Leslie and David's Wanderings: 6 Sept. 2018 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Miners Area

Saturday, September 8, 2018

6 Sept. 2018 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Miners Area

Tonight is our cruise of the Pictured Rock Lakeshore. So this after noon we drove over to the Miners area of the park. Like much of the coast of Lake Superior, the Munising area was a big mining area for Iron Ore. Much of the old growth forest was cut down by the early 1900s to be used to support the iron ore mining and shipping operations. Geologically, the area is similar to Voyagers NP with a thin layer of soil over rock that has been ground down by the ice age glaciers. Here there is a layer of hard sedimentary rock over a very thick layer of soft sandstone. The beautiful cliffs of Pictured Rocks lakeshore are where the wind, ice and water has carved out the soft sandstone layer undermining the harder top surface layer. In the Miners area of the park it’s easy to see the layers. We first hiked down to Miners Falls (1.2 miles round trip). There was still a heavy flow of water from the recent rains, so the falls were really pretty. We then went to the Miners Castle Over look and finally down to Miners Beach. On the beach David found rocks from both the US side of the lake (Sedimentary, Sandstone) but also from the Canadian side (Quartz, Granite and Agate). The rocks from the Canadian side are from glacial action.

Miners Falls

Miners Rock from the overlook

In the evening (06:45), we boarded our Pictured Rocks Cruise Boat, the catamaran Pictured Rocks Express, for a sunset tour of the coastline. The sunset cruise, although a bit more expensive ($45 per person), provided the best lighting conditions for observing the colors of the rocks. The Sandstone formations leak water which contains minerals (Manganese, iron, calcite, diorite) which stains the rocks beautiful colors. To say they are picturesque is a major understatement. We shot over 300 photos between the two of us in two hours. The boat went past all the major rock formations and many waterfalls. With all the rain lately, the major waterfalls were flowing better than they had all summer. Everyone should add this cruise to their bucket list of things to do!! After the cruise we stopped off at Foggy’s for a beer and a late night snack.