Today’s archive and current photos come up with two and two. Two photos having to do with shipping on the Great Lakes and two photos all about the Fall colors around the Keweenaw. Starting us off is a photo that was snapped by Rod Burdick in 2008. That’s the Canadian Tug Reliance and barge PML 9000 docked at Marquette's Lower Harbor Shiras Dock. It was being loaded with a shipment of ore by front end loaders and the cargo was then destined for Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Next from the archive is a beauty from Judy Byykkonen, taken in 2012, looking down into Traprock Valley. It’s like a sea of colors laid out in front of the viewer, simply breathtaking. The only thing I’d wish to be different with fall, is for it to stick around longer than it does.

Another color shot next, taken by Jon Hopper. It first appeared upside down in 1999, because it was almost impossible to tell the reflection from the actual treeline. Then Charlie re-shared it in 2015 as a “Shoebox Memory”, but this time he flipped the photo right side up, so you were actually seeing it the way it was photographed. It’s quite the mirrored image, that’s for sure.

And finally, the second of the shipping photos. Chad Johnson was up at Eagle River last week and snapped this outstanding shot of a freighter out there on Lake Superior, while the waves are rolling and crashing right there in front of him. I’m guessing it was more than a little bumpy on the boat, too.

The Big Boats are an obsession for many folks, who are often referred to as “Boatnerds” if they love watching and keeping track of them on their journeys. Dan Vaught published an aerial video back in 2015, that should whet anyone’s appetite for watching the Freighters go by. Shot mostly in and around the St. Mary’s River system.

Love that 4th pic, and the video was really cool to see all the different freighters.

Splendid video...I could really grasp the size of those behemoth vessels.