Northern Michigan morning, photo by onewildwest.
As students all around the Michigan head back to school, I’d prefer to take a last look back at summertime (and to hope that we get a nice, long Indian summer this year).
Brent writes that this was taken on a perfect, peaceful morning on a gorgeous lake in the Pigeon River State Forest. Check it out bigger in his slideshow.
Mt. Franklin view, photo by yooper1949.
Mount Franklin was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin. It’s along the Greenstone Ridge, about which Summit Post says:
The Greenstone Ridge forms the geologic backbone of one of America’s least visited National Parks…Isle Royale … The island is composed of a series of ridges that run the length of the island. In between these ridges are areas of swamp and muskeg. Sound inviting?
The Greenstone Ridge is the longest and highest of these ridges. It gets its name from the greenish stones that are commonly found along it. It runs the entire 45-mile length of the island and is anything but smooth. A few notable peaks along it include Mt. Franklin(1080’), Mt. Ojibway(1136’), Mt. Siskiwit(1205’), Ishpeming Point(1377’), and Mt. Desor(1394’). The ridge top is quite open in places, particularly along the northeast half of the ridge. The trail between Mt. Franklin and Ojibway is especially scenic.
Click to read more about this trail. The Isle Royale National Park site says that Greenstone Ridge forms the backbone of Isle Royale and is thought by many geologists to be a portion of the largest lava flow on earth.
This photo is part of Carl’s Isle Royale National Park set (slideshow), to which I am drawn back to again and again. You can also purchase many of them from Carl’s MackinacScenics site.
Crystal Lake, Michigan, photo by *ojoyous1*.
On Joy’s blog she has a post (with more photos) titled Where is Home? where she says:
I arrived here in Northern Michigan late yesterday afternoon.
I felt all the stress of the city just slip away, and I felt like I had come home. I think Maggie (her dog) sensed it, too!
And I realized this time, just how much of this place & my Michigan friends I carry with me everyday when I’m back in Ohio.
I thought I would take you with me on my morning walk with Maggie along beautiful Crystal Lake….
What spot makes your heart sing?
Where do you feel most at “home”?
Check this out bigger in her Up North slideshow.
…and yes, this too is part of the ever-expanding Michigan Duckie Photo Collection!
“Waukasansan”, photo by yooper1949.
The Les Cheneaux Antique Wooden Boat Show and Festival of Arts aka the Hessel Boat Show takes place next Saturday (August 8) in Hessel:
Live music plays in Hessel harbor while visitors admire the 150 dinghies, rowboats, canoes, sailboats, runabouts, cruisers and other vintage wooden vessels. Browse the many food and nautical vendors stationed alongside the show, staged at one of Michigan’s most picturesque settings. The Hessel Marina affords a view of the harbor and a handful of islands. Spectators can also board a tour boat that cruises among the 36 Les Cheneaux Islands on Lake Huron, with 2 trips leaving from Hessel pier throughout the day. The Festival of Arts is also on the waterfront, next to the boat show, and 70 exhibitors sell their juried arts and crafts there.
You can see this photo bigger in Carl’s Boats slideshow (view the set)
Old USCG Mackinaw and New USCG Cutter Mackinaw, photos by Bass Dude
On an average day, the Coast Guard will conduct 109 search & rescue operations, saving 10 lives and assisting 192 people in distress. The Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival is the nation’s largest festival that honors the men and women of the US Coast Guard. It takes place July 24 – August 2 in Grand Haven and features nightly entertainment at Waterfront Stadium, arts & crafts, downtown carnival, parades, ship tours and the world’s largest musical fountain with spectacular fireworks. This year is the 85th annual occurrence of the festival which unofficially began in 1924 as a Coast Guard personnel only picnic and has grown to attract over 350,000 people including the nation’s highest ranking Coast Guard dignitaries.
The Coast Guard Cutters Bristol Bay and Mackinaw will be in Grand Haven for the festival and offering tours. The 290 feet long old Mackinaw (WAGB 83) was built in Toledo, Ohio and commissioned in December 1944 and decommissioned June 10, 2006. It is now the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum in Mackinaw City (here’s a tour of the Mackinaw).
The new US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw (WLBB 30) is the only heavy icebreaker assigned to the Great Lakes. It was commissioned June 10, 2006 and is powered by 3 Caterpillar 3612 Turbocharged V-12 engines – 3360 KW each. Prolusion comes from 2 ABB azimuthing electric propulsion drives where the propulsion motor is installed inside a submerged azimuthing (unlimited 360 degrees) pod and coupled directly to an extremely short propeller shaft. In addition to heavy icebreaking, the Mackinaw has state of the art systems and multi-mission capabilities that include servicing buoys, search & rescue, law enforcement and the ability to deploy an oil skimming system to respond to oil spill situations.
Check out this 360° tour of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw and these photos from the Mackinaw’s launch via Boatnerd.
Be sure to check these photos out bigger (old and new) or in Skip’s Boats set (slideshow).
Getting to Grandma’s May Be Tricky, photo by docksidepress.
Check out some Michigan kiteboarding links from kiteUS and also Great Lakes Kiteboarding (check out their sweet video of a session on Lake Huron at Tawas.
Be sure to check this out bigger.
Photo Kayaking on Pigeon River, photo by Fellowship of the Rich.
Here’s a photo taken while kayaking on the Pigeon River in Port Sheldon, about which the DNR says:
The Pigeon River is located in the north-central part of the southern peninsula of Michigan. Its headwaters are located a few miles northeast of Gaylord. The river then flows in a northerly direction to its mouth at Mullet Lake, a distance of 42 miles. The Pigeon River system drains a surface area of approximately 88,000 acres and include 80 linear miles of stream.
The DNR’s Natural Rivers page says that Michigan has more than 36,000 miles of rivers and streams, including over 12,000 miles of cold water trout streams. Get a list of those Michigan rivers from Wikipedia.
Be sure to check this photo out bigger and in Rich’s The River set (slideshow)
Rich also created a new Flickr group called The River, about which he says:
Life stems from flowing water and life grows around flowing water. Cities and towns build up around the river. This group is about documenting rivers from all over the world. Activities in and around the river. From swimming, boating, fishing to taking in scenery and wildlife. Iconic rivers to locally known fishing rivers, we’d love to have them all.
Last light of day…, photo by Doug Langham.
The inaugural Michigan Schooner Festival will take place September 11-13, 2009 in Traverse City. It will bring together six tall ships in West Grand Traverse Bay for rides aboard the ships, evening cruises, kids activities and more. “Song of the Lakes” will headline the entertainment with a performance on Saturday evening during a progressive-style party on the ships. Get all the details from MichiganSchoonerFestival.org.
The Friends Good Will out of South Haven won’t be there (at least this year) but the image was just too tasty to pass up! Be sure to check this photo out background bigalicious and also in Doug’s Friends Good Will slideshow.
foundersboatsrise_autolv, photo by TheDailies.
Kim has a great set of photos from Founder’s Day (slideshow).
On her blog, she relates the story of the Marquette’s first Founder’s Day (May 18, 2009):
While researching Marquette history, particularly the lower harbor and Founders Landing, Joe Constance, a partner with the Landing Development Group, ran across an address Peter White gave to Marquette’s YMCA in 1889. “On May 18, 1849, Peter White and Robert Graveraet first arrived in what would become Marquette,” says Constance. “Reading about their arrival at sunrise and meeting with Chief Kawbawgam, I started thinking about what that friendship meant for our community,” adds Constance. “The 160th anniversary of that date and event in our city’s history needs to be recognized.”
…According to White’s story, the party expected the trip to take three hours, but, “the seven oarsmen were pulling with a will-long strong, deep, regular strokes, that, made the boat show what the sailors call a bore in her teeth for these boys had been told that morning when breaking camp at 4 o’clock at Shot Point, that their destination was in sigh, and if they did as well as they sometimes did that a landing would be made inside of two hours, that the long trip–nine days of coasting would be ended, and the new Eldorado would be reached–and it was accomplished.”
Be sure to check this out bigger too!
Michigan in Pictures 