Pictured Rocks National Seashore

While in Sault Ste. Marie, we wanted to  make an hour drive to Munising Michigan for a boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Seashore.  I got information and purchased tickets for the 2 PM tour  HERE.
If you remember my comments in a prior review on our drive to Newberry on M28, you can take that level of boring drive and quadruple it going from Newberry to Munising!  There is nothing but scrubby trees in most places and the road is straight as an arrow.  Up until this trip, I always thought that the Interstate 16 drive from Dublin GA to Savannah GA was the worst drive ever but this one has it beat!
Anyway, we left Newberry at 12:30 pm for the 2 o'clock tour and arrived about 1:45.  When we pulled in, the wind was blowing 15 - 20,  and this Lake Superior harbor which is protected by Grand Island was white capping!  These tour boats are not huge so I could only imagine what the 6-8 foot waves were doing to the ships out on the main lake!  We went to the Will Call window to get our tickets and the nice lady behind the counter told us that they were giving a STRONG hard seas advisory and if you have ANY tendency to motion sickness, this was probably not the day for you!  Since Diane and I both get queasy pretty easily, we decided to reschedule for the next day.  My only hesitation was that I now have to make that drive 2 more times!  But we postponed and returned the next day to bright sun and calm waters.

Calm water in Munising Bay

Our Ship

We arrived at the dock 30 minutes prior to our tour time and found a long line of people waiting to board.  Of course the first seats to go are the ones on top of the double decked boat, so we wound up on the lower level.  We sat on the Port side of the ship and soon found that the attraction is on the starboard side on the way out.  Not a big deal since the boat turns around and comes back the same way, but they stop at several places on the way out  and the boat is placed in good position for viewing and pictures but not so on the way back.  Just something to file away if you decide to take a tour.  By the way, when our boat left at 2pm, people were already getting in line for the 3 pm tour so plan accordingly.

The tour is about 2.5 hours.  The first half hour is getting to the 10 miles of shoreline the tour will cover.  The first 5 miles of shoreline was pretty but nothing special.  Having said that, I am basing it on having spent 15 years working open pit mines in Georgia where I saw similar formations every day.  However the second five miles of the tour really put on a show!  The rock formations made by the weather and wave action were a sight to behold.  Then you add to that the colors created by water running over and through the rocks depositing the different minerals in a kaleidoscope of colors and the play of the light on the rocks and off the water and is where you get the "pictures"!  Of course it is open to interpretation much like cloud pictures but you get the idea.

My photos don't do this justice but I can say if you are anywhere near the area, make time to see this.  You will be glad you did!

One last thing before the pictures.  After the tour, if you are hungry, check out Johnny Dogs in Munising.  This is a hole in the wall kinda place that does hot dogs and other things, and they do them well!  Get your dogs and go next door to the tavern and grab a cold drink if you are so inclined. Both places are under the same owner.

Turquoise colors from the copper minerals.

Weathered rock formations.

My first Bald Eagle siting in the wild!  Wishing for a longer zoom lens.

Battleship Row.  The foreground rock is a ship's bow.  The others are ship sterns
lined up all in a row.  Can you see it?

A Peregrine Falcon at home.  I really need that longer lens!

Many colors.  Blue/green is copper, white is limestone, red/orange/brown is
iron, and black is manganese.

I see many things in these rocks.  Ghosts and goblins and mushroom trees with green tops!

Many colors

Colors and caves!

The cliffs are sandstone and they continue to weather.

Miner's Castle rock formation.

An old lighthouse on Grand Island.

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Bill