My Town Monday: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

If you head up to the top of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, you’ll find, amongst the many national and state parks, the Pictured Rocks  National Lakeshore.

 

The rock is in multi-colored layers and is exposed along the water’s edge.  The water here is Lake Superior, the largest and coldest of the great lakes.  Over time, the lake has eroded away the land, exposing the many colors of the rock.

 

 

 

 

You can see the layers all the way up the rock face (as I leaned out as far as I could to get pictures.)

 

The best way to see the Pictured Rocks is by boat… or so I understand.  When we visited, it was late March last year and the tourist season hadn’t begun.  So the boats were not running yet.

 

 

Here’s a view of some of the layers as seen on land. 

 

 

 

This particular point is called Miner’s Castle, named for the miners who were looking for minerals and other valuable things in the area. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the time we visited, while warmer weather had moved in across the Lower Peninsula (where I reside), it was still cold up north.  And there was still snow and ice in spots, particularly shaded areas.  This was a bit of a surprise to us, since we didn’t think about the difference in climate an 8 hour drive can make!  But it turned out to be a wonderful surprise… 

This shot shows the ice that formed on the cliff face where the waves splashed up. 

The next couple weeks, I’m going to show you the waterfalls around the Picture Rocks National Lakeshore (as seen in early spring.) 

And don’t forget to visit the My Town Monday blog for other posts.