Pictured Rocks boat cruise offers memorable viewsBy David V. Graham, Flint Journal, found at Mlive.com
Friday, June 11, 2010
The "Grand Portal" enters Chapel Cave in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake
Superior, just east of Munising. Photo by David V. GrahamMUNISING -- There isn’t a better way to appreciate the beauty of the 200-foot multi-hued cliffs here on Lake Superior than on one of the nearly three-hour cruises offered by Pictured Rocks Boat Cruises.
About 22 members of the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association learned that from personal experience last week during the association’s annual summer conference when they took one of the cruises along the famed rock cliffs in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Our host was John Madigan, one of the owners of the cruise line and a longtime member of the Michigan Natural Resources Commission.
The company has been offering cruises along the coastline east of Munising for 63 years, long before Pictured Rocks became a national lakeshore in 1966.
Of course, park visitors can see the rocky cliffs by hiking or backpacking along the shoreline, but they can’t see those cliffs from just a few yards offshore unless they are willing to risk a ride in a boat or kayak. And hikers can rarely see the cliffs from the bottom of those cliffs — generally their view is limited from the top or from the side.
We cruised along the rocky cliffs, which range from 70 to 200 feet high, east of Munising for nearly three hours, enjoying the colorful sandstone cliffs that make this national lakeshore famous.
The sandstone, which was formed millions of years ago when this area was a shallow, tropical salt-water sea, is stained several different colors -- green, blue, red, black and brown by the different minerals found in the rock. Rain and pounding waves cause the minerals, including iron, calcium and copper, to leach out of the rock and stain the rocks in colorful patterns.
There are also plenty of amazing rock formations along the lakeshore, including caves, ledges, canyons, rock arches and even sculpture-like outcroppings.
At one point, Capt. David Sliter steered our boat into a rocky canyon called Chapel Cave with the bow only a few yards from the end of the end. Rock cliffs on both sides of the boat towered high above us, only a few yards from the sides of the boat. Everyone onboard was cleared awed by the view, including a look at the rocky bottom just a few feet under the bottom of the boat. That little foray into Chapel Cave was only possible because Lake Superior was flat calm at the time.
Sliter said most of the cruises are on fairly calm seas, but a few times a year Superior gets a little agitated. He said about five percent of cruises are canceled or curtailed each year because of weather conditions.
He recalls a trip he took out one August in the early 1990s when a windstorm kicked up out of the lake with small cloud that rapidly enlarged into a huge cloud that went from the surface of the lake to high above.
The cloud soon became dark and ominous, and a big wind kicked up that blew out some cabin windows along the windward side of the boat, he said. The waves didn’t get too large, he said, because their tops were blown off into spray that flew through the air.
“I could only see a few feet ahead of the boat, but the high winds only lasted a few minutes,” he said. Fortunately, the boats are equipped with twin diesel engines that can move the boats along quite well even in high seas. The boats are also equipped with radar and other safety equipment, including stabilizers.
Our trip went an extra few miles north to Spray Falls, a mid-sized waterfall that was the site of a 1856 shipwreck of a lake steamer, The Superior, that ran aground there when it lost its rudder during an October snowstorm. Thirty-five lives were lost in the wreck, Sliter said.
The boats cruise close along the shoreline for at least 15 miles several times a day between mid-May and mid-October, with July and August being the peak season with the most daily cruises. The cruises cost $34 for adults and $10 for children 6 to 12. Those younger are free.
As many as 50,000 people book the cruises every year on the four boats the company owns, Madigan said. Each boat, which is about 65 feet long and equipped with a heated cabin, is capable of carrying 150 passengers each.
The company last year added a new cruise along the shoreline of the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore in the Lower Peninsula. A second boat that was built this year in Alabama will add to the service in July. That boat has two 3-by-12-foot "glass" panels (actually Lexan) in the bottom of the boat that will enable passengers to see the bottom of Lake Michigan. Both boats will operate out of Frankfort and will run 20 miles north along that lakeshore. The fares are about the same as the Lake Superior cruises.
The company also has a cruise service in the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior in Wisconsin.
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2010/06/pictured_rocks_boat_cruise_off.html
