Forest Garden, photo by Curt Saunier
I hope you have a chance to spend some time in the forest, the garden, or both this weekend!
View the photo bigger and see more in Curt’s Flowers slideshow.
Sturgeon Bay Outhouse & Winter Cabin Camping at Wilderness State Park
Sturgeon Bay Outhouse, photo by David Clark
We’re going to let David Clark of one of my favorite blogs, Cliffs and Ruins, take over today’s post. He writes:
The most scenic walk to an outhouse award goes to Sturgeon Bay Cabin at Wilderness State Park, where this line of wind-blown cedars escorts you to the potty.
I took this photo on the 2nd day of my snowshoe adventure at Wilderness State Park in December 2016, after a heavy snowfall the night before. I enjoyed 3 days of spectacularly good snowshoeing and utter solitude. Read more at my blog: Winter Cabin Camping at Wilderness State Park.
I really encourage you to check out David’s post for photos and a great account of his visit to Wilderness State Park which is located on the northwest shore of the lower peninsula, to the west of the Mackinac Bridge. This is an adventure I really hope to take!!
View David’s photo background bigtacular and see more in his Wilderness State Park 2016 slideshow.
An Ode to the Winter Solstice
An Ode to the Winter Solstice, photo by Cherie
EarthSky’s page on the winter solstice says:
The solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth. In 2016, the December solstice comes on December 21 at 5:44 a.m. EST. That’s on December 21 at 10:44 Universal Time. It’s when the sun on our sky’s dome reaches its farthest southward point for the year. At this solstice, the Northern Hemisphere has its shortest day and longest night of the year.
…At the December solstice, Earth is positioned in its orbit so that the sun stays below the north pole horizon. As seen from 23-and-a-half degrees south of the equator, at the imaginary line encircling the globe known as the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun shines directly overhead at noon. This is as far south as the sun ever gets. All locations south of the equator have day lengths greater than 12 hours at the December solstice. Meanwhile, all locations north of the equator have day lengths less than 12 hours.
For us on the northern part of Earth, the shortest day comes at the solstice. After the winter solstice, the days get longer, and the nights shorter. It’s a seasonal shift that nearly everyone notices.
View Cherie’s photo background big and see more in her Michigan can be a Winter Wonderland slideshow.
Snow Boys
Snow Boys, photo by Tom Hughes Photo
Tom says they were out playing in the first big snow of the year. View his photo bigger and see more in his Black & White slideshow.
More black & white photography on Michigan in Pictures.
Good morning from Bond Falls
Good morning from Bond Falls….Burrrrr, photo by Joe Garza
View Joe’s photo bigger and see more at JMG Photography on Facebook.
More Bond Falls on Michigan in Pictures.
Super Color Tree
Super Color Tree, photo by Scottie Williford
If you’d like to try this at home, the recipe is: 590nm infrared, f/11 @1/125, iso 200
Here’s hoping you can catch some more fall color this weekend – looks like a great forecast!!
View Scottie’s photo bigger, see more in his slideshow, and be sure to follow Scottie Photography on Facebook.
Lake Charlevoix Fall Colors
Lake Charlevoix Fall Colors, photo by frank wulfers
Frank took this shot on Wednesday from the Avalanche Mountain Scenic Overlook in Boyne City. As you can see, this will be the weekend for fall color across much of Michigan, so check out some great fall scenes on Michigan in Pictures and make your plans for a getaway!
View Frank’s photo bigger and see more in his Michigan – Northwest slideshow.
Friday Fall Color Update from the High Rollways
High Roll Away, photo by Charles Bonham
“Of all the places I’ve worked here in Michigan, this is my favorite place to collect my senses, do a little meditating and get rid of my problems. It’s like a soothing balm.”
-Ray Westbrook, retired DNR on the High Roll-Away
Charles took this yesterday at the Buckley High Roll-Away overlooking the Manistee River, and it shows how autumn color continues to lag a bit behind in northern lower Michigan. mLive posted some satellite pics of fall color from NASA’s Aqua satellite earlier this week that give you a look at how things are shaping up. If you’re thinking about a jaunt, Pure Michigan’s fall color tours provide some pre-planned ideas all over the state. To get current fall color, I usually find it best to pick your location and call their chamber or visitor’s bureau. The bigger ones in Traverse City, Petoskey, Marquette, Grand Rapids, and elsewhere will often have a good idea about a large range.
MyNorth’s Jeff Smith has a great story on Buckley’s Big View that says in part:
Like any notable landmark without an official name, this one goes by several aliases—Horseshoe Bend Overlook, Lookout Point or the Highbanks Overlook—not to mention spelling variations. Depends who you ask.
Stand atop the Roll-Away and the scenery is for certain. From the lookout it’s 200 feet down, and before you the valley curls up like a vast bowl, taking in a viewscape of almost 130 square miles of dense pine and hardwood forest. The bowl’s rim, a ridge, runs roughly from Manton in the east, around to Meauwataka and Harrietta in the south (you’ll see the distant radio towers), and on the west to Mesick.
Here, more than a century ago, the expanse of treetops inspired awe among those who saw wealth in the more than 1.2 billion board feet of lumber in the upper Manistee River basin. Surveying the area in 1869 for the Manistee River Improvement Company, A.S. Wordsworth wrote, “This river is the great highway that penetrates the vast pine region of Manistee. … It is without doubt the best logging stream in the world, and all along its circuitous path, reaching far away, it seems to bear mute testimony to the wonderful wisdom of the Creator.”
Read on for lots more and here’s the map on Waymarking!
You can get Charles’ photo background bigtacular and see more in his slideshow.
Lots more fall color and fall wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!
Michigan Fall Color Running Late in 2016?
Autumn Tree Tunnel on M-22, photo by Owen Weber
The Detroit News is reporting that Michigan’s leaves are about a week late this year:
“The warm, dry summer has delayed things,” said meteorologist Jim Keysor of the Gaylord office of the National Weather Service. “ “People will just have to wait. Colder nights are coming and the color show will happen.”
“We’re a week to 10 days behind,” he estimated.
The National Weather Service recorded plenty of 90-degree days through August — five in June, nine in July and seven in August.
“We’re probably at 40 percent to 60 percent right now,” said accounting assistant Gina Penegor of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Ontonagon of the Upper Peninsula. “We’ve had a light frost and this weekend could be the best time to view color here. In the last five days it’s really changed a lot.”
…“By all accounts, the color is coming a little bit later with all the great weather we’ve been having,” said Michelle Grinnell, the public relations manager of Travel Michigan, in a statement. “That extends our fall travel season.”
Grinnell said that the fall tourism season is expected to have a $3.7 billion economic impact on Michigan in 2016. Michigan has 19 million acres of woodlands. The golds, yellows and reds of autumn usually begin in mid-September and work their way south from Lake Superior, peaking in late October in the lower counties along the Indiana and Ohio borders.
You can read on for more. While I will say that the eyeball test agrees the colors are running behind around Traverse City, consider this article that maintains the timing of fall color is due mainly to the length of days and as such, unchanged year to year.
As a further piece of evidence, Owen took this photo of peak color on M-22 last year on October 21st about a week to 10 days from now. View it bigger and see more in his Michigan slideshow, and learn more about Owen at owenweberlive.com.
PS: This was taken on M-22 right in front of the house I grew up in about 2 miles south of Leland on the way to Glen Arbor & Sleeping Bear Dunes! While those trees are definitely fading under the twin ravages of time and the power company/road commission, it’s still a pretty spectacular spot!
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss
Set Adrift On Memory Bliss, photo by Robert Michaud
View Robert’s photo bigger, see more in his slideshow, and view & purchase photos on his photography website.
PS: PM Dawn? Don’t mind if I do!
Michigan in Pictures 