Oscar comes to visit

Today we had an unusual sight at Miner's Castle. The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile showed up!

I didn't realize it at first. A man and woman came in wearing shirts with the hot dog logo on them, but I didn't make the connection until I overheard a family outside. The parents were telling their little boy, who was about 4 years old, "Look, there's a car that's shaped like a hot dog!" "Where?" "Right over there, see?" "I don't see a hot dog..."

A few minutes later the man came in and asked if I had a phone he could use - because his vehicle wouldn't start! I saw he had a cell phone and suggested he try walking around the overlook area to see if he could get any service further out, and if he couldn't get through I would use the radio to call out for assistance. While he was out doing that, I talked with another couple who had come in, and told them what was going on. They had jumper cables in their truck so went out to offer to help jump-start the Wienermobile.

As they all walked out to the parking lot, I suddenly realized I needed to get a picture of all this! I didn't want to lock up just for that, but I walked out in front of the visitor center and zoomed in.

For about the past fifteen minutes, I had been hearing a faint shrill noise off in the distance. Some kid playing with an emergency whistle, I thought - it's happened once or twice before. But no. When I went outside, that same little boy was blowing full blast on his brand new Oscar Meyer Weenie Whistle! As she passed him, the woman called out to him to "get it all out before you get in the car! It won't work once you're in the car!" (I suspect it got confiscated before he got in the car...)

Happily, they got the Wienermobile started without having to break out the jumper cables. (Something about starting it in neutral instead of park - I don't know.) Then more people were arriving so I had to go back inside and miss the triumphal exit of the biggest hot dog ever to be seen at the Miner's Castle picnic area!

Another storm at the castle

Yesterday we had some amazing weather. It was amazingly cold, and amazingly windy - which, of course, added to the cold. It was not sunny at all except for a few glimpses of sunshine late in the afternoon. However, it also wasn't raining - it was just cloudy, and freakin' cold out! It was the first time all summer that the visitor center has felt warm inside when I got there in the morning - usually it gets cold during the night and that cold sticks around. This time it was much colder outside than it had been during the night.

Marc and I were both working yesterday. (I've been working solo a lot while he covers at the other visitor centers.) So we had to keep taking turns going outside vs. staying inside hunkered over the space heater behind the counter.

The first time I went out, I mostly stood at the upper overlook and talked with people as they came out. The waves were really big, and kept coming in really hard, crashing against the side of the cliffs. It was very noisy! A spectacular show for those who braved the cold to see it! The wind coming off the lake and up the cliffs was incredibly powerful - I almost lost my hat.

When I went out later I brought my camera with me. I spent a long time at the upper overlook again, talking with visitors and taking my own photos and videos in between. Then I headed down to the lower overlook. If I had to be outside in the cold, I might as well get the full view!

Down there the waves were even louder, with a big boom every so often as one hit the rocks at just the right angle. There were big white-caps as far out on the lake as you could see, and the wind was blowing just as hard as ever. With the waves and the wind, it felt like I was shouting to be heard! People kept on coming to the overlook, so I stayed down there for quite a while.

Maybe for too long, because I never could get warm again after that - even when I was practically sitting on top of the space heater, still wearing both my sweater and my fleece jacket. When I got home I took a nap, and even in the warm house, wearing sweats, under a blanket, I was still cold. I finally felt okay after having hot chicken and rice and a big mug of hot chocolate with coffee in it.

Getting back on again...

Today I finally went on a bike ride! I just rode down Sand Point Road toward the main road and back, but it came out to just over 5.6 miles - not bad considering I've had no practice in ages, and every time I've tried the bike has turned out to need repairs before I've gotten anywhere! (Actually, there was a funny sort of creaking in the wheel - but I'm not going to worry about that at this point...)

It was a beautiful day - not warm, but sunny for most of the afternoon. I took some pictures of the trees around the Miner's Castle visitor center, which are just starting to show a few bits of color around the edges. More "before" to precede an "after" later!

Climbing to the Coves

Today I finally got in another long hike! It seems every time I've wanted to go hiking lately, another storm has come up! There have been a few showers since the last big storm, but nothing to really make the trails difficult.

This time I drove out to the Beaver Basin trailhead and hiked toward the shore from there. The first part of the hike was actually part of a short interpretive trail that leaves from the campground there, but I kept going past that loop. It was interesting how different this was from the Mosquito loop trail I hiked back in July. There was a bit more up-and-down to the terrain here, and there were giant chunks of rock sticking out of the ground and eroding out of hillsides. The sandstone layers were very distinctive. I kept spotting trees that had grown in the strangest of positions – hanging over the edge of the rock, propped up on their roots…

Seeing the Scenes at Seney

Today I drove out to Seney National Wildlife Refuge to check it out. It's a little to the south of Pictured Rocks - just barely showing at the bottom of our park map. I was originally planning to do a longer hike today, but the weather looked better for tomorrow, so I switched my plans for the two days. It was supposed to have scattered showers today, but be sunny tomorrow, and sunny further south today, so it worked out.

To get there I had to drive across the "Seney Stretch" on Highway 28. Apparently this stretch of road is notorious in the U.P. for being 30 miles of perfectly straight road (because it goes through a lot of wetlands and had to be specially built, so they took the most direct route.) It's famous for being the most mind-numbingly boring stretch of road that will test the sanity of those who try to drive along its blank straightness...

...So, my dad's from Kansas.

Thirty miles of highway in a straight line wouldn't even have registered on my consciousness if I hadn't already heard of its infamy. In fact, it felt perfectly natural as I drove along!

There was a lot more fall color in the trees along the road here. I know I wrote a while ago about the colors starting up, but it's mostly still been just bits of color, and maybe a whole tree here and there. This drive took me past huge patches of trees that were all deep, bright reds and oranges. Apparently the colors are further along inland, away from the lake. It's the opposite of what happened at the beginning of the summer, when it stayed cool longer at the coast while it was already getting hot away from the lake. Now the lake is stabilizing the temperatures and keeping it relatively warm compared to the inland areas, and that is affecting what stage of color the trees are ate. It was a real surprise - I've been seeing the colors advancing in the park, but this really jumped things forward!

The first thing I saw when I pulled up to the nature center at Seney National Wildlife Refuge was a big pond stretching out into the distance - and two huge white birds way out on the water. Swans! I knew Seney was mainly wetlands, and had a lot of waterfowl, but swans visible from the parking lot! It was very exciting.

That white dot just above the center is a swan...

Weathering the Storm

We had an incredible storm this week – or last week, I guess. It was on Wednesday, and it’s Monday now – I lose that sense of what day it is when I’m not on a Monday-thru-Friday schedule. I’m usually off Wednesdays, but I had agreed to work an extra day this week so that Marc could cover at one of the other visitor centers.

We had known there was a big weather system moving in. I was warning people all day Tuesday – there is a storm coming, with strong winds and heavy rain. A small craft advisory for the lake, with a gale warning and waves up to 18 feet expected. Chance of rain 100%! You don’t often see a forecast where they have  there is NO room for error – you know they’re serious when you see that!

It had rained during the night, but it was not raining when I got up Wednesday. I was surprised, having expected to be driving to work in a downpour! It was cloudy, and chilly, and windy, but not raining. And it kept holding off; I just kept waiting for it to break loose! I didn’t have very many people come in. There was one pair who was planning to camp at the backcountry campsite about 2 miles down the trail; I warned them a bout the weather. It was just starting to spit a little at this point, around 11:00.

When the rain finally came, it  came hard. This was not just sheets of rain falling,  but bedspreads! Falling hard and heavy. It was very loud on the roof, and the wind had picked up even more. The few brave souls who ventured forth in their raincoats said that the waves hitting the cliffs were spectacular. I could have gone to look for myself when I closed up for lunch, but I didn’t want to lose my umbrella walking out there in that wind! I could hear the roar of the waves from the parking lot, though.

While I was sitting in my car eating lunch, the temperature really started dropping. It had been chilly all day, but now it was cold. I got chilled just sitting there, and didn’t realize it until it was too late. The visitor center isn’t heated, but there is a space heater behind the desk, and I kept it going the rest of the day.

I had a few more visitors come and go. Not too many hikers, but some who came in telling how theyu had decided not to camp or hike, or had missed the boat tour because they were canceled due to the weather. There’s not much to do when it’s raining that hard, but I told them about the paved paths to the overlook, and the one at Munising Falls, and the boardwalk through the marsh…

Late in the afternoon a couple came in who had been hiking – planning to try to backpack despite the weather. They had started at Munising Falls before the rain had really gotten started, and had kept going because the woman had really wanted to make the trip happen. But after slogging through seven miles  of pounding rain – and even sleeet, someone else said later – they were giving up. Even with their rain gear on, they were completely drenched, and water had gotten inside the covers of their packs. It was another two miles to their assigned campsite – climbing down to Miner’s Beach, then up again to the other side – and even if the rain did let up, they had no way to dry off and would be at serious risk for hypothermia.

They hung out in the store for some time – it was warm, at least compared to outside, and it was a relief for them to just not have rain falling on them. She kept trying to call the shuttle company to arrange a pickup – their car was in Grand Marais, and they had been dropped off at Munising Falls with the intention of hiking the length of the park. People do that all the time – but it was just not going to happen this week.

They almost didn’t get the call through – she had to call back once after it was dropped – but they did manage to arrange a pickup, just before the phone died. A very expensive ride across the park.

It was about 20 more minutes before the shuttle arrived, and I was very glad to see that they made it. I know people have sometimes been able to hitch a ride from Miner’s Castle, with other visitors, but there was nobody else around to even ask! If they had been going toward Munising, I would have offered to take them myself, at the end of the day – but this was an hour in the opposite direction. I had become invested in their plight, and I was very glad to see them getting out safely.

The storm was still raging at the end of the day. There never was any thunder or lightning, just wind, rain, and cold.

Around 8 pm the power went out at the house. We’re out at the end of the road, so I was worried they might not get to it for a while – we went around making sure all the windows were shut to conserve the heat. I made some phone calls, talking to family members I’d been wanting to get in touch with.  And it was still only 8:30! I made one more call – to the Hardees in town, to see if it was open. Open until 10 pm, and no mention of a power outage… And I knew they had wifi! So I packed up my laptop and headed into town to ride out the evening where the lights were still lit. (I would have gone even if there wasn’t wifi – I’m always happy with a book, too!)

As I drove to town I saw a truck already working where a tree had fallen on the power line. When I got home around 10:10, my clock said 12:25, so it had only just come back on.

Thursday I was off. I had planned to do a big hike out at Beaver Basin, but after three inches of rain I was not even going to think about it! The weather was still awful, too – not raining, but dark, cold, and the wind was blowing stronger than ever. This was the day I decided to bake the bread and calzones – it was a good day for staying inside.

Friday was lighter out, but still gray, cold, and storm-like winds. Saturday we finally saw the sun again, but it was still cold and windy. Sunday, yesterday, started out sunny but was gradually overtaken by clouds and scattered showers – and what warmth there had been in the morning faded away. The day ended on a bright note, though – the sun peeked through a sprinkling of rain just as I was leaving, and I got just a glimpse of a rainbow!

Actually, yesterday I got a great view of two bald eagles in a tree above Miner's Castle! There's often one to be seen there, but this time we got to see two - and hear them "talking" to each other!

Sorry, gotta post my cooking photos!

Food - Bread and Calzones

It may or may not be evident from some of my previous posts, but I love to cook. I've even been baking my own bread all summer, using the book The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It's a technique that requires no kneading at all - just mix the dough up, let it sit for a while, then come back later, shape a loaf or whatever, and bake it. (There's also a website: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ )

I made a loaf of their Buttermilk Bread yesterday - using yogurt as a substitute for actual buttermilk - and it turned out so good, so perfect, so pretty, that I decided I was going to have to post a photo of it.

It tasted wonderful, too!

But that wasn't all.

Going to town

As if Munising Falls weren't an exciting shift, today I got to work at the Interagency Visitor Center in town! Munising Falls was basically the same as Miner's Castle, with just minor differences in how things are arranged. But the Interagency Center, which has both National Park Service and National Forest Service staff, is a different setup entirely. Even the store is different - it's a different supplier, so I couldn't use the cash registers. Also, this is where everyone has to come to purchase backcountry permits in order to go backpacking in the park - basically reserving your campsite in advance. I couldn't make out the permits, either - but I did help a lot of people to figure out what their options were and make their final decision. I also helped a lot of people with more general questions about the area, while the other rangers at the desk took care of sales and permits. It was pretty slow at times, but when people showed up they kept doing it in bursts, so there would be a rush of activity and several people talking at once - then, empty! It was fun, though - it's a totally different dynamic. And it was fun getting to catch up with some of the people who I've only seen now and then since the beginning of the summer.

Another stroll through the marsh

I always have a hard time making myself actually go out and do anything after work, but I psyched myself up to go right after work and walk the loop at Sand Point Marsh. It's been a couple of months since I was through there, and I wanted to catch things before fall really got started.

If you want to compare these with pictures I took earlier this summer, check out these entries:

http://naturebrenda.blogspot.com/2014/05/first-explorations-of-pictured-rocks.html

http://naturebrenda.blogspot.com/2014/07/this-week-was-pretty-special-because-my.html

http://naturebrenda.blogspot.com/2014/07/sand-point-marsh-trail.html

There's a lot more growing out in the water than there was during that first walk-through in May! 

Shaking things up...

On Friday, and again today, I worked at the Munising Falls visitor center instead of at Miner's Castle. I think they wanted to make sure we all get at least a chance to see what the other visitor centers are like. 

It was pretty quiet, but it's been quiet at Miner's Castle as well. Mostly the conversations were similar, just telling about the waterfall walk instead of the overlook walk. It was nice being just down the street from my house instead of fifteen minutes away!

Whitney is usually the one who works at Munising Falls, and I had to take a picture of the amazing drawing she has done on the dry-erase board. Not everyone would have the patience to get this kind of detail!

Alternate Plan

I've been having more bike trouble! Earlier this summer when I brought my bicycle in to get the seat fixed, I also told them that the front brake had stopped working. They were able to pop it back into place right then, and I guessed that I had somehow pulled it loose when I was getting the bike on and off the bike rack. When I got the bike home I went to ride down the street  a little to see how the new seat felt - and the front brake wasn't working! I managed to get it back on by looking at how the rear brake was attached, and I figured it must have been putting it on the bike rack to bring it back that popped it loose again.

Then on Monday I decided to go for a short ride after work - just up the street to take some pictures of the jewelweed that is blooming all along the road. I rode out over the lawn - a little bumpy - and found that the brake was popped out...

I fixed it and went on riding - and when I got to the jewelweed and tried to stop, the front brake wasn't working! This is a very unpleasant sensation! The rear brake still worked but that doesn't do as much, and it takes longer to stop and it feels like you're out of even more out of control. So I went to pop the brake back in, and as I was looking at the rear one to compare, I noticed that the front  one looked bent. The brake wasn't being held into place like it should. I rode back to the house, very carefully - I'd have to take the bike back into the shop. At least I got some photos of the jewelweed.