Yellow-footed Chanterelle mushroom

Posted on by farlane

6739 Yellow-footed Chanterelle

6739 Yellow-footed Chanterelle, photo by darylann

MichiganMorels.com says that the Yellow-Footed Chanterelle is a bright yellow mushroom, this is sometimes funnel shaped and:

Time Of Year: Late Spring through early Summer. Once you find an area that produces chanterelles, go back 2 or 3 times within that month. you just might find they fruit in the same area 2, 3 or 4 times!!

Edibility: Delicious and well respected as one of the best edible mushrooms by nice restaurants as well as harvesters. The chanterelle is one of my favourites and I look forward to it as much as morels. One must use caution so as not to confuse it with the poisonous Jack O Lantern. The Jack will have “normal” gills and fruit off of wood.

Habitat: I find them in mixed deciduous woods where sunlight is allowed to reach the ground. They seem to relate to Oak in my area, but I read that they also relate to Maple, Aspen and Pine.

You can read more at Wikipedia’s Chanterelle entry and even order chanterelle mushrooms from Michigan’s own Wild Harvest.

You can see this bigger in Daryl Ann’s slideshow.

Grand Island East Channel Light

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Picture Rock Light House

Picture Rock Light House, photo by wlmgram.

The Grand Island East Channel Light entry at Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light begins:

Grand Island stands at the entrance to Munising Bay, with its south shore long serving as a natural harbor of refuge to vessels seeking shelter from the fury of Superior’s late season storms. So critical was the area considered by mariners that one of the big lakes’ first lighthouses was built on the north tip of Grand Island in 1856, to both warn coasting captains of the northern point of the island and to indicate the safe harbor located to the south. While the lighthouse served both purposes well, it did little to provide assistance to captains making their way through the harbor passages one the east and west sides of the island, through which entry was difficult under conditions of good visibility, and next to impossible under the cover of darkness.

To this end on February 27, 1860, Senator Chandler presented a petition signed by masters, pilots and owners of vessels sailing through the area “praying the erection of two light-houses upon the entrance to Grand Island bay and harbor.”

In addition to being one of the first lights on Lake Superior, it was also one of the first to be decommissioned. Click through to Terry’s site to read on and to see more pictures. He notes that you pass this light if you take the Pictured Rocks Boat Cruise. You can also see a Map to Grand Island light at Lighthouse Friends.

Be sure to check this out bigger and also see Wendy’s slideshow for a few more lighthouse photos.

Hungarian Falls on the Keweenaw Peninsula

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Hungarian Falls - Middle

Hungarian Falls – Middle, photo by dcclark.

David writes that this is the middle drop of Hungarian Falls near Tamarack City on the Keweenaw Peninsula. He says that the falls are never running this well, except at just the right point during the spring melt. The Keweenaw CVB page on Hungarian Falls has directions to the falls and says:

The Upper Hungarian Falls, about 10 feet wide, is located in a beautiful hardwood forest, and drops about 25 feet over a wall of red stone. Downstream the Hungarian Creek slides over the Hungarian Dam to create an unnamed 5-foot falls just below on the far side of the river whose rock walls and ledge appear almost handmade. About 100 yards downstream is a second unnamed falls of about 7 feet into a small pool. Another 250 feet downstream a third unnamed falls drops 25 feet in a shaded canyon whose moss covered walls extend from both sides of the falls. 400 feet downstream is the Lower Hungarian Falls, the most spectacular of all the falls, that drops another 15 feet over terraced rock.

Here’s the location of Hungarian Falls on Waymarking and Upper & Lower Hungarian Falls from Hunts Guide to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

You can see this photo larger in David’s Spring slideshow. He has another photo of Hungarian Falls in winter. Check out David’s blog Cliffs and Ruins for more photos and stories.

Michigan Morel Mania!

Posted on by farlane

black morels
black morels, photo by PLskell

Peter says that he found this delicious pair black morels in Delta County in the UP last May.

Over on Absolute Michigan we have a nice feature on morel hunting in Michigan that offers some tips for tracking down these elusive and tasty mushrooms.

Our best advice for how to find morels is to attend one of Michigan’s morel celebrations. The 50th annual Mesick Mushroom Festival happens this weekend (May 8-10, 2009) and the Boyne City National Morel Mushroom Festival takes place May 14-17, 2009.

More morel madness from Michigan in Pictures!

For more photos, check out the Michigan Morel slideshow on Flickr.

Big Air at the Midwest Super Park

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Midwest Super Park

Midwest Super Park, photo by Hometown Invasion Tour.

This is one of a number of photos from Nick Baumgartner’s cool Big Air Competition slideshow.

You can also see them at 2009 Midwest Super Park – Marquette Mountain at Yooper Steez, where Nick explains that every year some of the Midwest’s best snowboarders and skiers take to Marquette Mountain and showcase some of the best talent around.

No man is an island … for long

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

My island

My island, photo by farroutdude.

See more of farroutdude’s work in his Flickriver or his slideshow on Flickr.

The Timber Wolf (canis lupus) in Michigan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

2007 0300 Wolf on LakeMIUS2

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.

Grand Sable Dunes In Winter

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Grand Sable Dunes In Winter

Grand Sable Dunes In Winter, photo by mandj98.

James says they rode his brother’s snowmobiles back along H58 to this overlook of Grand Sable Dunes in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore last weekend.

Grand Sable DunesHe has more photos from Pictured Rocks in winter & all seasons in his tremendous Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore set (slideshow) with tons of photos including the pic to the right of the same scene in August.

I was a little surprised to find that I hadn’t written anything about Grand Sable Dunes on Michigan in Pictures. In my opinion, it’s one of the most amazing vistas in Michigan, a broad sweeping dune that arcs along the shore of Lake Superior. It’s a great hike, either from the drive-up overlook (where you can view or visit the Au Sable Light Station) or by walking along the base on the Superior shore just a mile west from Grand Marais. Michigan Tech has a nice writeup on the history, geology and natural character of the Grand Sable Dunes. They’re a perched dune like the Sleeping Bear Dunes in lower Michigan that were formed when:

Glacial ice that melted within the Superior Basin produced many large rivers after the last major readvance, The Marquette readvance, in North America. These rivers deposited millions of tons of debris into many different configurations south of the Superior Basin. The Grand Sable Banks may have originated as a glaciofluvial kame terrace along one of these glacial rivers during deglaciation.

Pictured Rocks then became very dry about 9500 years before present due to the Lake Superior basin draining to the north. The outlets to the east were now the low spots. A north facing ice contact bluff and a platform to the south of it remained in place for 4500 years after deglaciation right around the area where Grand Marais is located today.

Isostatic rebound then occurred about 4000 to 6000 years before present. North Bay began to rise which caused water levels to rise rapidly. In fact, Lake Superior rose to about 40 feet higher than it is today! The rise in lake levels formed Lake Nipissing. Lake levels of Lake Nipissing also began to rise which caused the Grand Sable Banks to become unstable. From this point the formation of a perched dune can explain how the dunes formed from the Grand Sable Banks.

When Lake Nipissing water level rose it caused the Grand Sable Banks to become unstable. In turn, the high water eroded the bluffs which left them exposed to wind. A dominant northwesterly wind blew through the Grand Sable Banks which carried the wind from the bluff to the top of the flat upland. This sand was “perched” on top of the upland, hence the name, “perched dune system.”

You can check out Grand Sable Dunes on Absolute Michigan’s Map of Michigan and check out the Grand Sable Dunes slideshow on Flickr. I have written a fair amount on Pictured Rocks that you might enjoy.

Blizzard on Lake Michigan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

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!

Happy Birthday, Michigan!

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

The Capitol of Michigan

The Capitol of Michigan, photo by Ravi Vora.

Today (January 26, 2009) is Michigan’s 172nd birthday. I have to say she doesn’t look a day over 150 – must be all that fresh water!

The Michigan Historical Museum explains the somewhat lengthy process that Michigan took to becoming the 26th State of the Union:

Following the Compromise of 1820 it was the practice to admit a free state and a slave state at the same time. However, when both Arkansas and Michigan were ready for statehood, Michigan was involved in a dispute with Ohio over the Toledo Strip. President Jackson signed a bill on June 15, 1836, that admitted Arkansas but required the people of Michigan to settle the dispute before Michigan would be granted statehood. Michigan would need to consent to a compromise measure drawn up by Congress. The compromise gave the Toledo Strip to Ohio and the western two-third (2/3) of the present Upper Peninsula to Michigan.

A convention to consider the compromise took place in Ann Arbor on September 26, 1836, after delegates were elected. They deliberated for four days; then they rejected the compromise. On December 14 a second “Convention of Assent” was assembled, which—two days later—passed a resolution that accepted the compromise. After this news reached Washington, a bill was introduced to admit Michigan to the Union. Congress passed the bill, and President Jackson signed it on January 26, 1837.

Toledo for the Western U.P.? No offense to Toledo, but I think we made out all right in that one. More about Michigan’s path to statehood from Wikipedia.

Ravi says to check this out larger and cooler.