Little Sable Point Starry Night, photo by malderink
“Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all.”
― Vincent van Gogh
Big Sable Point yesterday, Little Sable Point today – is there a Medium Sable Point for tomorrow? ;)
View the photo background bigtacular and see more in malderink’s slideshow.
Spray Falls, photo by James Eye View Photography
The excellent GoWaterfalling website has an entry for Spray Falls that says in part:
Spray Falls is the remotest, and perhaps the most impressive of the several waterfalls in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The 70′ waterfall plunges over the cliffs at Pictured Rocks and lands directly in Lake Superior.
The falls is right on the edge of the cliffs, and the creek has not cut back into the cliffs at all, so it is impossible to view the falls from the front unless you are on the water. The cliffs are sheer for miles in both directions, so there is no way to get near the base of the falls without a watercraft. Lake Superior is too cold for swimming. :)
The Lakeshore Trail passes right over the top of the falls, and you can get right to the brink of the falls. Be careful because the cliffs are undercut and unsafe in many places. About 1/4 mile east of the falls there is a safe lookout point from which you can get a nice, but distant, side view of the falls. There is a sign marking the lookout.
Read on for more including tips on hiking there and other nearby waterfalls. The easiest way to visit is to take the Pictured Rocks Cruise from Munising.
View the photo big as a waterfall, see more in his The Great Lakes slideshow, and follow James Eye View Photography on Facebook!
Back Flipping at Big Star Lake, photo by Cyndie M
Hope you’re finding time between all the eclipses & storms to enjoy summer in Michigan. It will be gone before you know it!!
View Cyndie’s photo background bigtacular and see more in her slideshow.
More summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
The solar eclipse will be visible in Michigan on Monday, Aug 21, 2017 so in the interests of maximal eclipse enjoyment, I’m publishing this special Sunday Michigan in Pictures!
Solar Eclipse May 21st 2012, photo by John Kennedy
The brighter stars and the planets come out. Animals change their behavior. Birds and squirrels nest. Cows return to the barn. Crickets chirp. There is a noticeable drop in both light level and air temperature. It is an eerie feeling. Totality can last for no more than about seven and a half minutes but is usually less than three minutes long.
-National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Tomorrow is the day for the total eclipse, although in Michigan we will see only 70-80% of the sun eclipsed by the moon (less as you move northward) it’s still a rare opportunity. Here’s times for a range of Michigan locations:
NASA’s Eclipse 2017 website is definitely the place to go for all of your eclipse watching & info needs. In addition to the NASA Goddard Instagram feed and an Eclipse 2017 Flickr group where you can share photos from the eclipse with people from all over, there’s…
View the photo background bigtacular and see more in John’s Scenery slideshow.
View the photo background big, see more in Ron’s Up North slideshow, and follow him on Instagram @RonSmith.
More black & white photography & more from Charlevoix on Michigan in Pictures.
Cadillac, photo by Gregg Mulholland
View the photo background bigtacular and see more in Gregg’s seriously cool Crystal Car Show slideshow.
Sunflowers Galore, photo by Shawn Jenks
If you’re a fan of sunflowers, it’s your season! I love seeing fields bursting with sunflowers as I’m out and about this time of year.
View the photo background bigilicious and see more in Shawn’s slideshow.
More summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
Gravelly Shoals offshore Light in Saginaw Bay, photo by George Thomas
The entry on Gravelly Shoal Light at Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light begins:
Point Lookout juts from the shore on the western shore of Lake Huron, approximately half-way between the mouth of the Saginaw River and Tawas Point. With only five to eighteen feet above it, Gravelly Shoal extends some 3 miles southeasterly from Point Lookout towards Big Charity Island. To help guide down-bound vessels headed for Saginaw Bay through the deeper water lying between the southeast end of Gravelly Shoal and Big Charity Island, Congress appropriated $5,000 to construct a lighthouse on the northwestern shore of Big Charity on August 18, 1856. Work began at the site that year, but as a result of being started so late in the season, the station was not completed and lighted until the following year.
Perhaps as a result of its exposed location, or as a result of its keeper’s dwelling being one of the few of wooden frame construction on any of the Great Lakes, the station was a constant source of maintenance problems, and was not surprisingly one of the first to be automated through the installation of an acetylene illumination system in 1900. At this time an occulting white Pintsch gas buoy was also placed at the southeastern end of Gravelly Shoal to better mark the western edge of the passage between the shoal and Big Charity Island.
As a result of the combination of increasing vessel size, improvements in offshore light construction and the growing adoption of radio direction finding equipment, it became plain in the late 1930’s that the old Charity light and the gas buoy on Gravelly Shoal had outlived their usefulness, and consideration turned to the construction of a state-of-the-art offshore aid to navigation at the eastern end of Gravelly Shoal to better mark the deeper water of the passage.
View the photo background big and see more in George’s Lighthouses slideshow.
More Michigan lighthouses on Michigan in Pictures.
While the lights of distant Bay City across Saginaw Bay from Point Lookout make for a beautiful photo, I feel for the photographer who wishes they’d shut them off at night.
If you’re interested in making your community more “night friendly” check out How to Start a Local Dark Skies Group from the International Dark Sky Association. In addition to miles and miles in the UP, Michigan has six designated Dark Sky Preserves and the Headlands International Dark Sky Park.
View the photo background big and see more in kare hav’s Pt. Lookout/AuGres slideshow.
Port Oneida, photo by JamesEyeView Photography
Just one of the many staggering vistas that await you on the Pyramid Point Trail in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
View the photo background bigtacular and see more in James’ The Great Lakes slideshow.
PS: If you head this way the weekend of August 11-12, be sure to check out the annual Port Oneida Fair. presented by the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Michigan in Pictures 