“Ross Lang was known by many as a fisherman’s fisherman, respected by everyone who knew him for his efficiency, determination, and ingenuity. The shock experienced by all when he died in a fishing accident on a beautiful calm April day in 1998 is still felt today.” –Fishtown Preservation
Once upon a time, Joy Lang Anderson & her husband Ross were my across the street neighbors in the village of Leland. Back in 2017, I sat down with her in Leland’s Fishtown to talk about how she & Ross (both UP natives) ended up integral parts of the village of Leland and its fishing history. I hope you enjoy it!
The photos of the Joy were taken by Mark Smith (I took the pic of Ross’s marker). See more in Mark’s Leland album on Flickr and for sure view & purchase Mark’s work at Leelanau Landscapes.
I shared this photo 13 years ago, but it really felt like I needed to return here this morning, if only for a virtual moment.
Gary has been a part of Michigan in Pictures for years now, bringing photos from across Michigan, but especially Grand Marais & the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. View & purchase his work at Footsore Photography & for sure follow Gary on Facebook! The first two below are from The Coves along with a collection including Lower Mosquito Falls in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore & the last is from the upcoming Grand Marais Fly-in!
The sun’s brush paints the day’s end with strokes of flowing orange and opalescent coral. Sleeping Bear Dunes, guardian of the coast, stand silhouetted against the celestial masterpiece. As the sun descends, the waters of North Bar Lake become a mirror, reflecting the heavens in all their fiery glory. A ribbon of liquid cuts through the sand, mirroring the sky’s vibrant hues. The wet sand, kissed by the setting sun, flows with ethereal light, a testament to the sun’s final performance. The air, still and hushed, is filled with the gentle lapping of waves against the shore, a soothing melody that accompanies the visual symphony.
Mark Lindsay from The Soul of Sleeping Bear
Leelanau.com shares that photographer Mark Lindsay (whose work you may have seen on Michigan in Pictures) has released his first book, The Soul of Sleeping Bear. It’s a beautiful, coffee table book that blends Mark’s gorgeous photography of the Sleeping Bear with writings on what these vistas can spark in your heart.
Although winter “officially” ended yesterday, the snowy pictures I’m seeing from around Michigan this morning make me feel OK sharing these pics Marty got of blue ice on the Straits of Mackinac last weekend. Click to follow Marty on Facebook & for sure check out some of his past photos on Michigan in Pictures!
As with water, this color is caused by the absorption of both red and yellow light (leaving light at the blue end of the visible light spectrum) … In simplest of terms, think of the ice or snow layer as a filter. If it is only a centimeter thick, all the light makes it through; if it is a meter thick, mostly blue light makes it through. This is similar to the way coffee often appears light when poured, but much darker when it is in a cup.
Most remember that President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law establishing that Yellowstone as America’s first national park on March 1, 1872, but not that many are aware of the 2nd national park that Congress created just three years later on March 3, 1875. The National Parks Traveler has a great feature on America’s “forgotten” national park which existed from 1875 to 1895 when it became Mackinac Island State Park, the nation’s first state park which is now Mackinac State Historic Parks.
Mark has shared a ton of Mackinac Island pics on Flickr and in our Absolute Michigan group. Here are some of my faves. See more in his Mackinac, Michigan gallery on Flickr!!
EDITOR’S NOTE ON THE EDITOR’S NOTE: I am the editor of Leelanau.com. I wrote the Editor’s Note below and fully endorse the position of the letter writer. Honestly, if you don’t I really wonder why you follow this blog and for sure don’t care if you go away for good.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first message that I am going to share from a National Forest Service employee who is neck deep in the horrors being perpetrated against the National Park Service and the National Forest Service. Sadly, I don’t think it will be the last. Also, at the end, the author says mean things about the Department of Government Efficiency aka DOGE aka the unelected & unaccountable organization taking a wrecking ball to the federal government which I fully endorse. This is an ill-fated & poorly planned action that will cause untold & in some cases irreparable damage to public resources that you and I own. We should not allow this.
1. I still have a job, meaning I somehow cleared level one. RIF (reduction in force) is the Boss Level, and that’s still a ways off (days? Weeks? We don’t know). I am not in any way hopeful that I will still be employed with the National Forests in four months, or that there will be National Forests in four years.
2. People at work are packing, printing our performance docs, waiting for the call. Some of us (like me) have targets on our backs, but nobody is safe. Nobody sleeps. A co-worker thought he was having a heart attack. We compare what meds we’re taking for anxiety. The wait is torture. I had to process termination paperwork for a very close friend who kicks ass at her job. It sucks every day. And work used to be my happy place.
3. The termination letters site performance issues. THIS IS A LIE and they know it. That’s why they fired (and were forced by a federal judge to rehire) the head of the Merit Systems Protection Board, a board whose main job is to say, “Whoa whoa wait a sec. You can’t fire federal employees without just cause!” This is why people are signing termination docs “signed under duress.” My friend has excellent performance evaluations. Most of the fired people do. Because…
4. Probation does NOT mean we did something wrong. It means we just got hired (or promoted) and it came with a probationary period. These are recent graduates who went to school for natural resource management, wildlife conservation, forestry, and did so with the SOLE INTENT of protecting our public lands. These are the MOST devoted, passionate, educated, efficient people. With the least pay. We don’t work public lands for the pay; it is so much less than private sector wages, you guys. Look up the federal pay scale. It’s public information. Compare GS level jobs to what they’d make at a private company. In NPS we joked that we got paid in sunsets. We join because we believe in preserving public land for future generations. But it’s starting to look like our public lands will be cannibalized for parts. So
5. Please! If you go to public lands this summer, or in the next four years, know that we are doing the best we can with the staff and budget we’ve been given. There’s a district north of Yellowstone of over a million acres that has been left with THREE employees. Recreation and Trails departments across the nation have been gutted. There are NO PEOPLE LEFT ON THE GROUND TO CLEAN YOUR SHIT. If you have a complaint about your lands this summer, do NOT get hostile with the federal workers on the ground. Take that complaint, dip it in hot tar, and shove it as far up the DOGEs ass as you can reach.
With full honor & respect to the absolutely brutal temps across Michigan this morning, here are some sweet photos from a series that Bill took on February 1st at Fennville’s Pier Cove Park. There’s even a shot of a sundog in one of the photos!
One of my favorite things about Michigan in Pictures is seeing some of the incredible cameras people are using.
One man who has some sweet gear is Kirt E. Carter and he has been bringing some incredible Hasselblad pics to the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr for the better part of a decade. I figured today was a good day to bring attention to his amazing work. The large one below of icicles on the Eagle Harbor shoreline – see more in the Hasselblad search in the Absolute Michigan group & for sure head over to his website to view & purchase his work!
Most of the photos on Michigan in Pictures are by other people, but sometimes on Fridays I like to share my own. These are from the Lake Michigan shore in Leland from late January 2017. Follow me here for more pics and for sure feel welcome to support me & Michigan in Pictures through Patreon donations!
“This snowy week is nearly at an end, including a visit from real Arctic air, and many towns near Lake Michigan and Lake Superior got a foot or two of fresh snow as a result,” the NWS said. “Clearly, the vast majority of snow was a result of lake effect, as plenty of other parts of Michigan only saw an inch or two at best.”
Air temperatures in Michigan fell below zero Jan. 18-22. In some cases, the thermometer didn’t read above zero for two days. The coldest reading in the state came Monday night when Stambaugh, in the western UP, registered minus 30 — before wind chill. The town also saw minus 28 on Tuesday night while Ironwood’s NWS observer recorded minus 27.
You can see that the conditions have also piled up shoreline ice in these pictures that Mark took over the weekend at Lincoln Township Beach just north of Grand Mere State Park. Here are some more recent ones and a shot from summer of 2016 below. More in Mark’s 2025 gallery on Flickr!
Michigan in Pictures 