One of my photos from Miners Beach at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore appears in Lake Superior Magazines 2021 Calendar. We had gone down to the beach late in the evening to catch the sunset. When we arrived it was clear that there was a storm out in the lake. Large waves were pounding the beach.
After leaving Mosquito Beach it was a long hike back to the car. The only thing to break it up was a series of waterfalls along the Mosquito River.
More photos from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore can be found on my website.
You know when you reach Chapel Beach because you see Chapel Rock at the end of the trail.
We walked down to the beach to photograph a waterfall that flows into Lake Superior. Several years ago we were on the Beach when a strong storm hit. My wife had put here pack down on a sandbar and the sudden storm created strong waves that almost washed out into the lake. On this day things were quiet.
I spend a little time photographing objects along the beach including some footprints that I hopped was a large dog.
We took one last look at the Beach before heading out on the Lakeshore Trail to the Mosquito River.
More photos from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore can be found on my website.
Leaving Chapel Beach we headed out on the Lakeshore Trail for the Mosquito River.
I managed to photograph a few small objects along the way including some Hoof Mushrooms.
After, what seemed like a long hike, we reached Mosquito Beach.
We grabbed a snack before it started to rain and then hiked over to the mouth of the Mosquito River.
More photos from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore can be found on my website.
When we are in the Pictured Rocks we generally like to hike a loop trail that starts from the Chapel Beach Trail head, Connects with the Lakeshore Trail and then return to the trail head via Mosquito Falls Trail. Our first stop on the trail is usually Chapel Falls. This is an impressive falls with opportunities for intimate photographs of parts of the falls.
One thing we saw a lot of on our three trips to the U.P. of Michigan were mushrooms. The very wet summer and fall proved to be an excellent year for them.
There was not a lot of color along the trail. Fall colors were unusually late this year. This area is spectacular in the spring when the flowers are out.
More photos from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore can be found on my website.
The shoreline at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore has change dramatically in the last few years. One of our favorite hikes is along the shoreline from Hurricane River to Au Sable Lighthouse. In the past this has largely been a nice walk along a wide sand beach as seen in this 20012 photo.
We noticed a change where the Hurricane River enters Lake Superior. In past years it flowed directly into the Lake. Now it makes a sharp right with a sandbar between the River and the Lake. It did provide an opportunity for some nice rock shots
We were really surprised this year when we found the sand beach had disappeared. In some cases the water was next to the cliffs and in other cases there was a narrow rock beach. It did provide for some nice shots of the rocks in the water.
It is no longer possible to take a leisurely stroll along the beach. We had to walk most of the way on along a road at the top of the cliffs. The lake levels are up several feet putting the beautiful sand beaches mostly underwater or replaced by rock beaches. Many of the shipwrecks that were barely sticking up along the shoreline have been pushed up onto the rocky shore. The first shot was taken in 2012 and the second shot this year.
A shot of the lighthouse at the end of the trail.
Fall Reflections are one of my favorite subjects during fall leaf season.
Rusk County
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Gile Flowage
Black River Harbor Reflections
Red Cedar River
It is sometimes difficult to hit the fall colors just right. I’ve had the most success visiting Ironwood at the end of September some of the other locations I try to judge the fall colors using the Wisconsin Fall Color Foliage Report.
Gile Flowage Sunrise
I’m starting to think about fall color trips. Typically my fall season starts with a trip to Ironwood, Michigan at the end of September. My two favorite photograph locations are Gile Flowage. Gile Flowage is a great place to start the morning by photographing the sunrise.
Gile Flowage
Later in the day I like to drive over to Copper Peak International Ski Flying Hill and make the trip to the top of the ski jump. There are some spectacular views from the top of the ski lift.
Copper Peak International Ski Flying Hill
In mid October I like to drive over to Munising, Michigan. This is probably one of the premier fall color locations in the country. While I’m in the area there are three locations I like to visit. The first is Hiawatha National Forest. There are quite a few lakes in the forest that offer some spectacular fall color shots. The leaves turn first in the National Forest. If you are really lucky you will be in the area when the snow falls on the colors.
Thornton Lake
A week or so later the colors will turn at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Hiking along the trails above the lake offer some unsurpassed scenery. If the weather cooperates a sunset cruse on the tour boats is well worth your time.
While in the area I always try to visit Seney National Wildlife Refuge. It offers some spectacular sunrise and sunset opportunities as well as a chance to photograph wildlife.
Seney National Wildlife Refuge Sunset
Toward the end of October I like to drive down to Baraboo, Wisconsin. There are some great photography locations in the area. Devils Lake State Park is always popular and can be crowed on a beautiful fall Day.
Devils Lake State Park
Gibraltar Rock offers some great views of the Wisconsin River Valley.
Gibraltar Rock
My favorite location is Pewits Nest. If you time it right the leaves can be outstanding. Pewits Nest is small natural gorge cut by Skillet Creek.
Pewits Nest
Still going through my fall photos. I know it is sad but fall is when I’m out the most and I have a lot of photos to go through. when we were at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore this fall the surf was really up. We drove out to Miners Beach to watch the surf. It was really windy with a dark overcast to the sky with a few patches of sun coming through the clouds. We decided to walk along the trail above the beach the take the trail up to Miners Castle. There was some great color and dramatic color along the way.
More photos from Pictured Rocks can be found on my website.
I don’t often photograph the sunset from Castle Rock but thought it might be interesting given the light and the heavy surf. There were a few others at the location but we didn’t have any problems getting a good spot.
Philip Schwarz Photography Blog 