K is for kayak

A perfect day for kayakers in the waters of Lake Superior around Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was also a perfect day for walkers like Gene and Willow and their favorite photographer, me!  There was sun and warmth in the September air and a calm and colorful lake at Miners Castle Rock near the west end of the PRNL, a day to treasure.

To pick your way through more K's, please visit ABC Wednesday!

You better not go in the woods today....no. 2

I can tell you where I found this lovely, but not what it is named.  Sorry.  I have tried with many mushroom guides but there are just too many mushrooms who look alike.  So here we are in the woods along Miners River in Pictured Rock National Lakeshore with this unnamed speciman.  To me it looks like a pierogi (the Polish version of an Italian ravioli).  I must be hungry!  The best homemade pierogis I ever had were when we were camped a Laura Lake near Armstrong Creek, Wisconsin.  Armstrong Creek was settled at the beginning of the 20th century by Polish immigrants recruited from Chicago to the "farmland" of northern Wisconsin.  They arrived to find only forest not farmland, but stayed and built a community that still celebrates its Polish roots.

Sea Lamprey barrier on Miners River

 

Today for Sunday Bridges we are back up north on Miners River and looking at that plain and simple bridge from another angle.  In the foreground, creating a "waterfall," is a Sea Lamprey barrier which prevents the spawning lamprey from proceeding upstream and into Lake Superior.   This "waterfall" may lack the romance of natural falls but has helped to control the scourge these sea lamprey present to big fish in the Great Lakes.   The Great Lakes Fishery Commission, a cooperative US and Canadian endeavor, estimates that there has been a 90% reduction in the sea lamprey in the the lakes.  For us UP travelers this work means that there are local fisheries where we can buy our fresh whitefish.  Once in the Keweenaw Peninsula we watched the local Ojibwa/Chippewa fisherman filet it for us from his morning's catch.  The best eating ever! 

Remember click on the photo to enlarge it and see some of the reflections snaking through the river.

For more bridges from around the world, please visit Sunday Bridges from M. Louis la Vache.

Miner's River Bridge

Join me at a plain and simple bridge over Miner's River in a wild and beautiful section of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore which stretches for 15 miles along Lake Superior between Munising and Grand Marais, Michigan.  Not much to look at, but a great spot for a picnic lunch.

Miner's River flows to Superior where it enters through my favorite sandy beach, Miner's Castle Beach.  The "castle" is a rock formation on the west end of the beach, obviously resembling a castle tower.  Here are photos from that day of Miner's Castle Rock and then Miner's Castle Beach.

The day was sunny but windy and cool.  The lake was at its most spectacular in terms of color and waves.  By the way, this week (October 15) will be the anniversary of Congress approving the establishment of Pictured Rocks, the first national lakeshore park in the National Parks, in 1966. 

For less plain and simple bridges, please join with the coterie of bridge photographers collected by Louis LaVache at Sunday Bridges.