World United States Michigan Munising

Mike and Roxanne travel east

Pictured Rocks Aug 10, 2007

Aug 10, 2007 46536 7:55

We start our day off with hot blueberry muffins and hit the road. Small town America, flags in the yard or on the porch, yard art of boats, plows, tractors, and what ever. Mom and pop stores and everyone friendly. We get helpful hints from the locals, and at least one person in each town has either been to Anacortes, has a relative living around Seattle or wants to go there for a visit.

We are driving across the top of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan headed for a town called Munising. It is on the eastern edge of the Pictured Rocks Lakeshore. We will tour them tomorrow.

This is skiing territory. Must be cross-country because they sure aren't what I call mountains for downhill skiing. The little town of Ironwood boosts the world's largest ski jump, but it must be manmade because I see nothing taller than 30-40'.

1:40 We are at the City of Munising Tourist Park in Christmas. We are in overflow parking with water and 15 amp service for $18.00 a night. We are just staying for one night and will go on into Sault Ste Marie, Michigan tomorrow.

After getting set up we head into town. We have 3:00 reservations on the cruise boat for Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was the nation's first national lakeshore authorized in 1966. It is little more than 6 miles across at its widest point and hugs the Lake Superior shore for nearly 40 miles. You can hike the entire distance, drive in to several viewpoints, such as Sand Point, Miner's Castle, Hurricane River, Sable Falls or Grand Marais.

The easiest and best way is by cruise boat out of Munising. Here you can see the formations and colors from the water, which gives a spectacular view. The colors of Pictured Rocks are many and varied, ochre, tan, brown, white, red, blue, green and white.

There are formations like the Grand Portal and battleship row that are breathtaking. Some of the caves have brilliant colors while Chapel Rock has a tree with roots that span 10 or more feet looking for dirt.

The waters of the lake change from blue to green to turquoise and then all of a sudden a sand bar will appear. The lake is lower this year by 18".

The name "Pictured Rocks" stems from the streaks of mineral stain that decorates the rocks. First is the Cambrian sandstone which makes up most of the angled slopes and formations. Closest to the lake is the Jacobsville Formation, a late-Precambrian mottled red sandstone. Covering it all is a 400 million year old layer called the Ordovician Au Train Formations. This is a harder limy sandstone serving as a protective capstone.

The streaks are caused by groundwater oozing out of cracks and dripping down the cliffs. This water contains iron, manganese limoite, capper and other minerals that leave the many colors on the rock.

Across from Picture Rocks is Grand Island National Recreation Area a part of the Hiawatha National Forest. The island protects Munising Bay and when the island protection is gone the cliffs receive the full brunt of the western storms and waves that help to erode the cliffs.

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world. It is 250 miles long, 160 miles at its widest point, and 1333' deep at its deepest.

Most of the forests in this area are second growth as the logging boom of the early 1900's stripped most of the forest bare. Other than tourism the main business in Munising is a paper producing plant. It produces the label for Chiquita Bananas.