• Monday-What'sUP January 29 - 08:34 pm

This Lake Superior shot, labeled as Sandpoint, in Tom Cook's album, gives us a first-hand view of the icy shores and floes that have accumulated this year. Not as much as usual, but in some spots it's out into the lake a bit further. I'm assuming this is taken in the Munising area, since you can see what looks like Pictured Rocks shoreline cliffs off in the distance, especially in the full size file of the photo. Taking a closer look like that, you'll also see some debris (possibly rocks or driftwood?) further out on the ice too. Any ideas how that gets deposited that far out?

There's a certain beauty in this picture.

Nice picture, almost looks like white lily pads.

Any idea when the was taken. Is this one shot this year? Anyway it sure looks sharp.

Good morning all, and I agree with Joanie, they look like white lily
pads!

It is a nice picture. Joanie--white lily pads is a great description.

But the frogs would freeze their little tee-hinny-boos on those lilly pads.

Yes to all the comments and it has its own beauty, too.

Ya'll think the scenery is beeutiful, but as a kid I gave my Mom a scare or two playing in that kinda scenery. One gets a very different view of the Lake and it's environs when you live next to it.

That picture reminds me how cold it is outside, pretty to look at though.

Lived next to it/on it/rain & snow and dark of night. Swam in it--that's where I learned to swim. Still a great site to me. I wasn't careless.

Rowdy & Margaret, the Big Lake provided its own negative reinforcement for injudicious ice-prowling. My kid brother fell through--fortunately in shallow water & I was right nearby---and on another occasion I did a "one-legger" when I stepped on a slightly higher pile of snow that turned out to be floating snow.

We finally have the grass covered down here in SE Michigan. They say maybe we'll get two more inches today. Promises, promises...maybe I can get out cross-country skiing next weekend. ;> )

The above picture was taken off of Sand Point Rd in the Pictured Rocks Natl. Park. I recognize the shoreline, although I have never seen it in winter. And yes, in the background is part of the Pictured Rocks. The rocks you see in the foreground are near the road that circles around as it ends there. My very favorite place when we are staying at a cabin outside of Munising. There are trails that start at this point to hike thru PRNL, but I have only walked the beach when up there. Can't wait to see it again.

Kathy, there's a term that I learned when I was growing up, "There's no such thing as safe ice".

Joanie, did you hear about the TV station truck in Wisconsin that was out trying to do a story on there's no such thing as safe ice? The driver thought she was on a road, but she was on a lake, & the truck went through the ice! The TV news casts are having a ball with that one, and glad it wasn't their truck! (No one was hurt, but it will take them a while to get the truck out of the ice/water.)

I once walked out onto Glass clear ice aways off shore on Keweenaw Bay and saw Ripples in the sand and huge boulders, only they were 30 to 40 feet below me. Talk about having a hair raising experience!! This was the first foray onto the ice that year, like to have scared me to death. After you got use to it, it was fun once again. Turned out the ice was 6" thick and quite safe that time.

Marianne, in Orr Minnesota, when Pelican Lake freezes, the lumber trucks take the short-cut across the lake. They say it saves a lot of miles. Can you believe that?

Joanie, I heard about someplace that I thought was up on Lake Superior, near MN, where they used the lake like a highway. They even put out traffic signs (this was a few years ago). But, that is when it has been cold enough to have safe ice, supposedly. And, as you said earlier, there is no such thing as safe ice. I wasn't paying close enough attention to the story at the time, to remember where it was. That is totally amazing.

It has always been interesting to me that some years Lake Huron freezes over well enough to have a snow mobile trail from the mainland to Mackinac Island, and some years, it does not.

I guess that TV truck will end up on a blooper show sometime?

Beautiful picture. When I was a boy I used onto Lake Michigan all the time, driving many folks crazy. One of my favorite things was to ice skate on the bay (in Escanaba near Portage Point), open my coat and let the wind rush me across the ice. That said, there is nothing colder than having a foot go through the ice when it is too thin. Clear ice was okay, I always stayed clear of yellow ice though. It would be mushy and weak.

A side note on the picture, a coworker just got back from being in the UP near Grand Marais, and said there was so little snow you could walk on the beach sand. That shocked me. I can't tell here if the snow has come to the beach yet.

Cherokeeyooper, I don't know when your coworker got back, but this story says that Marquette finally got some snow:
http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?S=6001623

I saw a documentary on the highway they make across lakes and swamps in Northern Canada in the winter, it is easier to get them supplies during winter than in summer. How often is that the case anywhere else!

The driftwood you are seeing is likely trapped on a sand bar. On that part of Sand Point, the kids swim out to the sand bar all the time which is only a few inches deep.

To touch on Rowdy's post, when I was younger we used to icefish on Torch Lake (the one in the LP) when there was only 4-6 inches of glass-clear hard ice and think nothing of it. A few times when it was dark, we used to shine lanterns and spotlights through the ice and see fish swimming around in 40 or so feet of water; I can comiserate with Rowdy, hair-raising!!

On to the Ice Road. Below I have posted a link to one of the more famous iceroads in the Northwest Territories that is used to supply several of the mining operations that are up there. The website is from Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., which I had the wonderful opportunity to consult for a few years ago. Have a look.......

http://www.diavik.ca/iceroad.htm

HoosierYooper: The driftwod you see in the above picture to the right is on the beach. When trying to walk along the beach when the water is really rolling it is sometimes hard to manuever over/under/along side of the driftwood without getting wet. The sandbar is move to the left out in the water. There are signs along the shoreline that warn people of a strong undercurrent and not to swim. This also includes swimming to the sandbar. Someone lost their life there recently, thus the reason for the warnings. But the birds like that strip of land in the water.

Capt. Paul,
The adventure used to begin with about 2 inches of ice. You really get a feeling of safety when the ice is sagging underneath as you walk to the fishing spot. Younger and dumber then (or invincible).
Mr. Deb

Capt. Paul, we saw the same thing on National Geographic and it blew our minds, what little minds we have!

Often times debris will wash up on top of the ice when it is right up against the shoreline; the ice then breaks free and drifts out and re-freezes with the debris on top of it.

I went ice fishing only once on Lake Erie..My son was home from school and we took "ma's" Maveric and went out so far we could hardly see the beach homes along Monroe county..When we got that far out there were at least 100 vehicles and RV's in a big round-up circle all doing their perch fishing..The ice had to have been 18" thick but havent seen it like that in years around here.

I believe that in a regular cold winter, there is a "road" from Bayfield , Wi. to Madeline Island maintained, even plowed. I think they said old Christmas trees are stuck into the plowed snowbanks as guides for the vehicles. Not sure if it's been done much in recent years tho.

Here is the link to the TV news truck that fell in the drink in Wisconsin:
http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/10865643/detail.html

That one has to make it on a blooper show sometime in the future. :-)

A sawmill that I worked for a few years ago used to cut logs on Beaver Island during the winter. They used to drive the semi from the island to the mainland over the ice. Saw some of those pix. Very interesting! Used to skate near $ Bay as a kid, too. Your coat opened up made a nice 'sail' to let the wind blow you right along.

Didn't there used to be a winter road across Little Bay De Noc between Twin Springs on the Stonington Peninsula and Gladstone? Anyone remember that one?

We had a "bridge" made of pine boughs across the East Branch of the Ontonagon River when we were kids and would ride our snowmobile across the river.