• Friday-What'sUP March 24 - 10:05 am

Z-Man went on his annual Spring pilgrimage to the Bond Falls in the Ontonagon area and look what he brought back for us -- rushing water, flowing cascades and lace-like ice hovering over it all. Most folks visit the falls around the U.P. once the snow is gone, which might not be too far off in the distance now. But when you visit them this time of year, you won't encounter hoards of other waterfall lovers while there. With a little snow left in places around the falls, along with a coating of ice in strategic spots, the falls take on a different look than that of the colorful autumn photos we've shared previously. If you are truly a falls fanatic though, it doesn't matter the season or the reason, you just love to watch them flow!

Beautiful photos! I remember a waterfall in Colorado (although not the name) that had a large fractured rock in the middle of the stream below, and from the crack in that rock grew a small perfect spruce. It was constantly bathed with spray from the falls and was a perfect bonsai, kept miniature by the paucity of nutrition around its roots. Perfect, and utterly unreachable.

Those photos are gorgeous! That last one is truly spectacular!

Good Morning! Beautiful,serene pictures. Just like an artist and his sketching of a black and white lithograph. Truly Mother Nature in full regalia of her many splendors! The water is somewhat rapid,surely a sign of spring...and what tomorrow may bring-sunshine and more of it.

Breathtaking, truly one of the gems of the UP...Please make this a "WOW"!

The bottom "ice" almost looks like fire.

Does anyone know when we can update our galleries it seems it has been a very long time since we could get into them???

This is great, Zman has some real talent.

Lovely photos of a wonderful waterfall. Thanks. Seeing all that
water splash away so quickly reminds me of something I noticed
yesterday in our backyard here in Esky. Where in the morning
we had puddles everywhere, by dusk the yard was looking fairly
dry. Wow. I thought! Those winds really were picking up a lot of
moisture. But then I realized it was probably that sandy soil too.
In Adrian a backyard puddle takes days to drain with all the
heavy, clay soil there. Is that sandy soil around Esky
characteristic of the whole U.P.? I suppose not of the rugged
western U.P., eh?

I love Zman's photos and Bond Falls is my favorite of the falls I've seen so far in the UP. Of course there are many more I plan to see.

the last picture does look like fire! ZMan you take amazing photos!

I JUST LOVE THOSE LAST 2 PICTURES......wish I knew how to take that kind of a picture....they are just too cool!!!!!

The sun feels so good thru the window today.....there is a bird squaking....smaller ones chirping and the air smells so spring...ie.

The snow has shrunk so much I can see patches of ground!!!!!!!!

Sure hope this keeps up.......Have a wonderful weekend ya'll

God Bless............yes you too Blue

I love what they've done to Bond Falls recently. I appreciated the new parking lot with boardwalk walkways entering at the bottom of the falls. It's much more breathtaking rounding the bend and seeing the entire falls, than approaching from the top and descending the steps. I saw an elderly lady with a walker and a man in a wheelchair, neither of which would have been possible before. In fact, I couldn't even view the falls with my arthritic knees without the new walkway. The same goes for the new Porcupine Mountains overlook. I'm not always for modernization at my favorite UP haunts, but these two are well done and make the vista even better!

Hi
Speaking of open water, check out the Soo locks.
http://webcam.crrel.usace.army.mil/soo/index.html

Charles in Esky, we have sandy soil--in fact, we're on a stabilized dune---at our beach-front place in the northern lower near Cheboygan. Lake levels have risen & fallen with the various episodes of glaciation and I think the areas at the rim of the current Great Lakes are on sand/gravel deposited by the glaciers. Capt. Paul would know more.

AWESOME PICTURES AS ALWAYS ZMAN!! YOU CAPTURED EVERY SCENE JUST SPECTACULAR. BOND FALLS ARE ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL.

Those are awesome pictures, Z-man, especially the closeups of the ice on the waterfalls! I love waterfalls, but these are especially pretty. I'm also glad to hear that they are making them more accessible to handicapped people, Marsha.

Kathy L, thank for the reminder to check the Soo Locks webcams. That's really interesting to see the US Coast Guard ship in one of the locks that is full of ice. I wonder if it is parked, or ice-breaking or what?

I hope you all have a great day! It's a beautiful day outside (looking outside from inside). It's wonderful to see the grass again. One of these days, it will perk up & start growing again, and the crocuses will peak their heads out, and we'll see daffodils and tulips. Spring is coming. And then my husband can gripe about having to mow the grass again, LOL. :-)

Thanks, Z-man, for taking a picture of waterfalls so they look like they really do if you walk up and see them. I hate those "fuzzy" white shots that some people think is the 'correct' way to take photos of waterfalls. These are just beautiful! Will put Bond Falls on my list of places to see in the UP.

The beautiful water was nice to see on this day that my Dad would have turned 99 -- He passed away just last year - He last lived in Iron Mountain,and Dunbar, WI, just across the boarder. He had graduated from IMHS in 1925- He traveled all over the U.P. as a salesperson, and loved the beauty of it. He would often buy a lunch and eat at some special spot.

Sandy soil will drain water much faster than clay-rich soil due to sand's greater permeability. Soil is a strange thing. It can actually vary quite a bit over very short distances.

Soils in the U.P., like any other place, also vary. There are several things that affect the type of soil developed in the U.P. Like Kathryn indicated, the geologic material it develops on is important. In some places in the U.P., the glaciers left behind sand and gravel, thus those places tend to have sandy soil. In other places, the glaciers stripped away surface sediments and there are only very thin soils over bedrock. (This is true in parts of the Keweenaw).

Lake levels have indeed fluctuated quite a bit over the years. You can see evidence of this at Pictured Rocks, Mackinac Island, and while driving on Cloverland Road near McLain State Park.

Georgeous! Breathtaking! As the proud Mom of a son who works at Michigan Tech University in Houghton, I look at the UP scenery on a regular basis to compare what it is there versus what we have here in the Buckeye State (yes...we are in Ohio...sorry). I am amazed by the slendor of the natural areas in the UP. I have not been lucky enough to visit yet, but will surely plan an excursion soon. It is comforting to know that my son is in such a beautiful place! Photographers...keep up the great work!

These are fabulous pictures. And they make me long to be in the UP at the LAKE!

So why is it I have lived most of my life surrounded by red clay? Was I just blessed?

Northern California
Ontonagon, MI
Grand Rapids, MI

Here in Holland, MI it is sand. Finally!