Saturday August 6, 2011-Dan and Karen's house-Limestone MI

Today we went on a boat tour of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It consists of beautiful colored sandstone rocks along the shore of Lake Superior, near Munising Michigan. The sandstone has been formed into various shapes,shallow caves, natural arches and colors. Some take the shape of animals and faces. The U.S Congress made this the first officially-designated National Lakeshore in 1966.

I think this one looks like an old sailing ship. Notice the clear water below. The water of Lake Superior is the cleanest and clearest of the five Great Lakes.

Lake Superior holds more water than is contained in all four of the other lakes combined. We were told that if Lake Superior were drained and the water put into a bathtub, the water depth would be five feet and the tub the size of the United States. Now that's a LOT of water!

The colors in the rocks are caused by large amounts of minerals in the rocks.

Streaks in the rocks are caused by groundwater leaching out of the rocks. With it come irons (red), manganese (black and white), limonite (yellow and brown), copper (pinks and green) and other minerals. As the water evaporates, these minerals leave streaks of color.

Many rock "faces" have fallen over the years making interesting formations.

I love the contrast between the colors in the rocks and the water.

This is a large concentration of colors with a large rock pile below it.

We enjoyed the boat ride, which was very pleasant. The sun was warm but there was a very nice breeze and the weather was moderate with temperatures in the mid 70's today. I don't mean to rub it in, but I think we made a good decision to visit Michigan this summer.

So long.