Sable Falls and Dunes Area -- Post 1

The snow is melting fast. Not including yesterday, the Marquette TV station reported that over 27 inches of snow melted during the previous ten days. Since temperatures were in the 60s  yesterday, even more melted. The road around Sable Falls is completely clear so I drove to the falls and hiked (no skies or snowshoes) into the dunes.

Looking up stream Sable River has almost no ice -- just a little along the edges.

Looking down stream there is a bit more snow remaining.

The path into the dunes is quite icy, but it is easy to walk around the ice.

The first bowl in the dunes is snow free, as is the second area that provides access to the bluff over Lake Superior.

When I arrived at the bluff, I was surprised to see that rock is exposed along this section of the beach.  As many of you know, it is not legal to agate hunt in the national park.

Looking east, you can see that the shore ice is still covering the rock.

Just for comparison, here is the same photo taken one year ago. 



The steps going down to beach have some ice, but they are fairly easily navigated.