Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

 July 17 - 18, 2025

On Thursday God gave us a beautiful day, so we went to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  This park was authorized by Congress in 1966, the first national seashore.  We stopped at the visitor center and picked up a map, and I got my passport stamp.  We drove to the first stop, Sand Point.

Sand Point Beach

Then we drove to Miners Castle.  I love the rock formations and the color of the water.

Panorama of the beach from Miners Castle overlook.  There was more to see in the park, but there isn't a road that connects all the points without backtracking a lot, so we decided to just do those two stops.  We decided this because we were going on the Pictured Rocks sunset cruise that evening, and we figured we would see more on the cruise than we would from land.  This was a wise choice.

We left the campground around 7:00, stopped in the gift shop to get a can coozie for my collection, and went to get in line for the boat.  They have it set up really nice with chairs so everyone doesn't have to stand in a line.  There were two boats and both were nearly full.

We left the dock at 8:00.  Our first stop was the East Channel Lighthouse.  It was used to guide ships into Munising Harbor.  It opened around 1870 but was closed in 1913 because new lights were installed in Munising.  As the guide explained, it was pretty isolated there.  The lightkeeper and his wife lived here, along with their 12 children!

We cruised along the shoreline, and I took so many pictures there's no way I could include all of them here.  In the winter the water in the rocks freeze and expand, which causes sections to fall.  Our guide said you can tell which have fallen recently because the rocks are large, and the ones that fell a long time ago are small because the wind and waves have beaten them up.

The different colors come from the streaks of mineral stain on the face of the cliffs.  The streaks occur when groundwater oozes out of cracks.  The dripping water contains iron, manganese, limonite, copper, and other minerals that leave behind a colorful stain as the water trickles down a cliff face.

I don't know the names of all these places so just enjoy the pictures.

The many colors were beautiful and changing. 

Our guide said people used to be able to go under this arch, but it collapsed in the 1930s.

This one takes some imagination to see the Indian head.  The part that sticks out is his nose, the straight line beneath is his mouth.  You can't see his eyes very well from this angle.

This is called battleship row because it resembles a row of battleships lined up.

We pulled into the cove and got really close.

The white lines are from the boat antennas.

This tree doesn't have anything to grow it's roots into, so you can see a root going to where it can get some nourishment.  Unfortunately it's not looking very healthy so many not last through many more storms.  It's sort of like we are.  We need to be rooted in Jesus for life now and eternally.

Spray Falls.  This waterfall never freezes.  The portions on the outside will freeze into columns, but the center always flows.

We turned around to go back and it was cold.  Not the coldest I've ever been but it was nice to get warm again.

I love the way the setting sun reflects off the stone on the inside of the arch.

The other boat was a little ahead of us and you can see it through the arch.

We had a beautiful sunset!

That was a full day but we had a great time!  I would recommend the cruise as you can see so much more from a boat.  The sunset cruise was really nice as the colors really popped.

Today is laundry and blog day, and tomorrow we'll be...

Roving on...

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Hebrews 11:3