The Myriad Moods of Munising and Mosquito Beach: A Short Photo Essay

[taco2go]

I visited Munising this 9/11 weekend, backpacking to Mosquito Beach, a region that deserves it's own thread on the Portal's photo forum.

The shoreline along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula offers a spectacular exhibit of the effects of wind and water on sandstone perennially pregnant with a unique mix of minerals. The textures and colors left behind by evaporating groundwater have inspired generations of poets, painters and photo takers; even nudging Lyndon Johnson into creating the first protected National Lakeshore in the country.

 

[taco2go]

The entire stretch is accessible by some of the most scenic backpacking trails in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
September is a great time to visit particularly due to the paucity of both people and pests, however the area is actually secluded enough even in mid summer. Most, if not all of the campsites are hike-in only. If you are a seasoned kayaker, unafraid of craft –capsizing clapotis, you'll have one of the world's most scenic watertrails as your personal playground.

Munising ( home of our own Tom D of UP Overland fame) is the gateway to this paradise- entrance to both the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Grand Island- the massive Manhattan sized island that surreptitiously creeps into every photo you capture.

There's tons to do here. Shipwreck scuba diving, leisurely boat cruises at sunset along the 200 foot plus cliffs; but I highly recommend an overland venture of the two legged variety. You'll see more.

Plus, every step pounded along the moss framed trails forges a visceral connection with the ancient Ordovician rock that defines this northern rampart of the United States. A bond sealed by sweat drenched expletives as you lug a camera and tripod along with the other knick-knacks in your knapsack. It's well worth it. Just try not to haul your Engel along. (Unless it is bear-proof of course.)

 

[taco2go]

I did enjoy the relative luxury of one night in a roof top tent plopped onto the back of the Tacoma. Perched on a cliff just outside of Munising, one realizes again how similar lapping waves sound to footfalls on a calm sultry night.

 

[taco2go]

I've camped here before but it is always different. A foggy Saturday morning brings cautious glimpses of slowly waking Leviathans.

A shadowy sea serpent,
a calloused carapace,
a weather beaten whale;
ancient brooding giants in a giant sea.

Man, why the heck do they have to carve their frickin' initials on everything!

 

[taco2go]

I get as excited as the next juvenile with a camera, simply in anticipation of what lies ahead: light and color, forms, shapes and shadows

The varied textures make for stimulating black and white compositions, especially once the light gets all sexy. I sometimes wish the entire day were dusk and dawn.

 

[taco2go]

 

[taco2go]

Cascading Color Cast

It's always refreshingly exhausting, trying to keep up with the minute by minute wardrobe change that the sky parades through at the end of the day. Auto White Balance usually suffices for us amateurs.

 

[taco2go]

Even after the light’s passed out, you can still coax some luster out of the landscape with the camera’s longer exposures.

I wished I had longer to work on some of these beautiful abstractions that were glowing at me from within the LCD (couldn’t see worth crap through the viewfinder)

 

[taco2go]

Somehow- I seem to be completely missing out on clouds, every time I've been getting out. Dammit.
The entire weekend was cloudless. But you get what you get with Lady Superior.

 

[taco2go]

The next morning though, I found I had been tossed a few crumbs, peppered carelessly across a pastel blue dawn.

It was enough to make me smile with gratitude.

The sun was rising somewhere else but those little fluffs reflected enough to allow for a couple of parting mementos.

That’s the thing about taking pictures in these terabyte days: they’re forever sharper than your sharpest memory.

 

[Pathfinder]

First rate images, Joash. I like your time exposures.

I first visited Munising in the early "80s to dive the Smithmoor and walk the surfline looking for deck timbers washed ashore.

Later I learned to ski at Big Powderhorn, and most recently, rode through the UP on motorcycles after the Very Boring Rally in Duluth.

I also rode around Lake Superior in 2001, returning home on September 8, 2001.

Your images brought back lots of good memories.

I need to get up there with my FJC.

 

[taco2go]

Munising rocks.

Respite for sore feet, and and a sight for blurry eyes at trail's end.
I did tear up.
I buckled up to head home at almost exactly the same time 10 years ago that I was helping flush the dust and ash out of a firefighter’s eyes in lower Manhattan.

 

[taco2go]

Thanks

I also rode around Lake Superior in 2001, returning home on September 8, 2001

It's like I want to do a trip alone every year since, around that time.
I would so like to go around Superior sometime- there was a trip report here, or maybe on ADV, a few years ago.

 

[jim65wagon]

Awesome photographs!

 

[Pathfinder]

My photos from riding around Superior were all on film, and packed away in a shoe box somewhere; I have never digitized them, more's the pity.

There is a great Rise Off Water air museum in Sault Ste Marie as well.

One suggestion, do not try riding around the Lake after dark, therre are too many deer, elk and moose about it is not safe.

Riding down from Copper Harbor back to the UP I could count 6-12 at a time by 7pm at times. Not a good plan on two wheels.