No Swimming., photo by telemudcat.
Also swimming is out for all but the thermally insensitive today, sand castle building is A-OK!
Get this photo bigger right here or in Kevin’s Big Blue Marble set (slideshow).
textured sailboat
textured sailboat, photo by lisasawesomepics
Be sure to check this out bigger and see more photos in Lisa’s My Town set (slideshow).
While you’re at it, have a great weekend!
Sunset Season
Sunset season is here – check the Absolute Michigan pool for all kinds of Michigan sunsets.
The Timber Wolf (canis lupus) in Michigan
2007 0300 Wolf on LakeMIUS2, photo by Dennis Raney.
Alexis writes Paw took this one of a wolf on Lake Michigan off US2 on the way back downstate. There was another wolf on the ice, but it didn’t make it into this frame It’s part of her very cool Michimania set (slideshow).
Wikpedia says the timber wolf, gray wolf or simply wolf is the largest member of the Canidae family. From the Michigan DNR page on the Gray Wolf (canis lupus) and a recent DNR release regarding the delisting of the gray wolf, we get a picture of the state of wolves in Michigan:
It is believed that wolves were once present in all 83 counties in the state of Michigan. A combination of European werewolf mythology, fairy tales, views that wolves were incompatible with civilization, and active predator control programs throughout the 20th century virtually eliminated the gray wolf from Michigan: by 1840, they could no longer be found in the southern portion of the Lower Peninsula; by around 1910 they had completely disappeared from the Lower Peninsula; and by 1960, when the state-paid bounty on wolves was repealed, they had nearly vanished from the Upper Peninsula.
In 2008, a minimum of 520 gray wolves lived in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, part of an estimated population of 4,000 gray wolves living in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
(DNR Director Rebecca Humphries) emphasized that while the gray wolf has been removed from the federal endangered species list, it remains on the state’s protection as a species. There currently is no hunting or trapping of gray wolves allowed in Michigan, and starting on April 22, the gray wolf will be listed as a nongame species in Michigan. In order for hunting to occur, the Michigan Legislature would need to pass a law to add the gray wolf to the list of game species in the state, she said.
You can get more about Canis lupus (gray wolf) from the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology’s Animal Diversity Web and check out pictures & sounds of the gray wolf from Wikimedia including this pic of a wolf print and these sounds from a wolf pack.
You might also want to check out this Absolute Michigan “Weird Wednesday” on the Giant Wolf of Flint by the author of Weird Michigan, Linda Godfrey.
Set Sail on the SS Keewatin in Saugatuck / Douglas
Set Sail, photo by chicagokristi.
The Keewatin Maritime Museum is located in Saugatuck / Douglas and offers folks a chance to tour this 350′, wooden frame steamship:
The Keewatin was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway, in Scotland. Delivered to the Great Lakes in 1907, this lovely steamer was destined to make history. For over 50 years she served as a railway link, connecting the Georgian Bay and upper Lake Superior railheads. She is the last of the Classic Great Lakes Passenger Steamships still afloat.
Take a quick tour right here.There’s some cool views of this steamship in the Keewatin slideshow including a postcard of the Keewatin steaming along.
Be sure to view this photo larger
Petoskey’s Underwater Crucifix
Petoskey Crucifix, photo by Latitude 45.
Martin says that this beautiful crucifix rests in four fathoms of water (24′) in Little Traverse Bay, near the breakwater beacon. He pointed out this article in the Petoskey News Review about the history of Petoskey’s underwater crucifix and the annual viewing event:
The crucifix is made of white marble from Italy, and was a special order for a family in Rapson, Mich., as a memorial for a son killed in an accident on the farm.
After the structure arrived, it was discovered there had been damage to it. The family sold it as an insurance sale to a southern Michigan diving club, who wanted to place it as a memorial for their friend who died diving at Torch Lake. (ed. Charles Raymond)
The crucifix made its way to Little Traverse Bay, and was first placed by the U.S. Icebreaker Sundew 1,200 feet off the Petoskey breakwall on Aug. 12, 1962.
About 20 years later, the Michigan Skindiving Council tried to salvage what they could of the structure. It was lifted from the water, a new base was built in the Petoskey marina over the course of a day, and it was replaced in the bay.
At the time, Jessick was president of the council, and he proposed a winter viewing. The first was in 1986, affording the community the opportunity to view the statue through a hole made in the ice.
Jessick is Harbor Springs resident Dennis Jessick who helps organize the event. Sorry that I didn’t know about this in advance – I’ll try to keep an eye out next year but it doesn’t sound from the article like there’s a lot of lead time! There’s a little more in this Roadside America article about the Skin Divers Church.
Martin writes that the water seems to be half the actual depth. Be sure to check it out bigger and (probably soon) in his automatically generated Pretty Petoskey set (slideshow).
More great winter pics on our Michigan Winter Wallpaper page!
Michigan Meltdown
Michigan Meltdown, photos courtesy Great Lakes Coastwatch
Usually when I want to blog about something in particular, the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr has what I need. In this case, however, I think that everyone may have been out enjoying the amazing thaw that happened across the state yesterday as Mother Nature dropped the hammer on Old Man Winter, shattering record highs all across the state. From Marquette (48.5) to Detroit (59), the state of Michigan basked in springlike weather. Even Pellston aka “The Icebox of the North” managed to set a new record high (54).
Fortunately, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had their eyes in the sky on the job and dramatically captured what happened in just a few days. You can check these pictures out at Great Lakes Coastwatch and also right here in my Flickr where it should be big enough for some nice wallpaper. I used Lake Michigan because there seemed to be clouds everywhere else (and I’m a total homer). You can click the pic at the right to see the statewide view yesterday and also the Coastwatch link above for live satellite views!
At play in the ice fields of Lake Michigan
ice field 04, photo by northern_latitudes.
Last Saturday, we checked out the Great Lakes ice from far above, so I figured we could zoom in for a shot of the scene on the beach. It was really hard to pick one from the 16 that Tim has, but guess that’s what slideshows are for. You can also see them in his Harbor Springs set (slideshow).
The scene reminds me a lot of the ice jam that happens on the shore of Lake St. Clair every spring – available on Michigan in Pictures here, here and here.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Blizzard on Lake Michigan
BLIZZARD ON LAKE MICHIGAN, photo by Lara Salonen.
Yesterday when I was looking for photos from the Great Blizzard of 1978, I came across Lara’s photo. You can see it larger here and in her Michigan’s UP set (slideshow).
It’s a picture of the Menominee North Pier Lighthouse, and – as you can see at that link – it’s the second photo of that light of Lara’s I’ve blogged.
It never ceases to amaze me how changeable the Great Lakes are!
Michigan’s Icy Great Lakes
Icy Great Lake by {D} and As Far As The Eye Can See by siskokid
I’ve been talking a lot about the amazingness of this winter, but it’s even better to show it to you. I think these two photos, taken just half a day apart, can be entered into the record as Exhibit A.
Dominique took a flight from Charlevoix to Beaver Island the other day and brought back some great pictures of the huge amount of ice that our uber-winter has spawned on Lake Michigan. Be sure and check this out bigger and also have a look at her ice slideshow.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away at Little Girl’s Point on the far western end of the Upper Peninsula, Jim saw ice fields as far as the eye can see. Bigger is better.
Mother Nature seems to agree this winter, and I hope you get a chance to get out and have a little Michigan frozen fun this weekend!
Michigan in Pictures 
