Floating Ice

Below are some more shots from the snowshoe adventure last Sunday. The wind at first blew some of the pancake ice in toward shore. When the wind switched, it started to blow the floating pancake ice back out into the lake.





This shot was taken from the highest point in the dunes looking east toward Grand Marais.



We snowshoed around 1/3 the way west across the dunes. This shot was taken looking west.



The snow is melting so quickly that you end up with weird looking deposits of sand.



I received the first set of proofs for the book on Friday. It is exciting to see the book in print, rather than just on a computer screen. Photos of some of the proof pages and the proof package are below. The schedule has now been set and it looks like I won't received printed copies back until mid-June. I have received requests from people who want to order a copy in advance. Therefore, to accommodate these requests I have set this up with my web master. Once the web page March update has been uploaded, I will let you know. The web page, of course, is www.agatelady.com.

Even More Winter Scenes from Grand Marais

The sunshine this weekend drew me outside for more snowshoeing adventures. Here are some shots I took on the trail between Sable Visitor's Center and Sable Falls. The first shot is the detail of some of the melting snow.



This shot shows the patterns that ice mixed with sand can make on top of the river.



Even though the snow is melting in sun exposed areas, it is still piled up in the woods and on top of downed trees.



The following shots were taken at or on the way to the Ghost Forest in the Grand Sable Dunes. The tree stumps are a few thousand years old. Also pictured is friend, Wendy.






Due to working on the new agate book I have not had much of a chance to make art lately. It felt good to have the soldering iron in my hand. Here is a custom agate window I made for a couple in Kentucky.

More Winter Scenes

Below are some random winter scenes from around the Grand Marais area.

This time of year with the warm days in the 30s and 40s, and the cold nights in the teens and twenties, there are some unusual melting and refreezing effects. This is a picture of a thin sheet of ice that formed a couple of inches above the sand. It appears to be floating in space, but is actually held up by blades of dune grass.



The high sun angle is melting the snow in the dunes at an amazing rate. This photo is of a valley that still has quite a bit of snow.



Sable Lake is still very frozen. This shot was taken while sitting on a large downed tree on the south side of the lake that is laying on top of the ice. I was looking back toward the dunes. You can see the guard rail that aligns the road between the dunes and Sable Lake.



When you walk (or snowshoe) from Sable Falls and head up into the dunes, this is a picture of the first blow out bowl once you get into the dunes after walking over the foot bridge.



This is a driftwood sculpture on the bank of Sable Lake.

Icebergs on Lake Superior

The sun has been out these past few days. With the higher angle, it is not taking long for the sun to melt the snow in the dunes. Last year at this time there was not much sand showing through in the dunes. This year, well over half of the non-forested area is already devoid of snow.

Friend Wendy and I explored the dunes again yesterday, but this time we walked up on the bluff going west for quite some distance. Icebergs are one way that rocks are moved around the lake. When large chunks of ice break off the shore, they float around Lake Superior only to be beached on a distant shore. When the wind switches, they again break loose, but this time carrying rocks that they "collected" on the shore. Since the winds on Lake Superior are predominantly from the northwest, the icebergs are pushed to the southeast end of Lake Superior. The beaches around Grand Marais have no peninsulas or islands to block the movement of ice, so the bergs are pushed onto our beaches where they melt and dump their loads of rocks.

Pictured below are some of the iceberg photos I took yesterday.

More Grand Sable Dunes Winter Photos

Snowshoeing in the dunes has been a blast this winter. It is a good cross-training way to get exercise that combines well with cross country skiing. Friend Wendy and I started at the Sable Visitor's Center, headed down the trail toward Sable Falls, headed west across the foot bridge, went directly west in the dunes to avoid the forested sections, and then went south to Sable Lake.







It has been sunny this week, which has been terrific. Here is a photo of the sunset's colors taken from the road in front of my house on Newberg Road.

Frozen Waterfalls -- Part 2

Here are some more shots of Memorial Falls in Munising. There are actually two waterfalls there, both in adjoining grottoes with a hole in the side wall between them that looks like an "eye." These frozen waterfalls are truly nature's art.



This is a shot of Dianna standing next to the first of two frozen waterfalls on the Michigan Nature Association's property.



As you can see, the waterfalls fractured from its own weight. I wouldn't want to be standing anywhere near it when this giant piece of ice falls.



We nicknamed the second falls "Sometimes Falls" because it does not always have water going over the top ledge, especially during the late summer and early fall. Behind that falls water dripped between layers of sedimentary rock to form the amazing row of icicles.




The ice was mostly clear in color, but some had a little yellow-green tint to it.



This is the "eye" in the rock that you have to crawl through to get to the second falls.




This is where the second falls "connects" with the top ledge.



This is a shot taken from directly behind the second falls.

Frozen Waterfalls--Part 1

Yesterday I went to Munising with Dianna Bell. We both had errands to run. I had to get a DBA for our new food buying group in Grand Marais. I am excited about having the ability to purchase high quality food, including organically grown vegetables and grains. Since it was a sunny day, we decided to take time to visit some of my favorite waterfalls plus ski the national park trails. I had not skied the Munising trails in 15 years; Dianna had never skied them.

The two waterfalls we visited were Munising Falls on Sand Point and Memorial Falls across H58 from Sand Point. The latter is on a track of land owned by the Michigan Nature Association. Both falls are situated in grottoes.

I don't usually ski on lakes, but the ice on Sable Lake is very thick right now. The other day I bailed off the A loop from the trails in the national park and skied over to the boat ramp on Sable Lake. After snapping a few pictures I was going to ski across the lake and back over to the A trail. It was VERY windy and after a few hundred feet I couldn't feel my face, so I doubled back to the trail.




Here are a few shots taken around my property. The first shows the snow depth in front of my house.



Friends Renee and Wendy went snowshoeing with me around my property to humanly groom my cross country ski trail.



Years ago my next door neighbor gave me permission to also ski on his property. Here is a unique hunting shack.