The Upper Peninsula State Fair started on Monday in Escanaba and runs through Sunday, August 18th with midway rides & games, free entertainment and of course the time honored fair tradition of animal & produce beauty pageants. One especially great attraction is their Miracle of Life exhibit where children of all ages can see the live births of calves, lambs, piglets and watch chicks, ducks, and quail eggs hatch. I heartily applaud the Fair for helping people get a better idea of where their food comes from!!
John caught these snoozing pigs on Monday. See a bunch more from this year & years past in his UP Fair gallery on Flickr.
The Perseid meteor shower is a summer staple & fast approaching the peak!! Our friends at EarthSky say that the early mornings of August 11-13, 2024 are your best bet for meteor action, but you can usually see them between midnight – 6am. That’s perfect because there’s an excellent chance of Northern Lights for the next couple of days & they are usually strongest between midnight – 3am.
EarthSky writes that the August Perseid meteor shower is rich and steady, from early August through the peak. The meteors are colorful. And they frequently leave persistent trains. All of these factors make the Perseid shower perhaps the most beloved meteor shower for the Northern Hemisphere.
This photo of a Perseid meteor over Bond Falls that I shared back in 2013 remains one of my favorite michpics ever! Sathya wrote on their blog:
The deafening sound of 500 gallons of water / second from 50 feet The tranquil silence of the dark night Milky way adorning the skies A (Perseids) meteor fireball streaking across the horizon Definitely a moment of serenity and one I would cherish!
For sure check out Like the Ocean to view & purchase prints and a whole lot of amazing photos & amazing thoughts about some of the most beautiful places on this planet.
Michigan in Pictures is all about sharing new places & ways to have fun in Michigan. Whether you are visiting or live here, I think it’s important as you’re enjoying your explorations to recognize the hardworking people helping to make the experience of kayaking a mercurial freshwater sea, hiking a wilderness trail, viewing historical artifacts, or simply finding that hidden waterfall or local favorite taco stand as safe & seamless as possible. It’s not easy, and everyone who enjoys Michigan’s diverse offerings owes them a big thank you!
Monika shares: Picture Rocks Kayaking guide breaks a hard right to turn the nose of five kayaks pointing in towards Miner’s Beach. These guides work SO hard and in all weather conditions on the clear but cold Lake Superior! Last summer I met one in the East Channel while crossing and she was towing 2 kayakers home who simply quit paddling. Let’s give them some much deserved applause! 🙌
Gabbro Falls is on the Black River and is as impressive, if not more impressive, than its more celebrated neighbors downstream along the Black River Scenic Byway. This is a largely wild waterfall with no fences or barriers of any kind. It consists of three separate drops. When the water is high there is a fourth drop that is the height of the other three combined. The main drop falls into a narrow crevice between two large rock formations.
Gabbro Falls is relatively easy to find but there is some confusing information out there. The waterfall is also known as Baker’s Falls, and it is often mistakenly called Garbo Falls (gabbro is a type of rock).
Tahquamenon Falls State Park shared yesterday that there has been a thief taking flip flops and crocs from campers at their Rivermouth Campground:
It was discovered today that there are multiple thieves, and they have four legs and are adorable. All of the shoes shown were found outside a fox den. If you look closely, you can see teeth marks in the flip flops and straps have been chewed off the light pink crocs. Heads up if you are camping this summer at the Rivermouth, you’ll want to keep your shoes inside your camper 🦊
I was today years old when I learned that Michigan has summer sled dog center where you can hang with huskies!! MI Dog Summer Sled Dog Center is located near Tahquamenon Falls in the eastern UP. They share that while you can’t take sled dog rides (too hot!) it’s a pretty cool & affordable experience:
Start your tour with puppy cuddles and an informational area, complete with hands-on activities like packing a dog sled for a race and dressing up as a musher. After you get your puppy fill, take a short walk down to the kennel and dog play pen where you will meet Laura Neese and her adult sled dog team. Relax in the shade while you watch the dogs during their play time and listen while Laura introduces you to the dogs and tells stories from her time on race trails, including the only two 1,000 mile long dogsled races in the world. Each tour includes a Q&A session with Laura and time to pet and love on some of dogs.
Monika says (in part) I can’t stop raving about not only the snuggling puppies factor but the quality build of the building and fencing system. At only two years old, this local business is still brand new and I’m here to blog about it to get you to go and make them feel welcome … I imagined it would be loud, stinky, and that I’d be jumped on which never happened. The center is pristine and these are well mannered, trained dogs used to being handled – even the puppies were calm!
The 25th annual Grand Marais Splash-in on the Bay happens June 13-16th at the Lake Superior village that’s the eastern gateway to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. In 2024 they will debut a Seaplane Poker Run on Friday, and Saturday competitions include a Balloon Target Drop and Take-off & Landing contests. Add a potluck, cookout & the natural beauty of Grand Marais & the Superior Coast and it’s a recipe for a great weekend!!
Ontonogon County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is full of waterfalls. Pasty.com shared: The name “Ontonagon” is derived from the Ojibway word “nontounagon,” which means “I lost my bowl.” Local legend surrounding the name stems from the story that a member of Chief O-Kun-De-Kun’s band was washing bowls near the mouth of the river when she was startled by an unkempt stranger in a canoe. The woman inadvertently dropped one of the bowls into the river and exclaimed “nontounagon”. The white man took her declaration to be a reply to his question about the name of the area.
I have also heard that it refers to the bowl shaped harbor – maybe a reader will have the answer, and if you want to explore Waterfalls of the Keweenaw has a whole list – collect them all!! ;)
The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore asks if you’ve ever thought about being a campground host?
If the answer is “Yes!” they are seeking a volunteer campground host for the month of June at Hurricane River Lower Campground. Volunteer campground hosts work 5 days a week and stay in a designated campsite, assisting fellow campers with information and registration, but they do not handle any money, and do not clean restrooms. Campground hosts are welcome to bring their own RVs and campers, though there are no electric or sewer hookups (vault toilets are available) and cell reception is limited.
Hurricane River Campground is on the eastern side of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, about 12 miles outside of Grand Marais. The campground sits above a sand and pebble beach on Lake Superior, which is dotted with shipwrecks as it stretches east towards the Au Sable Light Station.
Let’s stay up on the Keweenaw Peninsula today with a look at the crystal clear waters of Lake Superior as seen from under the surface of Copper Harbor! For almost all my life, Lake Superior has been the cleanest & clearest of the five Great Lakes. Imagine my surprise to learn that in 2017, Lake Michigan & Lake Huron were found to be more clear than Lake Superior:
While Lake Superior has not gotten any dirtier, lakes Huron and Michigan have gotten significantly clearer in the past 20 years or so, a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Great Lakes Research found.
Anecdotally, scientists knew water clarity was improving in those lakes. But it hadn’t been quantified.
“What surprised us was the magnitude of the change,” said Robert Shuchman, a study co-author and co-director of the Michigan Tech Research Institute. “We had no idea the data was going to tell us that Huron and Michigan have surpassed the water clarity in Lake Superior. That was the startling piece.”
Scientists analyzed satellite images of the lakes captured between 1998 and 2012. Over that period, they found, the depth that light could penetrate down into the water — known as the photic zone — increased by about 20 percent in lakes Michigan and Huron.
They attribute part of that change to less phosphorous runoff. Climate change also likely plays a role. But the dominant factor is the explosion of invasive zebra and quagga mussels in the lakes since the late 1990s, researchers concluded.
Some of the highest abundances of quagga mussels in the world are found in Lake Michigan, said Gary Fahnenstiel, a senior research scientist at Michigan Tech and study co-author.
So in the end, not great that Michigan & Huron passed Superior in this. I looked to see if anything had changed in that regard, but it appears not.
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