Pure Michigan shares that Wawatam Lighthouse started life in 1998 as a Michigan Welcome Center travel icon at Monroe, Michigan. In 2004, the Monroe Welcome Center was being revamped and the lighthouse was put up for relocation. The City of St. Ignace was the lucky recipient and the structure was trucked north in five pieces. It stayed on the Chief Wawatam Dock for a time, awaiting the construction of its new platform … The Wawatam Lighthouse beacon was first lit on August 20, 2006. Visible for more than 13 miles out over Lake Huron, it is now an official aid-to-navigation. The 250 millimeter Fresnel lens casts its light in a 152 degree arc.
Robert writes “Four of us from my camera club decided to visit Michigan’s U.P. in search of the Snowy Owl. We left early and before we got up to the hunting grounds, we stopped by St. Ignace to see the sunrise. This area of Lake Huron was not frozen over yet even though it was about -5 degrees this morning. One did not stay outside the car very long with the blowing breeze.”
What really piqued my interest was learning that that this isn’t the first time sinkholes have been found in the Great Lakes! In 2001, scientists found sinkholes at the bottom of Lake Huron in Michigan’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and I was able to find an award winning Great Lakes Now segment with Steve Ruberg, an observing systems researcher with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory exploring the Lake Huron sinkholes in this very vessel!!
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (NOAA GLERL) is dedicated to scientific research on the Great Lakes and coastal ecosystems. They share a lot of amazing photos of their work on Flickr & you can see more from this trip in their Buildings & Vessels gallery on Flickr.
Tom shares that Turnip Rock is a beautiful, wondrous land formation off the coast near Port Austin:
The gigantic stone developed its signature look after millennium of being worn away by waves thumping across its bow. After being separated from the mainland in prehistoric times, Turnip Rock is an island inhabited by some trees and very little else.
Turnip Rock was one of twenty finalists in the 2013 “Seven Wonders of Michigan” contest sponsored by the Detroit Free Press and the Lansing State Journal, but it wasn’t selected as one of the final ten.
The Gordie Howe Bridge is (rightfully) getting a lot of attention these days, but another beautiful span connwcting Michigan with Canada is the Blue Water Bridge across the St. Clair River at the southern end of Lake Huron from Port Huron to Sarnia, Ontario. The Blue Water Bridge Authority shares:
The first bridge was opened to traffic on October 10, 1938. The lead engineer was Ralph Modjeski. This bridge originally had two lanes for vehicles as well as sidewalks; the latter were removed in the 1980s to make room for a third lane for automobiles. The third lane for each direction started from the apex of the bridge in order to accommodate long lineups entering each sides’ respective border crossings.
…In the early 1990s, bridge authorities decided to add a second arch in order to accommodate the high traffic. During the debate over the form of the second span, five possible designs were purposed from 1994-95. Over half of public opinion had mostly favored a duplicate of the first bridge, while the cable-stayed bridge came in second with around 21%. The Blue Water Bridge Authority had rejected both designs, due to the duplicate creating a false sense of history, while the cable-stayed option was feared to overshadow the existing bridge. Another cost-effective but unpopular design was the parallel truss. The continuous-tied arch design, which was a distant third place in polls, was chosen for two reasons. One was that it blends in with the original span yet stands out on its own, and the other is lower maintenance costs because fewer spans are involved.
Chris Ahern is a professional photographer & licensed commercial drone pilot who works in and around Detroit. Follow him on Facebook or Instagram & for sure check out his website.
The Presque Isle Township Museum Society reminds you that it’s never too early to start planning your summer Michigan Lighthouse Tour! The drive from Tawas to Mackinaw City along Heritage Route 23 will let you explore the lighthouses of the Sunrise Side. Click that link for a map & much more!!
Lighthouse historian Terry Pepper is no longer with us, but his words still illuminate the rich history of Michigan lighthouses at Seeing the Light. His entry on the Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse says (in part):
Thunder Bay Island sits just three miles East-northeast of the north point of Thunder Bay, and thirteen miles from the harbor at Alpena. This 215-acre limestone island is the outermost of a group of islands connected to the shore by a shallow rocky shoal. As such, it represented both a significant marker for Northbound vessels making the turn toward the Straits, and stood ready to chew the wooden hulls of vessels unlucky enough to stray too close to its rocky shores.
…With rapidly increasing maritime traffic through the 1850’s, the Lighthouse Board determined that the combination of inefficient Lewis lamps and the diminutive 40-foot height of the tower provided a less than effective aid to mariners relying on this important station. To rectify the situation, plans were formulated to increase the height of the tower and to install an improved French Fresnel lenses of the type currently being installed throughout the system. Over 1857, the upper 14 feet of the tower was encased in brick and continued above the upper limits of the old structure to a height of 50 feet, effectively increasing the total height of the tower by 10 feet. The entire exterior of the tower was then given a veneer of Cream City brick to provide a smooth, weather-proof surface. At completion of the masonry work, the renewed walls at the base of the tower stood a massive 79 inches thick, and tapered to a thickness of 20 inches at their uppermost.
Atop this renovated tower, a new gallery with a cast iron hand railing was installed, and a ten-sided prefabricated cast iron lantern installed at its center. Within this new lantern, a Fourth Order Fresnel lens manufactured by Sautter of Paris equipped with six bulls-eye flash panels was installed on a cast iron pedestal and equipped with a clockwork rotating mechanism. This new improved illuminating apparatus provided a characteristic fixed white light varied by flashes, and its enhanced focal plane of 59 feet provided an increased range of visibility of 14 miles at sea.
Read on for much more! Also, a very big thank you to the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association who have been sharing some great pics in our Michigan in Pictures group on Facebook! They do so much to preserve Michigan’s lighthouse and maritime legacy!!
I saw a couple other photos of this cloud as it rolled across the Straits of Mackinac & northeast Michigan the other day but wowzas – the Mighty Mac takes it!! Our friends at the Earth Science Picture of the Day have an excellent post on the difference between roll clouds & shelf clouds:
Roll clouds and shelf clouds are found near the leading edge of thunderstorms and form when relatively cool air, from the storm’s downdraft, forges ahead into the warm, moist air that’s feeding the storm. The main difference between roll clouds and shelf clouds (both are called arcus clouds) is that a roll cloud is detached from the parent thunderstorm, whereas a shelf cloud (right) is affixed to the base of a cumulonimbus cloud.
NOTE: Just learned that this picture is from 2018 – still love it! (buy it here)
UP TV-6 shares that the Mackinac Bridge Authority is expecting about 20,000 crossings of the bridge this weekend, about the same as 2021. Whether you’re traveling or staying put this weekend, I hope you have a good one & remember those who have put their lives on the line for this country.
The United States Congress designated the Round Island Wilderness in 1987 and it now has a total of 375 acres.
All of Round Island has been designated wilderness except one acre on the northern tip, a sand and cobblestone spit where the lighthouse stands. There has been no logging on the island since the turn-of-the-century. There are no docks, roads, or developed hiking trails on the island. Access is by boat in the summer and over ice in the winter. Several historic and prehistoric sites exist on the island.
…The “Michigan rattler”, massausauga has been rumored to reside on the island. You may see whitetail deer, raccoon, red squirrel, fox, rabbit, and an occasional black bear on the island; as well as a variety of songbirds and waterfowl. Trout, pike, salmon, and other freshwater fish are found in the lake waters around the island. While the island is removed from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it is close enough that you can see busy Mackinac Island and the mainland lights.
Michigan is lucky to have designated areas that host spectacular nighttime viewing, and I’ll be profiling them in the months to come (look for the bold links below). Dark sky parks and preserves have a limited amount of artificial light, making it easier to stargaze in those locations. Dark sky preserves are designated by Michigan legislature and dark sky parks are designated by the International Dark Sky Association. The six state parks that have dark sky preserves are:
And if that’s not enough, there is also plenty of excellent night-sky viewing opportunities across more than 15,000 square miles in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. For more details, visit Michigan.gov/DarkSky.
Is this winter wearing on anyone else? If so, I invite you to sail to summertime with me on this sailboat that Bruce photographed in July 2021 on Lake Huron. He shares:
It was a hazy summer morning in St. Ignace, Michigan, giving a unique hue to the sky and sunrise. The haze was created by the wildfires in Ontario and out west. Captured a sailboat drifting by the red rising sun on a very calm and peaceful Lake Huron.
