How peaceful this looks. Could sit there by the water all day. Nice Shot.

Believe it or not...it was almost 80 degrees out when I took this shot...on 10-9-03. It was warmer than some days in mid July. And yes, I did sit by the water alot that weekend....there's nothing like the good ole U.P.
Thanks for using my picture :-)...many times a day the loons were calling out on the lake...and the bald eagle was looking for some supper!

BT,TC:
We camped on the Big Manistique and had a grand time a few years back.... My hubby got "lost" when he decided to check the lake out and didn't figure on how big that lake is. I had to stand at the water's edge with a light and when I thought I saw him, waved him in with my camp light, otherwise, he'd still be out there trying to find our campsite!! Men-- gotta love-em and then again, they gotta love us!!!!

The shoreline pictures like this i realy enjoy seeing.Thanks Brian,yes very peaceful! And thank you my loving daughter Trisha who gave birth to my Grandaughter Haylee Marie this morning in Hancock MI.

Hi to all of thr Yoopers.I am so interested in your area.It has so many neat places..I wanted to know if the lift bridge goes up often?Are there many big boats,ships,dingy that pass through this channel??Bob in Peoria,Az

Bob in Peoria: The boats in the canal have the right of way over the bridge traffic, so yes it does go up quite often in the summer. The bridge operators are pretty good about not holding up the car traffic too often during busiest times of the day. Ore carriers often travel through the canal when Lake Superior gets on the rough side. Lived here all my life and still marvel when those big boats go through. I have no idea what the actual number of big boats is that go under the bridge during a season. Maybe the bridge operators keep a log?

It would be cool if, when a big boat is going through, someone wrote in here so we could click on it & watch.

Congratulations Grandma Hiltunen! And what a pretty name, especially her middle one!

Stories about the big boats, new baby news (congrats!), beautiful pictures of the UP- This IS the best site on the web!

Does anyone have a nice photo of a freighter going thru the lift bridge to post? That would be a real nice picture.....thank you in advance!

Guess i should have said in my last post that i became a Grandpa this morning.My youngest daughter gave me my 5th.Grandaughter.My oldest daughter gave me number 4 just 8 weeks ago,so i am a proud Grandpa of 5 Grandaughters!

It pays to search the pasty cam archives....I found a great photo posted by Daryl Laitila on Sept 18th 2000...

Actually, freighters come through infrequently. Many lake freighters now are 1000 "footers" and cannot make the swivel turns required to negotiate the canal. Sometimes 750 and 500 ft. ships seek storm shelter in Portage Lake, on the south end, or Lily Pond, on the north end. A salt freighter (maybe 500-750ft.?)comes every October, goes under the bridge, delivers cargo in west Hancock, turns around (!) and returns back thru the southern end. (The salt is for the winter roads.) I have lived for 25 years in view of a major turn in the canal and I speculate that not more than 30 freighters have gone through in that time. When I first moved to Houghton in 1955 there were many--Houghton and Hancock even had a contest to see who could guess when the first ship came through. No more. However, the Ranger III, of the National Park Service, goes out and back twice weekly, there are numerous sailboats which come through (bridge must open if masts stretch 25ft.) and sometimes fairly large pleasure yachts. There are also barges pushed/pulled by tugboats, probably from Isle Royale, and Coast Guard cutters which tend the buoys spring and fall. During summer the bridge is raised to the lower level to avoid lifting for smaller boats. In the winter it is lowered to the main level for auto traffic and the snowmobiles use the lower level which, BTW, was originally for RR traffic.

Yes, I can answer the question or speculation about the operators keeping a log. They do, they enter time the boat went through, what type of boat and the name of the boat. Ore carriers would go through a time or two, and I'm sure many Copper Country folk are very happy that since 1998 the bridge is on a new system where it does not get stuck (suspended in the air, two or three feet at times) holding up traffic for sometimes hours at a time. I remember those days, and the frustration of people who were unable to get where they needed to go. My dad worked there for 26 years and loved his job so the bridge has special meaning in my life. My dad had a loved it, as do I. He took many pictures and if you wanted to know more about the brige, I'm sure one of the operators would be interested to share that information with you. I believe it was 5 or 6 years ago that they found out that 25,000 cars cross the bridge a day. That's almost unbelievable. For those interested you can see the old concil from the bridge and other pieces of bridge history in the Houghton County Historical Museum - transportation room located in Lake Linden, MI.

hello
i am need by picture .food.pasty.
cake.man.car.nature.
tanks
ok

Ack! Sorry GrandPA Dave! Can't believe I was sexist enough to automatically assume such a lovely message came from the grandmother!

Hey "Missin the UP from NJ" by chance do you work for Johnson & Johnson

To Michael, Texas-

Nope, don't work for J&J.

For a really nice shot of the bridge wide open, check out this photo from Rob Wetton's Gallery right here on pasty dot com. It's a great shot!

tmzmo- I meant to ask was your father one of the "coffee makers"? One became a good friend of our family!

I have to enter a complaint! I don't have enough computers to keep up with the great wallpaper. Each one I love so much, I don't want to change it when the next great one comes up. I used to have 2 computers so was at least able to have two winners on display at one time. Finally got rid of the old one. So now you make me have to make a decision each time! Even the calendar doesn't have enough pages.

Connie - Colorado

yes my dad was one of the "coffee makers", that is the handle for the bridge operator, whoever is working at the time.

tmzmo

I used to talk to them "Coffee makers" the bridge operators on the C.B.radio.Great guys, they would remember me,Ratfink.

Dave,
I think I used to talk to you too back when the coffer makers were 10-10 on 19. Perhaps you remember "Diamond Girl" ??

Tmzmo- was your father from Lake Linden?

Dang - I'm stumped on the name. My mom would remember easily. She was "Sleepy Head" and up all night talking with anyone who wanted to!

Daryl from Dollar Bay sounds like someone from those days, too!