The Agatelady: Adventures and Events

Arizona Trip -- Post 1

2012-01-28T09:33:00.000-05:00

I flew out of Marquette on Thursday and tried to do a blog update from 28,000 feet up. I was just ready to send the data when the free wifi ended. I didn't want to pay, so I'll finish the frozen waterfalls posting later.

In the mean time, I would like to share with you the first pictures from the Arizona trip. I am sitting in my rented RV in a dirt "dry camping" area right in the middle of the chaos at Quartzite. There are over 100,000 RVs and lots of other people. The dealers are spread out throughout the city, but mainly on this one 3 mile long corridor. There are not just rocks for sale -- but everything you can imagine.

In Marquette two years ago a stolen Russion plane landed for refueling and repairs. It was discovered that it was stolen and there the plane still sits. I heard that someone purchased it, but for what ever reason it is still there. The snowplows just go around it.

Here is a shot I took after we took off. You can see the airport and that same Russian plane.

When I worked in Corporate America and flew a million and a half miles, I saw many sunsets from my airplane seat. It has been a while....

You know you are in Arizona when you see palm trees. My friends, Gerald and Jill, who left Grand Rapids last weekend, picked me up in Phoenix and drove me to the RV rental place. By the time we went grocery shopping, it was too late to try to drive across the desert to somewhere we had never been. So we found a campsite. Thus, the first night I only drove my rented RV about 10 miles.

Scenes from the campground....

Then the next day we drove the hour and a half to Quartzite. What chaos. But we found the Rice Ranch and paid our $7 to dry camp. The picture below is my rented RV.

Here are both of our RVs, side by side.

In three hours or so I spent half my budget. There is no question that the prices are better in Quartzite than at the Tucson show. Here is a shot of part of the Western Woods booth.

There are more non-rock booths than there are booths that sell rocks and minerals -- at least where we were yesterday. This is an ice cream maker that we saw.

And here is a sphere maker. I have a lot of people ask me what they look like. You can see the rough cut rock in the middle of the three grinding surfaces.

The sunset over the mountains lit up the sky.

Incredible Frozen Waterfalls--Post 1

2012-01-26T07:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I left Grand Marais mid-day to start heading toward my Arizona adventure. This is the 3rd of 4th trip in a row that I had a more leisurely approach to preparing for the trip. I must admit that this is an easier way to go about it, rather than working like a crazy lady to cram more work in before leaving.

I even had time in Munising to stop by some frozen waterfalls. First, I drove out Sand Point in Munising to see if I get get any photos of the ice cliffs on Grand Island. Yep. They are awesome.

This photo was taken looking back up Munising Bay. Notice the two ice shanties as well as two lone fishermen sitting out on the ice.

Then I stopped at Munising Falls, located across from the hospital in Munising on Sand Point.

A map of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Frozen ice on the river...

The river....

And Munising Falls. Normally this time of year the falls is much more massive. The warm temperatures show..

What is a Snowflake?

2012-01-25T08:31:00.000-05:00

A flake of snow is a feathery ice crystal, typically displaying delicate sixfold symmetry. Snowflakes and snow crystals are made of ice, and pretty much nothing more. A snow crystal is a single crystal of ice. A snowflake can mean an individual snow crystal, or a few snow crystals stuck together, or large agglomerations of snow crystals.

Snowflakes are not frozen raindrops. Sometimes raindrops do freeze as they fall, but this is called sleet. Sleet particles don't have any of the elaborate and symmetrical patterning found in snow crystals. Snow crystals form when water vapor condenses directly into ice, which happens in the clouds. The patterns emerge as the crystals grow.

Have you ever looked at a snowflake and wondered how it formed? Snowflakes are a particular form of water ice. Snowflakes form in clouds, which consist of water vapor. When the temperature is 32° F (0° C) or colder, water changes from its liquid form into ice. Several factors affect snowflake formation. Temperature, air currents, and humidity all influence shape and size. Dirt and dust particles can get mixed up in the water and affect crystal weight and durability. The dirt particles make the snowflake heavier, and can cause cracks and breaks in the crystal and make it easier to melt. Snowflake formation is a dynamic process. A snowflake may encounter many different environmental conditions, sometimes melting it, sometimes causing growth, always changing its structure.

In more detail, here is the story of a snowflake. Each flake of snow begins with water vapor in the air. Evaporation from oceans, lakes, rivers, transpiration from plants, and exhaling from animals. Even you, every time you exhale, put water vapor into the air. When a mass of air is cooled, the water vapor it holds begins to condense. Right at the surface of the earth, water vapor condenses onto surfaces, such as dew on grass. In the atmosphere, water vapor condenses onto dust particles. A cloud is nothing more than a huge collection of water droplets hugging dust particles, all suspended above the earth. As clouds gets colder, the droplets in the clouds start to freeze into minute ice crystals. Liquid water vapor in the cloud then attaches to the ice crystal embryo in a continuous process causing the snowflake to grow.

Common snowflake shapes include:

Generally, six-sided hexagonal crystals are shaped in high clouds.
Needles or flat six-sided crystals are shaped in middle height cloud.
A wide variety of six-sided shapes are formed in low clouds.
Colder temperatures produce snowflakes with sharper tips on the sides of the crystals and may lead to branching of the snowflake arms (dendrites).
Snowflakes that grow under warmer conditions grow more slowly, resulting in smoother, less intricate shapes.

Why are snowflakes symmetrical (same on all sides)? Actually, not all snowflakes are symmetrical. Several things can distort the shape of a snowflake including uneven temperatures, dirt, and other factors But in most cases snowflakes form in an orderly and symmetrical manner. This is because when water freezes, the shape of the ice crystal reflects the internal order of the water molecules. When molecules freeze into the solid state, the bonds or connections between the water molecules are very weak. During crystallization, the water molecules align themselves to maximize these bonds as much as possible. Consequently, water molecules arrange themselves in a chemically predetermined manner that tends to maintain symmetry.

When we were kids we always heard that no two snowflakes are the same. This is not necessarily true. This may be true if you were able to examine each snowflake down to the exact number of water molecules, arrangement of electrons, etc. However, on the macro scale it is possible for two snowflakes to look alike. Over the history of the earth, it is also likely that duplicate snowflakes have been produced.

If water and ice are clear, then why does snow look white? The main reason is that snowflakes have light-reflecting surfaces that scatter light into its component colors, so snow appears white. Another contributing factor is that there are tendencies in the way that that human eyesight works. The human brain compensates for a light source. Thus, even though sunlight is yellow and scattered light from snow is yellow, the brain automatically subtracts the yellow wavelengths causing you to see white.

Interesting Photos -- What are They?

2012-01-24T10:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday it was raining with temperatures in the mid 30s. In fact, it was raining hard. It condensed and partially melted the little bit of snow we have But then when I woke this morning, I looked out to a white out. From day to day this winter it is hard to tell what to expect.

So I did not get out since I refuse to go out in that type of weather. So for today's blog posting, I am including a series of interesting photos. Please check them out and guess what you think they are. Some of the photos are not obvious, but the exercise of guessing will hopefully stimulate your thoughts. At the end of this posting, included is information about what the pictures in fact represent.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9

Photo 10

Photo 11

Photo 12

Photo 13

Photo 14

All of the pictures were taken from the Science Channel's program called How The Universe Works. The timing of the show was perfect for me since I have been working on my speech for the Celebration of Agates international show coming up the end of July in Minneapolis, MN. My speech's title is: The Story of Silica--Cosmic Source through Agate Genesis.

Photo 1 Simulation of the beginning of an exploding supernova

Photo 2 A cosmic structure formed by a giant wall of galaxies, called a galactic filament. It is the
largest known structure in the universe. Scientists have been mapping the known universe using specialized equipment to measure cosmic microwave background radiation. They were surprised that all of the galaxies in the universe a connected in a filament arrangement.

Photo 3 A simulation of the impact point of an early planet building collision.

Photo 4 An illustration of the earth's magnetic field.

Photo 5 A simulated picture of a star that is five million times larger than our sun, which is nearly a million miles in diameter and 93,000,000 miles away from the earth. You can fit a million earths inside our sun. There are other stars that are even bigger. The largest star ever discovered is VY Canis Majoris, which is a billion times larger than our sun. It is located 4,900 light years away.

Photo 6 A nebula, which is left over star dust from the death of a large star that exploded in a supernova.

Photo 7 A simulation of what it looks like on the surface of our sun.

Photo 8 The active zone in a man-made fusion reactor Scientists are simulating a star's energy source -- in a lab near Oxford, England -- to control the power of fusion.

Photo 9 A simulated picture of photons created in the fusion of hydrogen atoms. These atoms naturally repel each other. But if you heat them up, such as what happens in the core of a star, heat equals motion. When the atoms move fast enough, they cannot avoid hitting each other and they hit and fuse to create a new element -- helium -- along with a small amount of pure energy released as photons.

Photo 10 A simulated picture showing photons escaping from the surface of the sun. It takes thousands of years for photons to travel from the core of the sun to the surface. It then just takes eight minutes for photons to travel from the surface of the sun to the earth.

Photo 11 A simulated picture showing the declining fusion in the center of a sun near the end of its life cycle.

Photo 12 When a small star, like our sun, uses up all its hydrogen in the fusion reactions, there is not enough outward pressure. Gravity trying to get the star to contract will win the war against the fusion reactions that try to explode the star outward. At first, gravity will crush the star in on itself. This contraction causes what is left in the star to heat up again, making it to expand outward. When this happens to our sun between 5 and 7 billion years from now, our sun will swell up until it is 100 million miles in diameter and become a Red Giant. But then the Red Giant will self destruct as the core becomes unstable. Since there is no more hydrogen to use as fuel, the star will begin fusing helium to carbon as the star begins destroying itself from the inside out. The massive explosions blast energy toward the surface blowing away the star's outer layers. Slowly, the star will disintegrate. All fusion reactions will stop. All that remains is an intensely dense hot core that develops into a white dwarf no larger than the earth. At the core of a white dwarf, scientists believe there would be a giant crystal of carbon, that may in fact be a big diamond. The picture shows what this giant diamond may look like.

Photo 13 Larger stars have a different end to their life cycle than what occurs with smaller stars like our sun. They have enough mass that when all the hydrogen is used up as fusion fuel, and then all the helium is used up to make carbon -- they continue smashing bigger and bigger atoms. This photo simulates the progression of fusion fuel used by a star. The last in the line is iron. Once a star manufactures iron, that is the end of the line. Iron cannot be used as a fusion fuel.

Photo 14 This last picture represents the moment of a supernova explosion when a large star disintegrates and basically turns itself inside out. In the extreme heat and force of the explosion, heavier elements are forged and then projected into the universe. It is this material from exploding supernovas that is recycled to make everything in the universe, including us.

Winter Weather -- Sort Of

2012-01-23T08:59:00.000-05:00

Late last week and over the weekend we finally had a stretch of winter weather. The school was closed one day and in total we received several inches of snow. This morning, however, it is 30 degrees with freezing rain.

First a couple of shots of the white out.

Then the next day I had to snowshoe my trails to human groom them for cross country skiing.

For the second year in a row, not all the apples feel from the trees in the fall.

Usually this time of year the snow drift that forms on the south side of my house is usually up to my windows. We are not there yet, but the storm late last week started the snow level to catch up a bit.

Drain the Great Lakes -- Post 3

2012-01-22T14:00:00.000-05:00

Today I will post the remainder of the pictures from the National Geographic program called Drain the Great Lakes.

In the eastern part of Lake Ontario, scientists discovered something unusual.

To the south east of Charity Shoal, which is marked by a small lighthouse, there is a circular depression on the bottom of the lake bed.

Charity Shoal lighthouse....

When they examined the depression, they realized that it is almost identicle to the meteor crater in Arizona.

So the scientists have tentatively concluded that the depression is in Lake Ontario is also a meteor crater.

The last segment of the program discussed the artifacts on the bottom of Lake Superior. There are more than 6,000 different wrecks.

The most famous being the Edmund Fitzgerald that sank in 1975.

Drain the Great Lakes -- Post 2

2012-01-21T12:52:00.000-05:00

Today I'll continue a review of some of the awesome facts presented in the National Geographic program Drain the Great Lakes.

The next segment in the show featured Lake Huron.

Around 6,000 or 7,000 years ago when the levels of the lakes were still low, there was a land bridge that formed across what is now Lake Huron.

Underwater imaging has indicated that in the area of this one-time land bridge off the coast of Alpena, MI, there is a linear line of rocks that stretches for dozens of miles. Scientists found what they believe are hunting pits, camps and rock structures called caribou "drive lines" on the bottom of Lake Huron.
Drive lines, also called drive lanes, are walls built of rocks that hunters used to lure caribou into ambush. A peculiarity of the deer species is that it readily follows linear cues, even though the rock walls are short enough to step over.

The next segment of the program moved south to Lake Erie, the shallowest of all the Great Lakes. On the north shore there is this weird peninsula called Long Point that sticks out into Lake Erie around 25 miles. This point is a remnant of the lower lake levels that still existed around 5,000 years ago.

When the lake levels were low, the Niagara Falls area certainly was much different. Today, up to 36 million gallons of water flow over the falls per minute.

When the lake levels were low, there was but a trickle.

Another interesting anomaly found at the bottom of the Great Lakes are these pop up ridges that are scattered on the bottom of Lake Ontario. Scientists have determined that they are compression fractures caused by tectonic pressure along fault lines.

Drain the Great Lakes -- Post 1

2012-01-20T11:15:00.000-05:00

Last night I watched a companion show to the one I watched a couple of weeks ago about draining the oceans. This show aired on the National Geographic Channel was Drain the Great Lakes.

The program featured all five of the Great Lakes and some interesting things that scientists have found on the bottom of the lake beds. I admit that I am biased, but the show started and ended with Lake Superior -- which I love.

There is more than I include in one post, so I'll summarize what the show presented in a series of blog updates.

In the first segment of the show, they drained the water out of Lake Superior.

Northwest of Grand Marais, there are a series of parallel canyons. I remember back in the 1970s when Jacques Cousteau researched Lake Superior, that he was the first to find these mysterious canyons. Here is what one would look like, according to this documentary.

Of course the Great Lakes were geologically formed by the glaciers. Some scientists think that there may have actually been a series of seven glaciers to scour the northern part of the Americas.

I just love the next two shots. The documentary shows what the Chicago sky line would look like in scale to the glaciers that the show says were a mile high. I have read accounts that the glaciers may have been up to three miles high.

What they figured out is that when the glaciers were last retreating north, as they passed through what is now the Lake Superior region, they stalled enough to allow large glacial runoff rivers to form perpendicular to the direction of retreat. The channels we now find in Lake Superior are the river beds left over from these glacial rivers.

The next story the documentary covered is about the Straits of Mackinaw. Today there is the Mackinaw Bridge that connects the two Michigan peninsulas. It is interesting that for reference, the show left the bridge in all of their graphics.

Apparently around 6,000 years ago a significant drought lowered the level of all the Great Lakes a significant amount. At that time, the five lakes for the most part were not connected. But first, let's drain the water from under the bridge.

Near the Bruce Peninsula in Canada, which separates Lake Huron from the Georgian Bay, scientists found evidence of just how low the level of the Great Lakes was 6,000 years ago. In fact they have found underwater escarpments in the area that during that period were huge waterfalls, some even larger than Niagara Falls today.

Also during that time of low lake levels, they think there was only a small channel connecting Lake Huron to Lake Michigan that still exists today.

Downtown Grand Marais and School Forest Ski

2012-01-19T09:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Grand Marais. The early morning clouds dissipated and the sun came out. Temperatures were in the 20s and perfect for cross country skiing.

As I drove to town I decided to take a few pictures driving down "the hill" as we locals call it. First the Grand Marais sign posted at our bay. Click on the photo to see a larger version that can be more easily read.

Now the curve above town.

Driving down the hill...

A couple of shots of the bay...

By the time I drove four miles east, the sun came out. Here is a shot of the Sucker River.

More shots in the 1,300 School Forest.

School Forest Ski, Lake Superior Water Temperature, and Sunrise Glow

2012-01-18T09:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I skied a great loop in the school forest. I parked at H58 and skied down the School Forest Road to the bridge. Then I skied down Deer Lane to the first intersection, where I headed to the west. Around a half mile down I stayed to the left and kept staying to the left until I reached Sandy Lane and then back to the car. All in all it only took two hours, but it was exhausting due to the slightly sticky snow. What a work out!

A couple of weeks ago I took a picture of the wide bend in the Sucker River when there was mostly open water. As you can see below, the cold temperatures this last week or so has caused the river to ice over.

It is cloudy in Grand Marais, but it must not be south of us. Here is the sunrise glow through my trees.

I checked the water temperatures again for Lake Superior in the Grand Marais area. The latest image available is from January 3rd. The previous image from December 20th showed that the lake's water temperature just off shore averaged around 42 degrees. On January 3rd, the average temperature was around 36 degrees. So at this point there is still no shore ice.

Alll About Snowshoeing

2012-01-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

I received a request from a photo blog follower to post an update about snowshoeing. When I first moved full-time to Grand Marais in 1994, I almost exclusively cross country skied. Once in a while we would snowshoe if the skiing conditions were poor, or if there was somewhere we wanted to go that could not be done safely on skies. Last year the skiing conditions were horrible in Grand Marais due to the lack of snow causing icy ski conditions, so I probably snowshoed more than I skied. Now I must admit that I love both.

Snowshoes are footwear for walking over the snow. They work by distributing the weight of the person over a larger area so that the person's foot does not sink completely into the snow, a quality called "flotation". Early hunters and gatherers who lived in northern climates tried to mimic how animals were able to navigate through deep snow.

Snowshoeing is known to have been practiced in present-day central Asia about 6,000 years ago. It is believed that as these ancestors to the Inuits and Native Americans, migrated from Asia to North America, they brought the snowshoes with them, which were modified slabs of wood. It was not too long before this evolved into the white ash framed snowshoes with the raw hide lacing that we associate with snowshoeing today.

In the past, snowshoes were essential tools for fur traders, trappers and anyone whose life or living depended on the ability to get around in areas of deep and frequent snowfall, and they remain necessary equipment for forest rangers and others who must be able to get around areas inaccessible to motorized vehicles when the snow is deep. However, today snowshoes are mainly used for recreation, primarily by hikers and runners who like to continue their hobby in wintertime. Snowshoeing is easy to learn, and in appropriate conditions is a relatively safe and inexpensive recreational activity.

Traditional snowshoes have a hardwood frame with rawhide lacing. Some modern snowshoes are similar, but most are made of materials such as lightweight metal, plastic, and synthetic fabric. To prevent snow from accumulating, most snowshoes have latticework. The design allows enough support for "flotation" but openings to allow snow to fall through. Keep in mind, however, that snowshoes do not keep you completely on top of the snow -- especially if the snow is deep. If you snowshoe in heavy wet snow, you can get a workout lifting the snow that does accumulate on top of your shoes with every step.

The wooden snowshoes are generally categorized in three different styles or shapes. The oval shaped bear paw was designed for use in forested conditions where maneuverability was most important. The truly long (46+ inches) Yukon snowshoe was developed for traversing deep powder-covered open areas, common in the Northwest. The beavertail seemed to take advantage of the best features of both the bear paw and the Yukon, and has been utilized in all types of snow conditions. The disadvantage of the old wooded shoes is that there are no crampons in the bottom to help prevent slipping in elevation. They also do not provide as good of traction. The bindings in older wooden snowshoes are sometimes problematic, too, since it sometimes is difficult to keep them on. Finally, the wider wooden snowshoes require you to "straddle walk," which brings on the feeling of tired hips after a few miles of steady walking. Very few snowshoers today are using the traditional shoes.

The modern snowshoes were first developed by Gene and Bill Prater in 1972 in Ellensburg, WA to overcome some of the deficiencies they encountered with wooden snowshoes while doing winter mountaineering in the Cascades. Tubbs Snowshoe Company, owned by Ed Kiniry in Stowe, VT introduced the Katahdin and Sierra in 1991 after extensive research and development work coordinated by Rick Howell. Tubbs has helped grow the sport as snowshoe sales have increased up to 20% per year. More than 5 million Americans are thought to now enjoy snowshoeing each winter.

Over thirty manufacturers currently market aluminum-framed snowshoes, led primarily by Tubbs, Atlas (owned by Tubbs), Redfeather, Sherpa, and TSL. Snowshoes today are divided into three types:
--Aerobic/running (small and light; not intended for back country use);
--Recreational (a bit larger; meant for use in gentle-to moderate walks of 3–5 miles (4.8–8.0 km)); and
--Mountaineering (the largest, meant for serious hill-climbing, long-distance trips and off-trail use).

Sizes are often given in inches, even though snowshoes are nowhere near perfectly rectangular. Mountaineering shoes can be at least 30 inches (76 cm) long by 10 inches (25 cm) wide; a lighter pair of racing shoes can be slightly narrower and 25 inches (64 cm) or shorter.

Notwithstanding these variations in planned use, larger users should plan on buying larger snowshoes. A common formula is that for every pound of body weight, there should be one square inch of snowshoe surface (14.5 cm²/kg) per snowshoe to adequately support the wearer. Users should also consider the weight of any gear they will be packing, especially if they expect to break trail. Those planning to travel into deep powder look for even larger shoes. Many manufacturers now include weight-based flotation ratings for their shoes, although there is no standard for setting this as of yet.

Modern shoes have a series of straps, usually three, are used to fasten the foot to the snowshoe. Some styles of binding use a cup for the toe. It is important that a user be able to manipulate these straps easily, as removing or securing the foot often must be done outdoors in cold weather. When putting on snowshoes, left is distinguished from right by which way the loose ends of the binding straps point: always outward, to avoid stepping on them repeatedly.

All modern snowshoes have crampons on the bottom to help with traction. Since 1994, snowshoe manufacturers have included a second traction device under the heel, to complement the traction device under the ball of the foot, near the toe cord or hinge rod. This heel mounted cramp-on or traction device has again aided on lateral traverses, ice covered ridges, as well as ascents and descents. The dual crampons are now a standard feature on most models sold. Buyers beware, though, because some of the inexpensive snowshoes still only have one crampon. Some modern shoes even have three sets of crampons. As far as I am concerned, the more the better. One other thing to think about is the size of the "teeth" in the crampons. I have observed that those with smaller crampon teeth tend to cake up with ice.

Sizes: Most aluminum snowshoes are either 8” X 25” or 9 X 30,” while several other sizes are also available. Consistent users have found that these sizes, although typically smaller than traditionally thought necessary, will best meet the floatation needs under most conditions. It is possible that in the dry powder conditions found along Lake Superior and similar areas with deep snow may require larger snowshoes than the conditions usually found in the east. Each region has its own distinct snow density and moisture content, which both play an important role in floatation. For ease of use, smaller is better. For deep snow, bigger is better.

Another thing that helps with snowshoe safety is the use of poles. Although many snowshoes now come with telescopic poles, I personally recommend not using these. I have been in situations when no matter what you do to keep the sections of the poles tight, the telescopic joint sometimes loosens and gives out. Of course, this always seems to happen when you most need the poles for support in rough terrain. One advantage of the telescopic poles, however, is that they can be adjusted for snow depth and terrain, and can be shortened to be easily adhered to a backpack when not in use. If you use telescopic poles, constantly check to make sure that they are tightly secured. I recommend instead that you use solid, one-piece poles that feel comfortable when you walk. Cross country ski poles are usually too long for snowshoeing.

In terms of what footwear you should use, there are choices. Many people use regular hiking boots, but these can get wet. Regular snow boots often do not give enough support for your feet. If the boots are a little big, your feet can slide around in the boots which can lead to blisters. Another consideration is the shape of the heel. Some boots have an indentation or a ridge where the snowshoe strap insets, preventing the strap from slipping off. Keep in mind that you do not have to fall victim to marketing and buy "snowshoeing boots." If your straps are properly secured, any boot will work.

Since you are most vulnerable when you first start out and put your snowshoes on, it is best to maybe have on an extra outer coat and use thin gloves to protect your hands. Touching the cold aluminum frames and exposing your fingers to attach the bindings can be a rude experience. Once you have your snowshoes on, loose the extra layer and put on a warmer pair of gloves.

One more thing to think about when snowshoeing is staying warm, but not too warm. When snowshoeing in challenging terrain, you can burn up to 700 calories an hour -- even more than cross country skiing. The tendency is to over dress. For most weather conditions, snowshoers will be most comfortable with fewer clothes than most observers would expect. A layer of synthetic polypropylene or bi-polar underwear (tops & bottoms) will protect the snowshoer from evaporative heat loss, while a wind barrier layer will protect from convective heat loss (wind). Both layers will be all that is required for most half day (up to six hour) snowshoe outings. It is helpful to have an additional insulated layer such as fleece stored in a backpack for the stops along the trail, or for emergencies. Otherwise, the caloric expenditure of snowshoeing is usually more than sufficient to maintain body temperature.

When you are snowshoeing, the tendency is to not think about hydration. It is important to constantly be aware of the need to stay hydrated, especially during the dry winter months. Many summer hikers use the popular water bladders. The problem with these in the winter is that water in the tube freezes. So either have water bottles in your backpack and make a point of stopping frequently (at least every half hour) to take a drink. Or better yet, invest in a water bottle holder that allows you easy access without having to stop and open up your backpack which is not easy especially in the cold if you have to take your gloves off. Select a water bottle that can be opened with your gloves on.

Where to Go: The beauty of snowshoeing is that you do not need a trail or pay a user fee to enjoy an hour or a day. Any area with public access that is covered with snow is a viable snowshoe adventure. Snowshoers are able to traverse areas that would be all but impossible to traverse during other seasons, as the snow depth and frozen water provide the floatation necessary for the snowshoes. Snowshoes also allow you to go places that cross country skies would not.

In most cases you do not have to be concerned about impacting wildlife. Snowshoeing actually provides a welcome relief to non-hibernating animals, as the snowshoe trails will harden up overnight, making it easier for animals to traverse a region the following day. The slow speed of snowshoers does not seem to startle wildlife in the same way as cross country skiing and snowmobiling.

It is safest if you snowshoe with a friend. If you bushwhack and are not on a designated trail, make sure you know the terrain. If you get turned around, one advantage of snowshoeing is that you can always turn around and follow your own tracks back to the starting point. When you travel in groups, it is helpful to switch off the person in the lead position. It is always hardest to break trail.

Whenever you are adventuring in the woods, especially in the winter, it is important to be prepared. Always have emergency equipment in your day pack including: compass, headlamp, whistle, food, lighter or matches, and perhaps an emergency blanket. If you are in an area where there is cell phoone service, it is helpful to bring your phone along -- just in case.

Agate Want To Be Minerals

2012-01-16T08:59:00.000-05:00

In the past for blog postings I have used close up crops from pictures in my book agates Inside Out. Today I decided to crop the photos included in the book of some of the agate-want-to-be minerals. After operating the museum for the past thirteen years and interacting with thousands of people, I have seen the dissappointment when I honestly report that people have found an agate-want-to-be. Although I know that everyone is in search of the elusive agate, perhaps we should all appreciate the other minerals a bit more.

Please enjoy some of the incredible and beautiful detail of a few agate-want-to-be minerals. Notice that some of the specimens do have sections with agate banding.

First -- Australian Tiger Eye.

Petrified palm root from Louisiana.

Fossil reeds from Michigan.

Mary Ellen Jasper from Minnesota.

Poppy Seed Jasper from California.

Fossil Ammonite from Madagascar.

Fossil Red Horn Coral from Utah.

Fossil dinosaur bone from Utah.

Binghamite from Minnesota.

Fordite from Michigan. For those of you who do not know -- this is actual paint residue from a car factory paint booth. I have actually seen pendants made from this material for sale at shows and labeled "agate."

Onyx from Mexico.

Rhodochrosite from Argentina.

Grand Marais Bay Sunset After Glow

2012-01-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I felt like working on my speech for the international agate meeting in July. The title of my speech, as some of you know, is: The Story of Silica -- Cosmic Source Through Agate Genesis. I must admit that I am enjoying putting the speech together.

I did not get many pictures yesterday. While I was down town to pick up my food coop order, I was amazed at the color over Grand Marais bay. I pulled over and took a couple of photos.

First Real Cold Winter Day

2012-01-14T13:14:00.000-05:00

I am glad that I stoked the fire in my wood burner before I went to bed last night, as well as half way through the night. At my house this morning it was two degrees (F). South of Grand Marais temperatures were below zero.

Yesterday I did go on a long snowshoe, but I didn't take any photographs. So this morning when I drove to town to the post office, I drove around and took a few shots.

First, a shot of the channel leading to Grand Marais bay. I took the shot from the top of the hill on Airport Road.

With the cold temperatures last night, we actually have the first hint of ice on the bay -- only at the marina end of the bay. The shiny section of the bay below is a covering of ice.

I didn't notice it at first, but as I drove around the bay I noticed the seagulls sitting on the ice. I cannot believe that they were resting out in the exposed area on the thin ice.

Then I decided to walk out onto the boardwalk to see what the beach looks like. This place will always be special to me since my youngest son, Jonathan, was married on the boardwalk.

From the boardwalk, I captured this picture of the lighthouse. The other day when I took a shot of the lighthouse from a different angle, there was some ice built up on the lighthouse's structure. The warm temperatures and wind during the last few days melted and blew the ice away.

The final shot I took from the boardwalk is looking west. Notice how little snow there is on the beach as well as the beach walker.

Dune Snowshoe

2012-01-13T08:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday everything turned to ice. It got cold the previous night, so all the melted snow and puddles froze solid. Since we still didn't have much snow, I decided to just drive to the falls from my house, down part of H58 that is not maintained in the winter by the road commission. The distance is only a mile and I made it, but my car went sideways on the road in a couple of places.

The trails were not much better. I had to snowshoe next to the trail, alternating between the right and the left side of the trail -- which ever was passable.

Since the conditions were so horrible, and because I had a lot to get done yesterday, I didn't stay out that long. I also only took four pictures. But first a few sunset pictures from the night before. Sometimes the color in the winter sunsets are even better than the color in the summer.

It was still a bit foggy in the morning. Just as I finished hiking, it started to snow. We originally were supposed to get eight inches. As I look out this morning, I'm not sure if we received two inches.

There still is no shore ice.....

There also is not much ice on Sable River.

Log Slide Snowshoe Hike

2012-01-12T08:06:00.000-05:00

I have lived in Grand Marais since 1994, but have had relatives who have lived here for over 100 years. As far as I know, there was never before a winter that you could drive seven miles west to the Log Slide area on January 11th. Well I was able to do just that yesterday. The incredible lack of snow permitted the drive. Since we may get eight inches of snow starting tonight, I decided to drive to the Log Slide area as long as it was possible. Then I hiked the two miles to the lighthouse at Au Sable Point and back.

When I parked in the Log Slide parking lot, I had to document my car with a snowmobile parked near by.

The dune above the log slide....

As you can see, the warm temperatures resulted in fog. Here is a shot looking west toward Au Sable Point.

Looking east toward the Grand Sable Banks.

Here is a picture looking straight down. There is still warm water just off shore so no ice has yet formed.

The two mile hike takes you through several different types of forests. Here is a photo of a section with white birches.

The closer I go to the lighthouse, the less snow there was.

As I was snowshoeing west, the fog continued to get thicker. Normally from this angle you can see the Grand Sable Banks. Not yesterday.

As you can see, there was almost no snow at the lighthouse.

The fog became even thicker...

Facts about the World's Oceans

2012-01-11T07:51:00.000-05:00

The other night I watched a program on the National Geographic channel called "Drain the Oceans." It was an amazing show. The fact is that we really don't know a lot about the bottom of our planet's oceans. There are a lot of things we do know:

The oceans occupy nearly 71% of our planet's surface
More than 97% of all our planet's water is contained in the ocean
The average depth of the ocean is more than 2.5 miles
Less than 10% of the oceans have been explored by humans
Mount Everest (the highest point on the Earth's surface 5.49 miles) is more than 1 mile shorter than the Challenger Deep (the deepest point in the ocean at 6.86 miles)
The longest continuous mountain chain known to exist in the Universe resides in the ocean at more than 40,000 miles long
The Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon is deeper and larger in volume than the Grand Canyon
The average temperature of the oceans is 2ºC, about 39ºF
Water pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 8 tons per square inch, the equivalent of one person trying to hold 50 jumbo jets.
The Gulf Stream off the Atlantic seaboard of the United States flows at a rate nearly 300 times faster than the typical flow of the Amazon river, the world's largest river
A new form of life, based on chemical energy rather than light energy, resides in deep-sea hydrothermal vents along mid-ocean ridges
A swallow of seawater may contain millions of bacterial cells, hundreds of thousands of phytoplankton and tens of thousands of zooplankton
The blue whale, the largest animal on our planet ever (exceeding the size of the greatest dinosaurs) still lives in the ocean; it's heart is the size of a Volkswagen
The gray whale migrates more than 10,000 miles each year, the longest migration of any mammal
The Great Barrier Reef, measuring 1,243 miles, is the largest living structure on Earth. It can be seen from the Moon.
Over 80 per cent of people on earth will live within 60 miles of the coast.
Plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year. Plastic remains in our ecosystem for years harming thousands of sea creatures everyday.
Tropical coral reefs border the shores of 109 countries, the majority of which are among the world's least developed. Significant reef degradation has occurred in 93 countries.
Although coral reefs comprise less than 0.5 per cent of the ocean floor, it is estimated that more than 90 per cent of marine species are directly or indirectly dependent on them. Nearly 60 per cent of the world's remaining reefs are at significant risk of being lost in the next three decades.
Populations of commercially attractive large fish, such as tuna, cod, swordfish and marlin have declined by as much as 90 per cent in the past century.
Each year, illegal longline fishing, which involves lines up to 80 miles long, with thousands of baited hooks, kills over 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses.

Below are pictures I took from the TV program. The first shows the mid-Atlantic ridge.

Scientists study the mid-Atlantic ridge in Iceland, where it splits through the country. Below are a couple of examples of geysers that follow the ridge.

If the water was drained from the oceans, the mid-Atlantic ridge would be a long line of lava flow.

The ridge is not just linear, it is actually quite complex.

Along the ridge there are lots of black smokers. These hydrothermal vents are fissures in the planet's surface from which geothermally heated water flows upward. Hydrothermal vents are commonly found near where tectonic plates are moving apart, such as the mid-Atlantic ridge. The first picture shows a black smoker. The next two pictures show what they would look like if the oceans were drained.

Although scientists are still surprised how the areas around black smokers are choked with life, they have learned that the rich minerals coming from these vents chemically support the life.

Miscellaneous Snowshoe and Grand Marais Photos

2012-01-10T07:58:00.000-05:00

Today I'll post a variety of pictures taken during the past couple of days. Yesterday I snowshoed in the school forest again. First a couple of pictures taken on the North Country trail.

When I arrived to the shore, I captured a picture of this big freighter that was steaming by.

There are two Lake Superior beaches that I like to go to that you access through the school forest. The other day on my snowshoe I went to the east most beach, which I call Pathway. My plan was to walk west on the beach to access Gobel, and head back down the road to the car. The two beaches are around a half mile apart. I never saw access to the second beach. So yesterday I snowshoed the road to Gobel Beach to see why I missed it. Now I know why. The fall storms eroded the bluff back to 70 foot escarpment like cliffs. There is no longer any way to access the shoreline from Gobel Beach. The pictures below were taken from the top of the bluff.

I drove through Woodland Park in town to see what the shoreline looks like. As you can see, there is no snow.

A couple of days ago friends and I snowshoed the Masse Homestead trail up into the dunes.

We had a few more snowmobiles in town over the weekend, but not as many as we have seen in the past.

Full Moon Snowshoe in the Grand Sable Dunes

2012-01-09T16:38:00.000-05:00

Wow. We had a blast! Last night four of my friends and I decided to go for a full moon snowshoe in the dunes. There is so little snow that we were able to drive to Sable Falls. We then headed on foot west down the trail, over the foot bridge, and into the dunes. We had seen the moon earlier, but as we entered the dunes there were a lot of clouds. Then, all of a sudden the clouds passed by.

The previous shot I took from the top of a dune. The photo below shows the result of getting down the frozen dune the safest way. Notice the full moon in the background.

The picture below I took of one of my friends who was standing on the top of a dune.

I decided to play with my new version of Photoshop. I combined the full frame moon shot with the previous picture.

Thanks to Dianna, Renee, Wendy, and Kim for a good time.

How to Identify a Meteorite

2012-01-08T07:57:00.000-05:00

On one of my trips down state while visiting my friend, Steve, in Mount Pleasant, he had a gathering with some of his friends. I ended up showing my "wowser" rocks to Matt and Helen Williams. Matt is a science teacher and wanted to see the rocks. The next day we received a call from the Wiliams. They wanted to meet with me to show me a rock.

The story about the rock is that several decades ago Helen's grandfather heard a loud noise outside his farm house. When he went out into his yard, there was a newly formed crater around ten feet deep with a small mound at the center. Steam or smoke was coming out of that mound. They decided to dig in that mound where the found the rock pictured below. The first shows shows Matt and Helen along with their daughter, Katey, and an exchange student staying with the family, Xlaashi Guo.

Here are some close ups of the rock.

Helen explained that the grandfather never had the rock examined because he was afraid that it would be taken away. They asked me to verify that it is a meteorite. I am an agate person and am not familiar with the details of meteorite identification. So yesterday I decided to do some Internet research. The best web page I found is: http://www.aerolite.org/found-a-meteorite.htm. In fact, from this web page there is an option to pay $10 to have them examine photographs of suspect rocks. Some of the facts they listed to help identify whether a rock is a meteorite are:

WHAT IS A METEORITE?A meteorite is a piece of iron, stone, or stony-iron composite that has fallen to Earth from outer space. Most meteorites originated within the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, and were once part of a planet or large asteroid. A few meteorites come from the Moon and Mars, and a few others may possibly be fragments of cometary material.

Meteorites are valuable both to science and the collecting community. Identification and classification of a new meteorite is a fairly complicated process that can only be handled by a very small number of specialists.

SOME BASIC FACTS

Meteorites are attracted to magnets
Meteorites contain a great deal of extraterrestrial iron, even the ones that look like terrestrial rocks (stony meteorites). Just like a common nail or ball bearing, they will easily stick to a magnet.. Test your find with a good hardware store magnet, or a rare earth magnet .An extremely small percentage of meteorites (far less than one in a thousand) do not show strong attraction to a magnet. They are so rare that we usually discount anything that will not adhere to a magnet. Those meteorites look similar to volcanic rocks from Earth, and are not metallic in appearance.

Meteorites are heavy
Most meteorites are much denser than ordinary Earth rocks. The thing most people say when they hold a meteorite for the first time is, "Wow! It's so heavy!" The unusual weight is due to high iron content. Even stone meteorites will feel heavier in the hand than most Earth rocks.

Meteorites are not radioactive
Meteorites likely traveled in space for millions of years before visiting us here on Earth. They were bathed in cosmic rays, but are not dangerous or radioactive. Some meteorites, such as Canyon Diablo from Arizona, contain micro diamonds but those gems are nearly invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen after cutting a specimen. Meteorites do not contain emeralds, gold (except possibly as a trace element), fossilized aliens, or common earth minerals such as quartz. If your rock looks just like other earth rocks, it probably is one. Meteorites look and feel different from the ordinary rocks around them.

Fusion crust

Recently fallen meteorites will exhibit fusion crust. This is a thin black rind, sometimes shiny, sometimes matte black, which is acquired during burning in the atmosphere. A freshly fallen stone meteorite will look much like a charcoal briquette. Even stone meteorites that have been on the Earth for a long time usually retain some fusion crust and almost always appear much darker than ordinary rocks.

Surface features
Meteorites, especially irons, often acquire "regmaglypts" (thumbprints) caused when their surface melts during flight. Stone meteorites sometimes display regmaglypts too, but they are not as well defined as in irons. Meteorites, particularly irons, may also show angular features such as points and ridges, and also flow lines which are caused by melting. Many of the suspected meteor-wrongs we receive are common terrestrial volcanic rocks. Volcanic rocks (along with other types) often contain small, deep holes, as if they had been repeatedly punctured with a needle. These holes are called vesicles and are caused by gas escaping when lava cools. Meteorites do not contain vesicles. Below is a picture from the ID website that shows a rock that is not a meteorite.

NOT A METEORITE

This is a heavy rock which looks metallic but note the small holes caused by escaping gas. Meteorites do not have vesicles

Metallic flakes
Nearly all stone meteorites contain small, bright metallic flakes. These are tiny pieces of extra-terrestrial iron and nickel. You can usually see them after slicing off a small piece, or removing a corner with a bench grinder. Please note! We recommend that you do not cut up your suspected meteorite, or otherwise damage its appearance. A meteorite with a beautiful or interesting shape will be worth less to collectors if its end has been hacked off. Ask a meteorite professional or accredited lab to do your cutting and testing.

Chondrules
Small, colorful, grain-like spheres which occur in most stone meteorites, hence the name of these stone meteorites — chondrites. Chondrites are the most common type of meteorite. Chondrules

Rust or patina
Meteorites which have been on the Earth for a long time will likely start to rust, or — in dry desert environments — acquire a "patina" caused by oxidation. The natural patina of irons is often yellow/ochre, red, or orange.

Temperature of recently fallen meteorite

Despite what we see in Hollywood action movies meteorites are not burning, or even hot when they land upon the Earth. The glowing fireballs we see in the night sky are caused by atmospheric pressure and friction. Meteors stop ablating (burning) approximately seven miles above our planet's surface, then fall in what is known as "dark flight," according to the normal pull of gravity. It is very cold at an altitude of seven miles, so meteorites cool quickly as they plummet towards the Earth. There has never been a documented case of a burning, or even hot, meteorite landing upon the Earth.

So despite the compelling story told by the Williams family, I am not sure if this is a meteorite. The last paragraph above suggests that meteorites are not hot when they land. If this is true, then there would not have been steam coming from the bottom of the crater. The web page also says that meteorites never have vesicle hole openings. You can see from the pictures of the Williams family specimen that it does have vesicles. But who knows -- maybe this specimen is an unusual rocky meteorite. It does have some of the "thumbprint" depressions on the surface and does have the orange/red color. We tried a magnet which didn't seem to stick to the rock, but we didn't use a high quality magnet sot his test was not conclusive. Through my friend, Steve, I sent a link to the meteorite ID website and suggested that they send photos of the specimen in for examination by experts.

I would like to thank the Williams family for sharing their story. For their sake I hope that the specimen is a meteorite.

Beach Hike and Breakwall Photos

2012-01-07T08:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday it did not feel like winter. Temperatures were in the 40s so some of the very little bit of snow we have melted. Before exercising, I decided to go out to the end of Coast Guard Point and see what the break wall and lighthouse look like. Amazing. Most years the channel leading into the harbor would be completely iced in. This year -- no ice at all. Normally there would also be large ice formations on the break wall. This year -- the break wall is coated with ice, but there are no accumulations.

Snowmobiles are few in numbers. You can see it is difficult for them to find snow on which to ride.

No ice in the bay either.

Then I drove out to the School Forest and snowshoed the North Country Trail from the bridge to the shoreline. Once I reached the shore, I decided to walk west with intentions of heading up the bluff at the next access point located around a half mile down shore. It has been a few months since I have been to that access point so I didn't realize that the fall storms must have taken it out. All of the bluffs were vertical and too high to climb, so I kept walking west. First, here are a couple of pictures documenting what the beach looks like. A shot looking west....

A shot looking east....

As I proceeded west, I was amazed at some of the ice formations on driftwood.

The top layer of the dune bluff is frozen, and is collapsing at the bottom.

More ice formations....

Then I reached a section with absolute devastation. The power of Lake Superior is obvious. All of the trees taken out by the fall storms were approximately 70 feet tall and more. They were lined up on the bluff.

More ice...

There were also sections of the bluff that were absolutely vertical. You can see where the top sections crumbled. I knew that I had walked a lot farther west than I wanted. Finally I saw a place that I could possibly diagonally walk up the frozen bluff. At the top there was a ladder placed to allow you to get over the lip of the bluff. Since this location was in the middle of the woods, I figured the home owner would not be there. They were not. At first I wasn't sure exactly where I was, but there were snowmobile tracks. I followed the tracks back to the east and found the way back to my car.

Cross Country Ski and Sable Falls with Ice

2012-01-06T08:24:00.000-05:00

Staff at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore groomed the cross country ski trails. However, the lack of snow resulted in twigs and grass showing through on some of the trail. With temperatures expected in the mid-30s today and next week, if we don't get more snow the trails will not be usable. But it was fun yesterday to be back on the groomed track!

The parking lot for the ski trails are across the street from the Grand Sable Visitor Center. Unfortunately, the center is not open in the winter.

When I skied past Sable Falls, I decided to take my skies off and carefully walk down the icy steps to see what the ice on Sable Falls looks like. This first shot shows the section just above the main part of the falls.

Here is a shot of the main part of the falls.

The entire falls.....

A close up of some of the icicles....

The ice formations in the river are cool, too.

I love the contrast between the vegetation and the snow.

Great Sable Dunes Snowshoe

2012-01-05T07:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday it wasn't as cold with temperatures in the 20s and some sun in between the lake effect clouds. I parked at Sable Lake and snowshoed across the dunes to Lake Superior. Then I circled back to the west before returning to Sable Lake.

First a picture of Sable Lake showing the solid ice cover. As I left the parking lot and headed toward the dunes, I could see a very large animal about two miles down shore across the lake. It was too big to be a deer, so I'm guessing it was a moose. Unfortunately it was too far away and too quick for me to use the telephoto lens on my camera to get a better look or a photo.

As I was walking across the dunes, I spotted this flock of around 100 small birds feeding on seeds on the south side of a large dune.

This valley was very moon like.

I liked the contrast in color as well as the sharp ridges of this dune.

The clouds were quite dramatic as I approached the Lake Superior shoreline.

A shot looking east toward Grand Marais.

A close up of Coast Guard Point in Grand Marais.

A shot looking west toward Au Sable Point.

I liked the colors with dune grass, sand, and snow.

A long distance shot of the breakwall and lighthouse. Notice the waves splashing on the right side of the picture.

The sun was shining off the icy snow.

There were patches of sun throughout the area.

The banding pattern with layers of sand and snow looks like agate banding.

Logslide Trail and Dunes Snowshoe

2012-01-04T09:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I decided to try to drive west of town down H58 to the Log Slide/Masse Homestead trail head. Snowmobiles have packed down the snow so although it was a bit of a challenge, I was able to drive it without getting stuck. I walked down the trail around a half mile, headed up into the dunes, walked the ridges on the south side of the dunes, and back to the car. In the woods the snow is a bit deeper: around 8-12 inches deep depending on where you are. I was glad I had my snowshoes on.

First a picture looking southwest as I was snowshoeing down the trail.

More shots taken on the trail...

Now some dunes photos....

And a couple of Sable Lake that I took as I drove back. Notice that the entire lake is now covered with ice. Winter is definitely here.

Winter Blizzard in Grand Marais

2012-01-03T18:32:00.000-05:00

This is the first time today I have had to post a blog update. I had an early morning appointment at the museum, then I went snowshoeing for my daily exercise. Finally I completed and mailed some paperwork -- not one of my favorite tasks.

The winter blizzard is finally over. Winds continued to pound our town all weekend as well into the night. I did go cross country skiing yesterday, although it was quite an adventure with 40 mph winds whipping up the new snow. I skied all the national park trails, which have not yet been groomed due to the low snow totals. There were sections of trail with fairly deep snow, but all in all they were in fairly good shape.

As I pulled out of my garage, I snapped a couple pictures showing the near white out conditions in front of my house.

In the woods there were protected areas out of the wind.

On trail A there is a snow depth gauge. The official amount on the ground is 6 inches.

This is the area in which the depth gauge is located.

The northwest sides of the trees were all snow covered from the big blow.

I love the white birches on the back side of Trail D.

I checked the web to get data regarding the current water temperatures off the coast of Grand Marais. The last available measurements were taken on December 20th. Close to shore the lake's temperatures are in the low 40s. Off shore the temperatures in the deeper water are in the 30s.

Snowshoe Around My Property

2012-01-02T08:39:00.000-05:00

The first blizzard of the season developed in the Grand Marais area yesterday. It was supposed to be a winter storm warning, but as the day progressed the intensity of the lake effect increased. As I look out the window at first light this morning, it is difficult to tell how much snow we received. Winds are sustained at 25 mph, but gusting near 50 mph. At times the snow travels horizontally past my window. In the open mowed area in front of my house the snow is blowing and drifting. I think we received around eight inches of snow last night with another half foot expected today.

Late yesterday afternoon I decided to snowshoe the path around my property. My hope was to humanly groom the path for cross country skiing. As I look outside this morning, I cannot even see my tracks from last night. I'll have to repeat the process once the blizzard is over.

First, the picture of earth from the Dish satellite on the first day of 2012. Much of the southwest part of North America is visible, as well as more of South America in the lower right portion of the earth.

Here is the view out my front window -- before the blizzard began.

The intermittent snow we have received this season slides off the metal roof on my house.

Some of you who have followed my blog and web page (www.agatelady.com) have seen the snow piled up to the roof line on the south side of my house. Here is a beginning winter shot with the snow just starting to pile up.

One of the many apply trees on my property.

Some of the apples are still hanging on the trees.

Notice the deer trail down my path.

When we receive lake effect snow, it comes and goes. During my snowshoe south on the path it snowed for a few minutes, and then stopped again.

Evergreens evolved to at first bend with the collected snow until the wind blows it off.

At the end of my snowshoe, the snow began to intensify again.

When I was down state for Christmas, I was pleased to find out that my son, Jonathan, has turned into an artist. He is now making these Zen Sand Gardens. I will soon have some available for sale. At that time I will post more information. Here are a couple of photos showing the one he made for me for Christmas.

Here are the agate windows I made custom for my son, Jonathan.

2012-01-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone. Yesterday I took most of the day off and just relaxed. While surfing channels on my newly acquired satellite TV, I ended up watching an episode of Human Planet (Discovery Channel) about people who live at high altitudes. One of the groups featured is the sulphur miners from Indonesia. These brave and somewhat crazy people are certainly a rare breed of "rockhounds."

They mine inside an active volcano: the Ijen volcano complex in East Java. The largest of a series of calderas is about 12 miles wide (20 km), which has a one-kilometer-wide turquoise-colored acid crater lake. The lake is the site of a labor-intensive sulfur mining operation, in which sulfur-laden baskets are carried by hand from the crater floor. Many other post-caldera cones and craters are located within the caldera or along its rim. The active crater at Kawah Ijen has an equivalent radius of 361 metres (1,184 ft), a surface of 0.41 square kilometres (0.16 sq mi). It is 200 metres (660 ft) deep and has a volume of 36 cubic hectometres (29,000 acre·ft). The pH of the water in the crater was measured to be 0.5 due to sulfuric acid.

Below is a 1937 Dutch map of the caldera complex. This and the next two images were taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijen.

An active vent at the edge of the lake is a source of elemental sulfur, and supports the mining operation. Escaping volcanic gasses are channeled through a network of ceramic pipes, resulting in condensation of molten sulfur. The sulfur, which is deep red in color when molten, pours slowly from the ends of these pipes and pools on the ground, turning bright yellow as it cools. The miners break the cooled material into large pieces and carry it away in baskets. Miners carry loads, which range from 75 kilograms (170 lb) to 90 kilograms (200 lb), up 300 metres (980 ft) to the crater rim, with a gradient of 45 to 60 degrees and then 5 kilometers (3 miles) down the mountain for weighing. Most miners make this journey twice a day. A nearby sugar refinery pays the miners by the weight of sulfur transported. As of September 2010, the typical daily earnings were equivalent to approximately $13. The miners often use insufficient protection while working around the volcano and complain of numerous respiratory afflictions. There are 200 miners which extract 14 tons per day.

Here are some photos I took from my TV screen.

My favorite new channel is Dish Earth. One of the Dish satellites is parked in an orbit 22,000 miles (35,505 km) above the earth. The average distance the moon is from earth is 238,857 miles (384,403 km), so the satellite is located around 9 percent of the distance to the moon! The live-feed camera on the satellite shows the cloud-covered earth. In yesterday's image you can clearly see the southwestern part of North America, including the Baja peninsula in Mexico. As usual this time of year, we have clouds over the upper Midwest.

North Country Trail Hike and Ski

2011-12-31T09:23:00.000-05:00

During the past two days I have exercised in the Burt Township School Forest. Two days ago I hiked -- with no snowshoes or skies -- from the bridge in the school to the Lake Superior shoreline. I noticed that although there is not much snow, there is enough to cross country ski (barely). So yesterday I skied from the bridge in the school forest west down the road to the end of what is left of Lonesome Point. Thousands of feet, probably more, have eroded from this point over the last couple of decades.

There are many ecosystems in the school forest, but I especially like these red pine stands.

Since we have received very little snow, the icebergs are no longer forming. Friction from the waves has melted what ice tried to form. In fact, you can still hunt for agates because of the lack of ice. That could change this weekend. There is a winter storm watch here in Alger County. Other counties to the west have a blizzard warning.

This photo documents the first time I have had skies on my feet this year. It felt good to be out skiing again, even though the conditions were barely tolerable.

Ice is trying to form on the Sucker River.

There sure is not very much snow for this time of year. I hear that we are down a couple of feet of snow compared to what is expected for this time of year.

At this bend in the Sucker River my kids caught their first brook trout back in the 1980s.

I took this shot from the northeast corner of Grand Marais Bay at what is left of Lonesome Point. I just love it when ice forms on driftwood.

I took this shot looking east down the beach.

This shot was taken looking west down the beach back towards town.

Here is another shot looking across the bay.

One more picture of Sucker River as I skied back to my car.

UofM Natural History Museum -- Post 3

2011-12-30T09:31:00.000-05:00

Today I will post the remaining pictures from the Natural History Museum in Ann Arbor. There will be more photos than usual to complete these pictures so I can get back to sharing the evolving winter scenes in Grand Marais.

Some of my favorite birds include owls. The museum has an extensive display of birds, as well as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and others. Here are two of the many owls that are featured.

One of the new displays features the state symbols for the state of Michigan. Many of these have been declared since I was in school, so they were new to me.

The first state symbol was declared in 1897 -- Apple Blossom. I have lots of apple trees on my property, so I am happy with this state symbol.

The state bird was declared in 1931 -- American Robin.

In 1990 Kalkaska Sand was declared to be the state soil.

In 1955 the White Pine was declared to be the state tree. Before the logging era, the forests around Grand Marais were dominated by white pine.

In 1997 the White-tailed Deer was declared to be the state mammal.

The painted turtle is the state's reptile (as of 1995).

In 1998 the state declared the now threatened dwarf lake iris as the state wildflower.

In 1988 the brook trout was declared to be the state fish.

In 1965 the Petoskey Stone was declared to be the state stone.

The Isle Royal Greenstone was declared to be the state gem in 1973.

In 2002 the American mastodon was declared to be the state fossil.

On the fourth floor near the planetarium there are numerous mineral displays.

There is a display explaining selenite, which is the type of mineral that the giant crystals in Mexico are made of.

Here is a picture of the Mexican selenite crystals. Notice the man on the left side of the pictures. These are the largest crystals ever found on earth.

The Naica Mine of Chihuahua, Mexico, is a working mine that is known for its extraordinary crystals. Naica is a lead, zinc and silver mine in which large voids have been found, containing crystals of selenite (gypsum) as large as 4 feet in diameter and 50 feet long. The chamber holding these crystals is known as the Crystal Cave of Giants, and is approximately 1000 feet down in the limestone host rock of the mine.

The crystals were formed by hydrothermal fluids emanating from the magma chambers below. The cavern was discovered while the miners were drilling through the Naica fault, which they were worried would flood the mine. The Cave of Swords is another chamber in the Naica Mine, containing similar large crystals.

The Naica mine, which includes several caves, was first discovered by early prospectors in 1794 south of Chihuahua City. They struck a vein of silver at the base of a range of hills called Naica by the Tarahumara Indians. From that discovery, until around 1900, the primary interest was silver and gold. Around 1900 large-scale mining began as zinc and lead became more valuable.

In April 2000, brothers Juan and Pedro Sanchez were drilling a new tunnel when they made a truly spectacular discovery. While Naica miners are accustomed to finding crystals, Juan and Pedro were absolutely amazed by the cavern that they found. The brothers immediately informed the engineer in charge, Roberto Gonzalez. Ing. Gonzalez realized that they had discovered a natural treasure and quickly rerouted the tunnel.

At the museum, there was this cool picture of another cave. The picture is promoting a future program that will be featured at the museum about the planet earth.

UofM Natural History Museum -- Post 2

2011-12-29T08:36:00.000-05:00

I arrived back home yesterday from my last trip of the year. Other than going to the Tucson Show, I'll be home for the winter. This is a good thing since I have a lot of work to get done this winter!

Today I will post the second set of photos taken at the Natural History Museum in Ann Arbor.

The pictures below were taken on the second floor.

Here is a shot of Jonathan and Jessica standing next to a Tyrannosaurus Rex leg bone.

University of Michigan Natural History Museum -- Post 1

2011-12-28T08:05:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I went to the UofM Natural History Museum with my son and daughter-in-law. As many of you know, I went to college at UofM and also worked in Ann Arbor for 20 years. When my kids were little, we used to go to the museum a lot. Jonathan had not been there since he was small and Jessica had never been there. My main purpose for going was to see a show at the revamped planetarium, which now has digital equipment.

Today's pictures will include images from the displays that depict what life on earth looked like through the ages. First a few shots I took as we walked into the museum.

Jonathan and Jessica standing out front....

We have always called the facility "the museum with the lions out front."

Here is a shot of the dome inside the front lobby.

There were two Permian displays: one marine and one terrestrial.

The tall marine organisms almost look like saguaro cactus.

Unusual Zebroid and Hardwood Forest Hike

2011-12-27T08:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went with my son and his wife, to Jessica's dad's house. On our drive over there, Jonathan told me that we would be passing a farm that had an usual hybrid. Although it rarely occurs in the wild, there are cases where zebras in captivity mate with various types of equines including horses and donkeys. However, Charles Darwin in his journeys did observe zebroids in the wild. For the most part, though, zebroids did not exist until human's breeding intervention in the 1800s.

Here are a few shots of the zebroid we saw.

Common wisdom states that hybrids only occur when the zebra is the sire, but there are a few known cases where the opposite is true. Two known zebra hinnies have been foaled, but did not survive to adulthood. Genetics determines whether a hybrid is possible. Donkeys and wild equids have different numbers of chromosomes. A donkey has 62 chromosomes; the zebra has between 32 and 46 (depending on species). In spite of this difference, viable hybrids are possible, provided the gene combination in the hybrid allows for embryonic development to birth. A hybrid has a number of chromosomes somewhere in between the two adult equines. The chromosome difference makes female hybrids poorly fertile and male hybrids generally sterile.

Zebroids physically resemble their nonzebra parent, but are striped like a zebra. The stripes generally do not cover the whole body, and might be confined to the legs or spread onto parts of the body or neck. As you can see in the photos above, the zebroid we saw had stripes on its legs.

Zebroids are preferred over zebra for practical uses, such as riding, because the zebra has a different body shape from a horse or donkey, and consequently it is difficult to ride. Another issue is that a zebroid is usually more inclined to be temperamental than a purebred horse and can be hard to handle. Zebras, being wild animals, and not domesticated like horses and donkeys, pass on their wild animal traits to their offspring, including zebroids.

In the same field as the zebroid, there were quite a few cows. When we stopped to take a picture, the cows came running.

It was such a nice day yesterday in southern Michigan. As you can see below, it was right around 40 degrees.

Here is a shot of Jonathan, Jessica, Sandy, and Jerry on our hike.

Jonathan helped to clear some of the downed trees from the path.

As the sun was going down, we headed back in to have dinner.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-26T09:46:00.000-05:00

Due to the holidays, I did not get a chance to go out hiking or snowshoeing. But here are a few holiday photos.

I hope that everyone is having a great holiday.

Merry Christmas to All

2011-12-25T10:39:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all. On Friday in Grand Marais we woke up to five or six inches of snow. Here is a shot of M77 showing the snow and icy roads.

My friend, Marsha, made these incredible holiday treats. These mice were made by dipping cherries in melted chocolate, attaching Hershey's kisses as well as a couple of almond slivers for ears.

Marsha's ten foot tall Christmas tree.

One of her bubble lights.....

A couple of her stuff animal scenes......

One of my lamps Marsha ordered and that I made several years ago. Her cat, Amber, likes to sleep under the lamp.

And a couple shots of the Christmas train that circles the tree.

Sable Area Hike

2011-12-24T13:22:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas eve to all. I hope that everyone has a joyous holiday.

Today's update will include the remainder of the previously unposted pictures taken during two hikes in the Sable Lake area from the past few days.

The first few were taken during my drive back to town from the Log Slide. Ice is starting to form on the three-mile long lake.

Then the next day I hiked from Sable Lake across the Grand Sable Dunes to the Lake Superior shoreline, and back. Given the paths I took, the total hike was around three miles. As I started, I noticed the color coming from the clear area south of town shining on the ice of Sable Lake. In the Grand Marais area we often have lake effect clouds this time of year.

Then I hiked into the dunes. Notice the hikers in front of me.

Most of the snow in the dunes has melted. Don't let the sand color fool you, though, all of the sand is frozen, requiring crampons or snowshoes to get a grip.

I love the ridges that form in the sand from freezing, thawing, and wind.

On the sides of some of the dunes there was still a bit of snow.

With the wind from the south, the waves on the "Big Lake" were not very high.

Au Sable Lighthouse Hike -- Post 2

2011-12-23T08:10:00.000-05:00

Here are the rest of the photos from my hike/snowshoe the other day. First, a couple of shots of the beach as I was nearing the lighthouse.

As I approached the lighthouse, I looked back to the southeast to get this shot of the Grand Sable Dunes.

Then, as I walked up the lighthouse the clouds cleared and the sun came out!

Another shot showing the Grand Sable Banks in the background.

A close up of the Fresno lens.....

I just love all the boulders on the beach!

Au Sable Lighthouse Trail Hike -- Post 1

2011-12-22T09:12:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago I was able to drive to the logslide parking lot, located around seven miles west of Grand Marais in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Normally, there would be too much snow this time of year to make that drive. I decided to take advantage of it to gain access to the lighthouse hiking trail.

A little way down the trail I was able to get the following shot of Au Sable lighthouse, which was my destination.

Then I pointed the camera to the east to get the following shot of the Grand Sable banks.

Around half way down the trail, after descending down "the hill that never ends," I spotted this carin piled on one of the bridges. The rocks on the bottom are Jacobesville sandstone, with a granite on top.

As I was getting closer to the lighthouse, I noticed this freighter going by. It probably won't be too much longer before they will close the locks at Sault Saint Marie.

The last stretch of the trail takes you along the beach.

North Country Trail Hike

2011-12-21T07:10:00.000-05:00

I am keeping the exercise routine going and hiked the North Country Trail in the school forest. We still have not received more snow, so depending on where you are in town there is 2-4 inches on the ground. I started the hike at the bridge in the school forest and walked the trail to the Lake Superior shoreline, and then walked the road back.

As you can see below, the Sucker River is starting to freeze over.

The North Country Trail through the school forest takes you along a series of ridges on old dune formations.

Once I arrived at the shoreline, I was greeted with 8-10 foot waves. Because of the high waves as of late, no ice has built up on the shoreline.

While I was taking the shoreline photos, all of a sudden it started to sleet. I must admit that those little ice pellets hurt when they hit my face!

And then I headed back to the car....

Sugarloaf Mountain Hike in Marquette, MI

2011-12-20T05:53:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I headed back to Marquette to attend a Christmas party at my friend's house. On Sunday, we decided to hike up Sugarloaf Mountain, located northwest of Marquette. The Sugarloaf Mountain Natural Area consists of a 3,200 foot trail of pathway and stairway segments that lead to the mountain's summit 470 feet above Lake Superior. There are platforms on the mountain's summit which provide a spectacular view of the rugged coastline and surrounding forest lands.

It was quite icy, but with the lack of snow in the area we were able to see how to maneuver around most of the ice.

There are two paths to the top. The more difficult path climbs up the west side of the rock summit, following a creek that was frozen, as well as some boulders.

The frozen creek seemed to ooze down the hill.

The views from the top are terrific. The shot below is looking east towards Presque Isle.

Here is a close up of some of the rocky beaches located below Sugarloaf.

The shot below is looking west towards Big Bay.

There is a monument at the top built by one of the first boy scout troops in Michigan, honoring one of the troop leaders that was killed in World War I. Troop members carried the rocks up the mountain from the beach.

Another view looking west....

The second trail has more stairs that head down and around rock outcroppings. Ice formations dotted the rocks.

Sugarloaf Mountain is 6-7 miles north of downtown Marquette on CR 550. Get there by taking Front to Washington, turn west and go to Fourth Ave. Turn north onto Fourth, which becomes Presque Isle Ave. At Hawley turn west. It turns into CR 550. Look for sign by parking lot. The park is free. The summit is not handicap accessible.

Seney National Wildlife Refuge Snowshoe

2011-12-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

There was not much snow in the Seney Refuge, but the icy conditions made it safer to snowshoe rather than hike. I was on my way to Marquette to visit with friends and decided to snowshoe on the way. It was a gorgeous sunny day -- which is something we do not get much this time of year.

Created in 1935 by President Franklin Roosevelt, the wildlife refuge was carved out of the Manistique swamp by the Civilian Conservation Corp. Originally the park was created to protect migratory birds. The CCC workers built a series of dikes, water control structures, ditches, and roads to control the 7,000 acres of water in 26 pools. Throughout the 96,000 acreas there are areas managed not just for the wildlife, but also for hunting, cross country skiing, fishing, wildlife viewing, and research. Since there was not enough snow yet to groom for cross country skiing, I snowshoed the ski trails.

Winter Dunes Hike in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore -- Post 2

2011-12-18T19:04:00.000-05:00

In today's blog update, I will include the second half of the photos I took during my first snowshoe of the season. It was an incredibly grueling snowshoe with lots of up and down icy slopes in the dunes.

Once into the dunes, I snowshoed in a diagonal to the northeast. When I was about half way across the dunes, I headed due east before finding a deer trail on the east side of a finger-shaped forest that intrudes into the dunes. The photo below shows a picturesque valley dotted with juniper bushes.

This shot I took looking to the northeast. Notice the ridge that narrows past the dune grass. It is not easy to snowshoe across these skinny ridges.

The next photo was taken as I faced southwest. In the background, notice the Munising Moraine that runs from the left side of the picture to the center. Originally, geologists thought that this east-west running mound was a terminal moraine formed when till (stones, earth, and other debris) piled in front of a glacial sheet of ice after the glacier retreated north from the Grand Marais area around 11,000 years ago. Research during the 1980s, however, determined that instead the fifteen mile long geologic structure formed when the glacier stalled in its retreat north. If glaciers stay in the same place for a considerable amount of time, sediments are deposited from the outwash materials that flow off the front of the ice sheet. Sometimes the material spreads evenly over great distances, such as what happened to form the Kingston Plains. Other times the deposits pile up into mounds. Although the Munising "moraine" seems significant in height, it really is not very high relative to the height of the glacier which is thought to have been between one and two miles high.

In the scene below, I liked the combination of ghost forest stump, juniper bush, white birches, and dusting of snow.

Below are a couple more pictures of the early winter dunes.

From the top of a high dune, I took this long distance shot of the Au Sable lighthouse. There was a snow squall coming off the lake into the dunes as I took this picture.

Snow covered evergreen branches.....

When I arrived back to my car, I was exhausted. Even so -- it was a great first snowshoe! The final picture below I took as I drove past Sable Lake. Notice how there is more ice forming off shore.

Winter Dune Hike in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore--Post 1

2011-12-17T07:59:00.000-05:00

After three days of rain it sure was nice to get out into a winter environment. We received around three inches of blowing snow. In places the drifts were a bit higher. Plus the slushy snow from previous snows froze under the new snow, so it was necessary to wear snowshoes to help with firm footing. It may be the last time of the year that I could drive to the pull out at the beginning of the Masse Homestead Trail, located half way between Sable Lake and the Log Slide in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It was my first time of the year for me to wear snowshoes. Yea!

I walked around a third of the way down the trail and then headed up a path into the dunes.

As I walked west, I enjoyed the snow on the ground and on top of the small evergreen trees.

Then I turned around and noticed that the northwest sides of the trees were all coated with snow.

A shelf fungi community with puffs of snow....

I just love evergreens that are coated with snow.

During the winter you can easily see the dunal formations through the trees.

Although the sky was gray and there were occasional snow squalls, it was fun to get into the winter dunes.

Microscoope Agate Photos

2011-12-16T07:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday it was raining yet again for most of the day, so I didn't go out hiking. I would rather it be 10 below zero. It is just not fun to hike in the rain when temperatures are in the mid-30s with a strong wind. Things changed last night, however, This morning there is a few new inches of snow with temperatures around 20.

So to execute a blog update I decided to play with my microscope. I was working on a custom order for six agate windows, so I selected some of the Brazilian agates I was using.

Nice banding with one section that includes white inclusions.

This agate has various sizes of red spheroids, most likely iron oxide.

This agate when it was forming changed from fortification concentric banding to water level banding.

The center fill of this agate has some lacy bands as well as macro quartz.

This agate has some moss agate as well as macro quartz bands.

Is this an agate or a close up of Jupiter?

Nice banding.

I increased the magnification on the microscope to get this picture of the druzy quartz in the middle section of this geode agate.

Nice banding with some mineral inclusions....

This extreme close up shows inclusions next to the outside husk.

When I increased the magnification, I captured this iris coloration in one section of the agate.

This cross section shows a stalactite within the agate.

Wedding in East Lansing with Reception at Spartan Stadium

2011-12-15T07:18:00.000-05:00

My niece, Lauren, was married last Saturday in East Lansing, MI. Her and her new husband, Matt, both attended Michigan State. It was a long drive for a wedding, but I am glad I could be part of it. Below are some pictures of the event.

The ceremony was held at the Alumni Memorial Chapel.

The reception was held at the Spartan Club, located on the fourth floor of the tower located above the football field.

My niece's wedding day took place during the full moon.

Hartwick Pines Hike

2011-12-14T06:52:00.000-05:00

On my way home from down state I decided to stop and take a hike at Hartwick Pines State Park. When my kids were little, we stopped there often -- but it has been a long time. This state park has the largest contiguous stand of old-growth white pine in the Lower Peninsula. These 49 acres are representative of what Michigan forests looked like before European settlement of the Great Lakes region. The Hanson Logging Company ceased harvesting operations in this area in 1893. Most of the rest of the park was logged over and now is a northern hardwood ecosystem made up of mostly beech and maples.

Here are a few pictures of the old growth forest. These trees are between 300 and 400 years old. The size of the trees and the space between them indicate that this is an old growth forest. Similar forests can be found in Tahquamenon and Porcupine Mountain state parks.

Along the old growth forest trail there is a chapel.

Here is a picture of the mixed hardwood section of the park.

Within the park there is a building that remains from the Civilian Conservation Corp camp that was located here between 1933 and 1942.

At the entrance to the park there is this big wheels on display. There is also a logging museum within the park, which I didn't take time to check out since it probably is not open this time of year.

The other day I included photos of the Lake Michigan shoreline. In just two days, the shore ice built up considerably more.

Mount Pleasant, MI Hike

2011-12-12T08:41:00.000-05:00

While in Mount Pleasant this past weekend, I went on a hike with friends at the Deerfield Nature Park. It was cold and brisk with temperatures in the low 20s and the chill factor in the low teens. We walked along the river and then back the center path.

Here is a shot of Steve and Kathy in front of the covered bridge.

Inside the covered bridge there were these two signs.

Along the river there was this natural spring bubbling up through the pipe.

Ice formation around the natural spring.

There were many ecosystems within the park, including this cool forest.

During the hike we spotted this huge hive. It was at least two feet tall.

Lake Michigan Shoreline in Winter

2011-12-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

Friday I drove down from Grand Marais to Mount Pleasant. The drive was interesting because of the lake effect variations in weather patterns. Grand Marais had lake effect clouds with occasional snow squalls. M77 was icy due to the light amount of snow that blows across the road and freezes. Once I reached Seney (25 miles) and headed south, the roads were clear and sunny. In fact the drive east down US2 was beautiful. There is a lot more ice along the shore of Lake Michigan than there is along the shore of Lake Superior. My guess is that it is because the waves are higher in Lake Superior that do not let the ice accumulate. The series of photos below were taken when I stopped along US2 within 30 miles of the Mackinaw Bridge. Notice the lake effect clouds in the background hanging over the lower peninsula.

This is a close up of some of the ice that has accumulated on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

The next few shots were taken when I was only a few miles from the Mackinaw Bridge. Notice that I am closer to the lake effect clouds.

When it is cold and it snows, the snow accumulates into ice balls that then freeze together to make shore ice.

Finally I reached the bridge.

Once in the lower peninsula, there were rows of the lake effect clouds. I also ran into several snow squalls. The highway was slippery in spots until I was far enough south and inland to be back in the sunny weather.

Which presented a nice sunset once I arrived in Mount Pleasant.

North Country Trail Hike in the School Forest -- Part 2

2011-12-10T09:49:00.000-05:00

Today I'll post the second half of the pictures I took during the hike in the School forest a couple of days ago.

All the pictures below were taken after I reached the shore after walking the three mile trail. Although there were 8-10 foot waves, it was not windy on the bluff.

Notice the snow squall out over the lake in the center of the picture.

There was a lone log out in the surf zone. Below are a couple of close ups of the ice on the log, and then more pictures as I pulled back on the zoom.

I was wondering what the flat sandy like things were on the beach. They are iceberg embryos. It won't be long before the shore is completely iced in.

North Country Trail Hike in the School Forest--Part 1

2011-12-09T07:14:00.000-05:00

I woke yesterday morning to a winter-like scene out my window. Overnight we received around two inches of snow. I decided to hike the North Country Trail through the school forest. I started at the bridge over the Sucker River and walked northeast to the Lake Superior shoreline, and then back the road to me car. I'll post the pictures in two batches.

First, a picture taken out my friend window showing the snow falling in front of apples still clinging to my apple tree.

The first part of the North Country Trail, after leaving the bridge, follows an old logging road.

The trail passes through recently logged over fields.

The trail also follows the Sucker River for around the first mile.

During this transition time, vegetation is still able to show through the snow.

Then the trail heads north and goes up and down a series of dune formations.

The light snow made "puff ball" clumps on some of the trees.

As I hiked farther north, the ecosystem changed to a red pine forest.

Brazil Agate Mining Information

2011-12-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I decided to stay home all day and work on a gift for my niece who is getting married this weekend. It was cold yesterday with temperatures in the upper teens and low 20s. We had an inch or two of snow and are expecting more today.

I have been wanting to research and learn about agate mining in Brazil. Brazil is a major player in the world of rocks and minerals. In fact, Brazil is the world’s fifth largest mineral producer. In addition to agate, Brazil is the world's largest producer (22% of world production) of iron ore. Other minerals from Brazil include: bauxite, gold, manganese, copper, zinc, nickel, tin, coal, and even diamonds. Mining has been one of the top performing sectors of the Brazilian economy. Just for reference, the size of Brazil is slightly smaller than the size of the United States.

Precious and semi precious stones come from all over Brazil, with major production in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Goias, Para, Tocantins, Paraiba and Piaui. Most of the agate mines are in the southern part of the country (Rio Grande de Sul).

Brazil has the most massive deposits of agate in the world. Brazil is also the primary source for quartz crystals and their many varieties: Amethyst, Rose Quartz, Rutilated Quartz, Citrine and Smoky Quartz. Brazil traditionally has been a source for very large Quartz crystals, but changes in mining production have reduced the output. Most of the beautiful purple cathedrals of Amethyst crystals come from Brazil. Other stones from Brazil include Sodalite, Topaz, Tourmaline, Aquamarine, Aventurine and Alexandrite.

Pictures from Brazil, including some of the mining areas are below.

Here is an amethyst cathedral specimen still embedded in matrix.

Here are a couple of large citrine and amethyst towers. The second below is the "specimen" that was at the Tucson show a few years ago.

And then the Brazilian agates. A picture of one of the agate mines is the second below.

Early Winter Scenes

2011-12-07T09:05:00.000-05:00

After a long weekend working my last art show, I REALLY needed a dune hike yesterday. I started at the overlook at Sable Lake, walked a little west down H58, and then picked a random spot to head up the hill, through the woods, and into the dunes.

After walking west from the overlook, I noticed that ice has started to form in the lagoons. It will not be long before the surface layer of Sable Lake is completely frozen.

After walking up the first slope, I hiked this ridge up into the dunes. This by no means is easy hiking. It is quite a work out as you have to bushwhack over, under, and around bushes and trees.

After arriving up into the dunes, I turned around and noticed I could still see Sable Lake. It is difficult to make up in the photo, but it is in the center of the picture.

I did not hike all the way to the Lake Superior shoreline, but instead I just hiked a loop around the south side of the dunes and circled east back toward my car. Here are a series of shots.

Once back to the overlook, I noticed that ice has formed along the shore below the overlook.

Marquette Hike

2011-12-06T09:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my friend, Helen, and I went on a short hike around their property. It is an awesome piece of land located in western Marquette. There is a series of trails. We headed down one towards the creek. We did the same hike a year ago. Then we had to use snowshoes. Yesterday we didn't need them since there was only an inch or two of snow.

It is just a small creek, but it is awesome.

Throughout the hike, but especially towards the end you couldn't help but notice all the storm damage from the series of fall storms that the U.P. received.

Types of Precipitation

2011-12-05T08:37:00.000-05:00

I concluded my show season for 2011 as I packed up the booth in Marquette last night. Thanks to my friend, Jimmy, who found a college student to help me tear down the booth and load everything into my car. Also, thanks to Jimmy and Helen for feeding and housing me while I have been in Marquette.

Over the weekend we have received many types of precipitation here in the northern Upper Peninsula. So since I did not get a chance to take any photographs, today I'll include information about the types of precipitation. Precipitation can fall as either liquid or frozen types. Liquid forms of precipitation include rain and drizzle. Rain or drizzle which freezes on contact within a subfreezing air mass becomes freezing rain or freezing drizzle. Frozen forms of precipitation include primarily snow, sleet, and hail. Precipitation intensity is determined either by rate of fall, or by visibility restriction.

Rain is by far the most common type of precipitation in our atmosphere. Rain takes place when drops of liquid water fall all the way to the surface of the Earth. Rain often takes one of two main forms. These two forms are showers and drizzles. A shower lasts just a brief period of time, and usually are made up of large heavy drops. Drizzles generally last much longer, and are made up of smaller finer droplets of water.

Liquid precipitation in the form of rain develops when air becomes saturated. This can occur in three ways. These methods include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall. Convective precipitation is generally more intense, and of shorter duration than stratiform precipitation.

Convective precipitation occurs when air rises vertically through the self-sustaining mechanism of convection. When moist atmosphere becomes heated more than its surroundings, there can be significant upward motion. Convective rain, or showery precipitation, occurs from convective clouds (cumulonimbus or cumulus). It falls as showers with rapidly changing intensity for a relatively short time, as convective clouds have limited horizontal extent.

Stratiform precipitation occurs when large masses of air rise slant-wise over another mass of air. Stratiform rainfall is caused by frontal systems surrounding lows, which form when warm and often tropical air meets cooler air. Stratiform precipitation falls out of nimbostratus clouds. When masses of air with different moisture and temperature characteristics meet: warmer air overrides colder air. The warmer air is forced to rise and if conditions are right the air becomes saturated causing precipitation. Warm fronts are followed by extended periods of light rain and drizzle, because, after the warm air rises above the cooler air (which sinks to the ground), it gradually cools due to the air's expansion while being lifted, which forms clouds and leads to precipitation. Cold fronts occur when a mass of cooler air dislodges a mass of warm air. This type of transition is sharper, since cold air is more dense than warm air. The rain duration is less, and generally more intense, than that which occurs ahead of warm fronts.

Orographic precipitation is similar, except the upwards motion is forced when a moving airmass encounters a rising slope. This is caused when masses of air are pushed by wind up the side of elevated land formations, such as large mountains. The lift of the air up the side of the mountain is cooled and condenses causing precipitation. In mountainous parts of the world subjected to relatively consistent winds rain usually prevails on the windward side of a mountain than on the leeward (downwind) side. Moisture is removed by orographic lift, leaving drier air on the descending leeward side.

The main type of frozen precipitation is snow. Snow forms when water vapor turns directly into ice without passing through a liquid state. This happens as water condenses around an ice crystal.

Another type of frozen precipitation is sleet. Sleet refers to a mixture of snow and rain, as well as raindrops that freeze on their way down. Unlike snow, the raindrops pass through a liquid form before freezing. The result is that they are not light and fluffy.

Freezing rain takes place when water droplets become super-chilled. They do not freeze in air, but rather freeze the instant they strike an object such as a road, or car. The result can make roads very slippery, and can cause car doors to become frozen shut.

Another type of frozen precipitation is hail. Hail forms in a complex dance between moisture and wind. Deep within cumulonimbus clouds ice crystals form and begin to fall towards the Earth’s surface. As this happens, wind gusts pick up the ice crystals pushing them back up into the clouds. As they begin to again fall down, they continue growing in size. Again, a wind gust might catch the growing hail back up into the cloud. This process may be repeated several more times, until the hail stone becomes so large that it is too heavy for the wind to carry, causing it to fall towards the Earth.

Some precipitation records include:

Rain

Least per year: -0.00 mm (-0.00 in/year), Antofagasta Region, Atacama Desert, Chile
Most in one minute: 31.2 mm (1.23 in); Unionville, Maryland, 4 July 1956.
Most in 60 minutes: 305 mm (12.0 in) in 42 minutes. Holt, Missouri, 22 June 1947
Most in one year: 26,470 mm (1,042 in); Cherrapunji, India, 1860–1861
Highest average annual total: 11,872 mm (467.4 in); Mawsynram, India

Snow

Most in one-year period: 31.1 meters (102 ft); Mount Rainier, Washington, United States, February 19, 1971 to February 18, 1972.
Most in one season: 29.0 meters, (95 ft); Mount Baker, Washington State, United States, 1998 through 1999.
Largest snowflake ever observed: 38 centimeters (15 in) in diameter; Fort Keogh, , United States, 1887-01-28.

Holiday Decorations

2011-12-04T09:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I worked the booth at the TV6 Art Show in the Superior Dome all day, so I didn't get a chance to get outside and take any pictures. My friends have decorated their house for the holidays, so I took a few shots. Some of the photos are perspective pictures to show interesting patterns.

Marquette Superior Dome Art Show

2011-12-03T07:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I drove to Marquette and set up my 15 foot by 10 foot booth. Since the location of my booth is next to the rolled up artificial turf used for the football field, I actually have another five feet in depth. There were no friends available to help me set up for this show so it took a bit longer. I arrived at 1:15 and just finished in time for the 5:00 opening.

Here are shots I took of the Superior Dome from across the water of Lake Superior and as I pulled up in the parking lot. This building is the largest wooden structure east of the Mississippi River. Notice the dusting of snow in the highlands west of Marquette.

Here are some shots of my booth.

And a couple of the show from my corner of the facility. The first one I took right after opening; the second at the end of the 5:00 to 9:00 scheduled Friday hours. On Saturday the hours are 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday the hours are 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Agate Close Ups and More Snow

2011-12-02T07:49:00.000-05:00

Depending on where you were in the Grand Marais yesterday, there was a variation in the amount of snow you received. At my house located two miles south of town, there were 2 inches of the white stuff on the ground. In town along the Lake Superior shoreline, there was no snow.

Here is a shot of my driveway.

I did go hiking in the school forest, but didn't take any photos. So for the rest of today's blog posting I'll include some more agate close ups from my agate book.

The first is a Condor agate from Argentina.

A Mexican crazy lace agate....

An Australian shadow agate....

A Lake Superior agate....

Another Lake Superior agate....

Another Mexican crazy lace agate....

A Lake Superior agate....

Ghost Forest Hike

2011-12-01T07:37:00.000-05:00

In keeping with my attempt to keep the exercise routine, I hiked yesterday in the dunes near the ghost forest. Temperatures were in the low 30s with a moderate wind. It was supposed to be sunny, but in Grand Marais we had lake effect clouds.

The hike started at Sable Lake -- then I walked across the dunes to the lake shore.

If you look close, you can see the Grand Marais break wall in the background.

This is a shot of a blow out sand bowl just south of the Grand Sable bank bluff.

Here is a shot of the bluff.

This time of year with the freezing and thawing, sections of the dunes end up with intricately carved detail.

And then there is the Ghost Forest with remnants of trees that are several thousand years old.

I walked east and followed a deer trail along the forest at the base of the dunes back to the trail that leads to the foot bridge. Here is a shot of white birches along that trail.