Each day when I look back into the archives for photos to share, I try to find a common theme, today it is water. We visit a number of watery spots here in the U.P., hitting four counties in one day, beginning in Baraga County and technically Houghton County with this stop, since Prickett Lake is located in both counties. This photo from Marsha Galbraith was snapped in 2004, when there was an obvious lack of water. It could have had something to do with repairs to the Prickett Dam, but for whatever reason it was, Marsha's hubby Gary would have been standing chest deep in water if the lake was at its normal level. Can you see him?

Next we head UP to Keweenaw County with a shot from Steve Brimm, shared in 2009. This is Mud Lake and back when this photo appeared on the Pasty Cam, I was surprised to learn that there are actually three Mud Lakes on the Keweenaw Peninsula. One in Houghton County near Lake Linden and two in Keweenaw County, but I'm not sure if this photo is of the one near Delaware or the one near Fort Wilkins in Copper Harbor, but whichever it is, there sure is a burst of fall color surrounding it.

Onward to Houghton County and the top of Mont Ripley with Brian Rendel in 2012. He was there in time to catch the sunset's illumination of the Portage Canal and Lift Bridge. Beautiful Autumn scene for sure.

Last, but not least, is Marquette County with a photo Danielle Adams snapped from the Thomas Rock Scenic Overlook this past week. This is looking out over Big Bay, with the freighter Philip R. Clarke passing by out on Lake Superior. Quite a view from UP there.

Today's video feature is also from Brian Rendel in October of 2012. He made another visit to the top of Mont Ripley a few days after the excursion for the sunset scene above, but this time he recorded 45 minutes of fog moving on the Portage Canal, as it slowly burns off and exposes the Lift Bridge once again. Brian speeded the process up so we could view the whole thing in 1 minute, 14 seconds. Enjoy!

As I was saying......The salt boat should be coming in from the south entry, Friday the 27th. around 4 pm.

Go to: www.mtu.edu/webcams/fund/motion.html/

That should put you to the Portage Lift Bridge, in motion. You can watch the freighter go under the bridge, if it comes thru from the south entry. It should, it is coming from Detroit.

Then you can go to: Keweenaw waterway EAST and watch it come in from there.

Then go to: Keweenaw waterway NORTH and continue to watch it float on down the canal some more.

Then go to: MONT RIPLEY and get a closer look at it.

After taking a tour of the canal....go back to: LIFT BRIDGE to watch it go under the bridge.

If all goes well, go to: COLLEGE AVENUE and might catch it going down the canal that way.

The name of the ship is, MANITOULIN if you want to go on boatnerd.com

If you are interested, hope it all goes well. Got the information from a good source that it is suppose to be coming in from the south entry. ;O)

2012's view from Mont Ripley is amazing. And I
love the fog video also. Such a gorgeous time of
year.

The Mud Lake picture is beautiful ~ almost like a painting.

Haha! Noticed my 2004 picture just in time!

Just plain beautiful...one and all.

What a contrast between the first photo and the last one, in terms of the size of the lake.