Tiki Resort-Oscoda MI by Charles Bonham
Since tomorrow’s post is already reserved for everyone’s favorite long range winter weather forecaster, I figured it was about time to remind everyone that summer will come. Eventually.
Here are two pics from Charles of the joyfully painted Mai Tiki Resort on Lake Huron in Oscoda demonstrating that you can find a little spot of summer in Michigan even on the coldest day. See his latest on Flickr & stay warm!
Mai Tiki Resort by Charles Bonham
Sticks and Stones by Jeff Gaydash
Back in the day, Linda Godfrey would regularly share stories with me from her classic book Weird Michigan and her other works. Linda has regrettably passed on and her Weird Michigan website is lost, but here’s a seasonally appropriate tale of shipwrecks & lost love from my archives…
In the mid-1800s, the Lake Huron port and lumber town of Forester was a far cry from the sleepy, near ghost town it is today. The remains of huge pilings just off the scanty beach now stand as crumbling reminders of the great pier that once bustled with Great Lakes ships and sailors.
One of those sailors unwittingly started the legend that would be Forester’s main claim to fame after the lumber ran out and the ships stopped coming.On shore leave one day, the unnamed young man took up with a local girl named Minnie Quay, whose folks, James and Mary Ann Quay, owned the town tavern.
The Quays forbid Minnie to see her beloved, but the order proved tragically unnecessary after his ship became one of many that succumbed to Great Lakes gales. Minnie made one more visit to the forbidden pier after learning that news, and on April 26, 1876, at the age of 16, she threw herself into the water in hope of joining him in the afterlife. She lies in a waterfront cemetery now, next to the bodies of her father, mother and brother.
Legend says that she still wanders the beaches, moaning for her lost sailor, and that some have seen her standing waist deep in the water, beckoning others to join her. The former Quay home and bar still stands, giving Minnie’s ghost even more reason to linger.
Jeff is a fine art photographer & printmaker. Explore his work in the Great Lakes gallery on his website.
Lake Huron Moonshine by kare hav
I got a lot of enjoyment from walking around the house yesterday saying “Super Beaver Moon” so it is with sadness & regret I share that EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd explains that if a full moon of November falls after November 7, it’s the Beaver Moon but if it’s before the 7th, it’s the Hunter’s Moon. Deborah writes:
Nature is particularly cooperative around the time of the autumnal equinox to make the fall full moonrises special. On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day. But when a full moon happens close to the autumnal equinox – either a Harvest or a Hunter’s Moon – the moon (at mid-northern latitudes) rises about 30 minutes later daily for several days before and after the full moon … The result is that there’s a short-than-usual lag time between successive moonrises around the Hunter’s Moon adding to the brightness of evening twilight.
The moon has for sure been looking huge when it’s risen the last couple of nights! To add to the fun, EarthSky shares that the South Taurid & North Taurid meteor showers are both happening right now! While they aren’t a very active shower with just 5-10 meteors per hour, they can produce really intense fireballs like this one from Monday night over Glen Lake in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
This moon is neither Hunter nor Beaver: it’s the August 2020 Sturgeon Moon as seen over Lake Huron. See more in kare hav’s Point Lookout / Au Gres gallery on Flickr including the first pic I ever shared from this awesome photographer on Night and Light.
Sinkhole Research Cruise by NOAA GLERL
I read an interesting story about scientists exploring a sinkhole in Lake Michigan a couple of weeks ago that detailed how a team of scientists confirmed there are more than 40 sinkholes on the lakebed of Lake Michigan in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
What really piqued my interest was learning that that this isn’t the first time sinkholes have been found in the Great Lakes! In 2001, scientists found sinkholes at the bottom of Lake Huron in Michigan’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and I was able to find an award winning Great Lakes Now segment with Steve Ruberg, an observing systems researcher with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory exploring the Lake Huron sinkholes in this very vessel!!
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (NOAA GLERL) is dedicated to scientific research on the Great Lakes and coastal ecosystems. They share a lot of amazing photos of their work on Flickr & you can see more from this trip in their Buildings & Vessels gallery on Flickr.
This photo was the second most popular photo of 2024 on Michigan in Pictures!!
Turnip Rock at sunset by Tom Clark
Tom shares that Turnip Rock is a beautiful, wondrous land formation off the coast near Port Austin:
The gigantic stone developed its signature look after millennium of being worn away by waves thumping across its bow. After being separated from the mainland in prehistoric times, Turnip Rock is an island inhabited by some trees and very little else.
Turnip Rock was one of twenty finalists in the 2013 “Seven Wonders of Michigan” contest sponsored by the Detroit Free Press and the Lansing State Journal, but it wasn’t selected as one of the final ten.
He took this back in July of 2014. See more in his Lake – Water gallery on Flickr and for sure head over to his website to view & purchase his work!
PS: Head over to the post on Facebook for another angle on Turnip Rock by Tom & a 1906 pic!!
Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse by Presque Isle Township Museum Society
The Presque Isle Township Museum Society reminds you that it’s never too early to start planning your summer Michigan Lighthouse Tour! The drive from Tawas to Mackinaw City along Heritage Route 23 will let you explore the lighthouses of the Sunrise Side. Click that link for a map & much more!!
Lighthouse historian Terry Pepper is no longer with us, but his words still illuminate the rich history of Michigan lighthouses at Seeing the Light. His entry on the Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse says (in part):
Thunder Bay Island sits just three miles East-northeast of the north point of Thunder Bay, and thirteen miles from the harbor at Alpena. This 215-acre limestone island is the outermost of a group of islands connected to the shore by a shallow rocky shoal. As such, it represented both a significant marker for Northbound vessels making the turn toward the Straits, and stood ready to chew the wooden hulls of vessels unlucky enough to stray too close to its rocky shores.
…With rapidly increasing maritime traffic through the 1850’s, the Lighthouse Board determined that the combination of inefficient Lewis lamps and the diminutive 40-foot height of the tower provided a less than effective aid to mariners relying on this important station. To rectify the situation, plans were formulated to increase the height of the tower and to install an improved French Fresnel lenses of the type currently being installed throughout the system. Over 1857, the upper 14 feet of the tower was encased in brick and continued above the upper limits of the old structure to a height of 50 feet, effectively increasing the total height of the tower by 10 feet. The entire exterior of the tower was then given a veneer of Cream City brick to provide a smooth, weather-proof surface. At completion of the masonry work, the renewed walls at the base of the tower stood a massive 79 inches thick, and tapered to a thickness of 20 inches at their uppermost.
Atop this renovated tower, a new gallery with a cast iron hand railing was installed, and a ten-sided prefabricated cast iron lantern installed at its center. Within this new lantern, a Fourth Order Fresnel lens manufactured by Sautter of Paris equipped with six bulls-eye flash panels was installed on a cast iron pedestal and equipped with a clockwork rotating mechanism. This new improved illuminating apparatus provided a characteristic fixed white light varied by flashes, and its enhanced focal plane of 59 feet provided an increased range of visibility of 14 miles at sea.
Read on for much more! Also, a very big thank you to the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association who have been sharing some great pics in our Michigan in Pictures group on Facebook! They do so much to preserve Michigan’s lighthouse and maritime legacy!!
Aurora Borealis over Saginaw Bay by Tom Clark Photography
Last weekend saw a truly historic outburst of the aurora borealis, with the intensity scale reaching G5 three times, something that normally happens only 3 or 4 times every decade!! So many photographers featured in our Northern Lights category have great photos shared on their social media, but I wanted to get a pic from a place that’s normally left out of the cosmic fun!
Tom got this shot looking over Saginaw Bay on Friday night saying “I kid you not – these brilliant colors are in the Aurora as it first appeared. Minimal and normal editing of the raw files is all I did (except maybe the first image which i may have increased yellow and green saturation). As the night wore on the reds, pinks, disappeared and it was brilliant green.” See a bunch more on his Facebook!!
Shelf Cloud Over Mackinac Bridge by Michigan Native Photography
I saw a couple other photos of this cloud as it rolled across the Straits of Mackinac & northeast Michigan the other day but wowzas – the Mighty Mac takes it!! Our friends at the Earth Science Picture of the Day have an excellent post on the difference between roll clouds & shelf clouds:
Roll clouds and shelf clouds are found near the leading edge of thunderstorms and form when relatively cool air, from the storm’s downdraft, forges ahead into the warm, moist air that’s feeding the storm. The main difference between roll clouds and shelf clouds (both are called arcus clouds) is that a roll cloud is detached from the parent thunderstorm, whereas a shelf cloud (right) is affixed to the base of a cumulonimbus cloud.
NOTE: Just learned that this picture is from 2018 – still love it! (buy it here)
You can follow Michigan Native Photography on Facebook or Instagram and view & purchase more work on their website.
There’s more weird, wild Michigan weather on Michpics including a monster roll cloud over Lake Michigan from June of 2016.
Sunrise over Lake Huron by Bruce Bugbee
Is this winter wearing on anyone else? If so, I invite you to sail to summertime with me on this sailboat that Bruce photographed in July 2021 on Lake Huron. He shares:
It was a hazy summer morning in St. Ignace, Michigan, giving a unique hue to the sky and sunrise. The haze was created by the wildfires in Ontario and out west. Captured a sailboat drifting by the red rising sun on a very calm and peaceful Lake Huron.
See more in Bruce’s Michigan photo album on Flickr.
Poe Reef lies just eight feet beneath Lake Huron’s surface between Bois Blanc Island and the Lower Peninsula mainland. Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light shares the story of Poe Reef Lightship LV62, launched on this day in 1893:
In 1892 two contracts totaling $55,960 were awarded to the Craig Shipbuilding Company in Toledo for the construction of four lightships. Designated as Lightships LV59, LV60, LV61 and LV62, all four vessels were built to similar specifications. Framed and planked of white oak they measured 87′ 2″ inches in length, 21′ 6″ inches in the beam, with a draft of 8 feet. In a cost-cutting effort, the vessels were un-powered, outfitted with only a small riding sail carried on a short after mast. Equipped with a cluster of three oil-burning lens lanterns hoisted on their foremasts, each was also equipped with 6″ steam whistles and hand-operated bells for fog use. Work was completed on the four vessels the following year, and after sea trials, all four were commissioned by the Board and placed into service, LV59 being assigned to Bar Point, LV60 to Eleven Foot Shoal, LV61 to Corsica Shoal and LV62 to Poe Reef.
With the words POE REEF brightly painted in white on her fire engine red hull, LV62 was towed to Poe Reef by the lighthouse tender Marigold, and anchored on station to begin her vigil on September 29, 1893. For the next seventeen years LV62 spent every shipping season faithfully guarding the shoal. With the end of each shipping season, one of the lighthouse tenders would make the rounds of all lightship stations in the Straits area, and tow them into Cheboygan harbor for winter lay-up. While in Cheboygan, necessary repairs and improvements would be made in preparation for the following season. At some time in March or April, the ice would break up sufficiently to allow the vessels to be towed back to their stations to stand guard for yet another season.
Head over to Seeing the Light for more about Poe Reef Lighthouse & the stories of all Michigan’s lighthouses compiled by a champion for their preservation who has gone too soon.
Michigan in Pictures 