Pictured Rocks NLS - west endSep 11, 2009
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Miner's Castle from a viewing platform
looking straight down to the water - ever seen anything like this...
Grand Island on Lake Superior has no yearlong residents - it's a...
I followed my GPS to the park and found myself at the Visitor Center at Miner’s Castle. I had no idea what that meant. I had passed a road with a sign saying Miner’s River, Lake, and Beach were down it, so I really thought I was going to see a building or home that a miner built or lived in. Ha! It’s the name of a rock ledge on Lake Superior! Part of it fell in 1940 and I guess it had looked like a castle before then.
After walking a short path, I took that road to see the river and the beach. There is a small dam under the road on the river and I learned that was to keep the lamprey from going upstream to kill the baby salmon and other spawning fish. These suckers look like eels and they latch onto the fish and leach out their fluids until they die – yuck! There were kayakers resting on the beach which was mostly sandy, as expected.
The highlight and only way to properly see the Pictured Rocks was taking a boat ride along the rocks. I was advised to take the latest trip because of the angle of the sun’s rays, so I took the 4 PM trip on a full boat. I couldn’t get a seat on the upper deck or on the side of the boat that would be nearest the rocks, so during the trip out, I listened to the captain’s narrative and saved the picture taking for the trip back. At that point, I went to the back corner of the boat and had a great view. Hope you like the pictures!
