquette for tomorrow although the weather may not be any better. Today we got chores done and Jim thinks he's got the propane leak fixed. There's a big RV store next to the campground where he was able to find a new regulator and line for the problem tank. He installed it and no longer smells propane. We hope this will prove to be the cure.
Lovie's evening stroll in the fog.
We have many fond memories of the National Forest Campground (we think it is NF) at Pictured Rocks. When we first saw the shore there, the water was so big and wide we were surprised that it did not have a tide!
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