• Saturday-What'sUP July 26 - 09:37 pm

Along the shores that border the U.P., there are varied landscapes, some sandy, some rocky, some small rock, some larger rock. No matter which type you decide to explore on, you're bound to find something interesting, whether formed by nature or manmade like in today's shots from Tim Bertsos. Someone has gotten quite creative with the rocks on shore, building a sculpture Tim dubbed, U.P. Stonehenge. I know there's supposed to be a meaning to rocks piled such as these, as I've encountered similar stacks in other places. Can someone enlighten us as to what the significance might be? Whatever the reason for the placement of these rocks, the person who piled them must have had nerves of steel, as it took quite a balancing act to get some of those rocks to stay in place like that. Makes me wonder if a good wind will topple the towers or will it be a powerful wave that washes them out? My bet would be on the latter.

Good Morning, As always some very nice pictures. The first thing when we arrive in the U.P., My wife say's let's go look for rock's. Ww start at Eagle River and work our way around to Copper Harbor.

The rocks along the big lake always seem to be such a simple attraction. I think it's the variety of colors, shapes, sizes and smoothness of these hard guys that keep us walking the shores with our heads down. Also, throwing a few into the lake to hear that satisfying 'kerplunk' must be a big draw, too. Whatever, it seems to be a tradition among 'yoopers' and tourists alike.

I was always under the imprssion the formations were called inukluk's. However Wikipedia refers to them as Inukshuk's. I usually see more of these on the Canadian side of the lake. I do find them fascinating though.

FRom wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inukshuk


An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) [1] (from the Inuktitut: plural alternatively inukshuk in English[2] or inukhuk in Inuinnaqtun[3]) is a man-made stone landmark or cairn, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America, from Alaska to Greenland. This region, above the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome, containing areas with few natural landmarks.

The inuksuk may have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for hunting grounds, or as a food cache.[4] The Inupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas for slaughter.[5] Inuksuit vary in shape and size, with deep roots in the Inuit culture.

Historically the most common type of inuksuit are a single stone positioned in an upright manner.[6] An inuksuk is often confused with an inunnguaq, a cairn representing a human figure. And there is some debate as to whether the appearance of human or cross shaped cairns developed in the Inuit culture before the arrival of European missionaries and explorers.[6]

What neat formations no matter what the source! Very nice photos. To me they're just neat rocks placed in an artistic way. This brings to mind an article I read several years ago a newspaper somewhere about some places up north there are geological formations, named what I can't remember! They looked like some kind of sand formations made by ancient volcanic activity. Almost like they were squeezed and not very big, maybe like would fit into a dishpan?????????Cap't. Paul back from Scotland yet? Good question for him. Anyone else heard of them? I understand some people collect them.

My crazy husband has been rock-stacking this year, too! We tell the neighbors to make sure their grandkids don't play there. In fact, that looks like our shore in Aura!

Those rocks are really stacked!

I have noticed lots of these type cairns located on the rocky shore near Presque isle in Marquette..I assume it was Northern students stating that they were there.....i.e. its me here..

I have seen cairns near Drummond Island, on the shoreline.

Linda May one could say that the stone stackers were really stoned!

Must be a human instinct to stack rocks. Once the water is warm enough to sit in, rock stacks pop up all over the river under my window.

Beats me Kay!! Not enough information to figure out what your talking about..... ;-)