Rock Pictures and Pictured Rocks

My mother recently finished a casual 6-week bike trip across the country, from the mouth of the Mississippi in New Orleans, to its source in Lake Itasca, Minnesota. She understandably didn't feel much like biking the rest of the way back to Michigan, so my dad and I drove out to pick her up. In terms of places to do scenic road trips, the northern Midwest is probably somewhere around the bottom of the list, unless you're into interminable low-lying secondary forest, boarded-up pastie shops, and roadkill. Granted, there are some scenic parts, but after an hour of driving through northern Minnesota without seeing a single sign of human habitation, and nothing to interrupt the topography but an extra-high pine tree, one starts wishing they were out of the car. 

Lake Itasca is a rather large lake about 20 mile south of Bimidji, Minnesota, which has the honors of being the origin of the Mississippi River, the longest and most important river in the nation. It's also home to large numbers of biting insects and an ever-fluctuating population of sweaty families in RV's coming from hundreds (if not thousands) of miles around to see the birthplace of the lifeblood of America. Naturally, I was curious to see what was drawing thousands of people each year, so I headed straight towards the headwaters, hoping to catch the last light of the sunset. Unfortunately, the walk was quite a bit longer than I'd anticipated, and I missed out on any interesting light. I woke up at an ungodly hour the next morning to try and get a decent sunrise, however. The light there was slightly better, and I got a couple of passable pictures. 

The beginning of the mighty Mississippi is... somewhat underwhelming. 

Those rocks, apparently, are not a natural feature; the source of the falls was once a swampy area with very little definition at all, until the Civilian Conservation Corps bulldozed the area, drained the swamps, and put in the boulders, for a more pleasing viewing experience. Even the name of the lake isn't as authentic as it may seem. It is not, in fact, of native American origin, but comes from Latin veritas caput- "true head"- which in and of itself is rather misleading, as there are several small streams that flow into the lake, making this not in fact the true head at all. Oh well. 

My parents and I figured that we might as well get something out of this long road trip, so we ended up deciding to spend the next night at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, arguably Michigan's most scenic national park (except Sleeping Bear Dunes, of course). Pictured Rocks is along the shore of Lake Superior on the northern coast of the Upper Peninsula, about an 8 hour drive from Lake Itasca, and a 10+ hour drive from pretty much anywhere else. Fortunately, we managed to get there just before sunset time, so at my urging, we drove past Munising, the town at the edge of the park, and went straight to Miner's Castle, a scenic overlook inside the park, and after sunset, Miner's Falls. I'd never been to Pictured Rocks before, so this was my first time appreciating how truly beautiful it was.

This picture taken just before some annoying teenagers climbed up on the rock and started smoking cigarettes.

The next morning, I once again dragged myself out of bed at an ungodly hour, hoping to catch sunrise along the lakeshore. I'd heard about a waterfall along Miner's Beach, so I made my way toward that. As it turns out, shooting waterfalls with a bright sky behind them isn't always a recipe for success; sunset probably would have been better. Oh well. I also took a quick dip in the lake, just to say I had, and holy hypothermia, Lake Superior is cold in June.

Color didn't really work out as well as I'd hoped, so I decided to switch to some black and white, which I like a little better.

Once my parents were out of bed, my mom and I decided to do the famous loop trail in the park, which is arguably the best hike in Michigan. It was absolutely beautiful, leading through beech-maple forest and past some really great waterfalls to the beach, then up to the rocky cliffs from which the park gets its name. On the flip side, I'm pretty sure it was quite a bit longer than the signs indicated (particularly since they gave conflicting distances depending on which direction one was hiking), and it was a hot day with some extremely enthusiastic anklebiter flies; I can see why it's recommended to tour the park in the spring. But it was still absolutely gorgeous.

Chapel Falls

Don't let that gorgeous Caribbean water fool you- that water is colder than Dick Cheney's heart.

The reason Pictured Rocks got its name.

Pictured Rocks really is a beautiful park, even if I only got to spend less than a day there. I hope to return sometime, with a little better preparation, some bug repellant, and a kayak. Hope everyone enjoyed! I'll be back with another update soon!


-Forest