Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

We left Marquette this morning and journeyed down the road about 50 miles to Munising.  The major attraction here is it sets at the western edge of the Pictured Rocks National Seashore.  This rock formation is a series of sandstone and other sedimentary rock that forms high cliffs over Lake Superior.

They are called “Pictured Rocks” because of their multiple colors created from ground water that seeps through and over the face of these rather porous rocks, leaving stains related to the mineral content of the seeping ground water; blue/green is copper, black is manganese, and red/yellow/orange is iron.

We took the boat tour that passes by about 25 miles of the 30 mile long seashore.  It has been quite a few years since we took this tour.  It attracts people from around the world.  As an attraction, it ranks right up there with Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, etc.  The late afternoon ride provided the perfect light to highlight the rock’s features.  We took 250 pictures along our 2 1/2 hour ride.  We have tried to pick out a few of our favorites.

Although the pictures do not show it, it was pretty rough with winds pushing 20 mph.  Going out we were on the top deck, a good 25 feet above the water and we were getting spray up there.  It was in the low 50s, so it was pretty chilly.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

In all the times we have visited Munising and taken this boat ride, we did not realize there is a whole other world connected to this shoreline.  The National Park Service has improved old logging roads, established trails, and set up visitor’s centers all along the interior of this shoreline.  So today we are going to explore a different dimension of the Pictured Rocks, that we, and venture to say, others have not experienced.

First stop was Sand Point, the site of an early Coast Guard Life Saving Service Station.  Inside there is a museum, but it had closed for the season.  This picture shows the ramp they would run their boat down to launch into the lake for rescue.  Not many of these stations still exist along the Great Lakes.

 

Next was a waterfall called Miner Falls.  This is one of the tallest in this region of the UP.  Pretty neat, although water flow was lower than it would be in the spring.

A rock feature visible from both the boat and shore is Miner’s Castle.

The Au Sable Light Station was our final stop for the day.  This is a newer lighthouse, put into service in 1874.  The lighthouse was constructed as a result of several shipwrecks occurring from grounding on a shallow sandstone reef here. 

Au Sable Point is a reference point for ships as they make way toward the Soo Locks, but if they get too close, they will ground.  The light was equipped with a 3rd order Fresnel lens, with a wick lamp that burned kerosene. 

There were three keepers, a head, and two assistants. The second assistant operated the manually cranked foghorn. Each lived here about 6 months of the year with their families.  Access at that time was only by boat.  We walked a mile and half to get to it ourselves today.  So it was pretty remote.

It was fully automated in 1958, no longer requiring a keeper.  The light is functional today, but uses a solar powered LED lamp.  It continues to be a constant white, with no rotation.

There are a few more things to see in this area, particularly in the Grand Marais area at the eastern end of the Lakeshore, but decided to leave that for a future visit.  Tomorrow we head toward Newberry.