September 3, Wednesday – A Winner of a Day

The wind all night pushed down from the northwest and at dawn the waves were crashing on the low angle slabs. As the sun broke the horizon I could actually see the wave crests moving along the horizon. I spent 45 minutes watching and photographing the orbital event of a new day dawning. After breakfast, I drove to the top of Summit Peak and hiked to the observation tower that the park had installed. Warning of the dangers of electrical storms greeted me at the base of the tower and clouds formed a thin layer above me but rain was not on the menu. From the top of the tower the wind was blowing at a near gale speed, which created a panic-stricken parade of cloud shadows to fly across the square miles of uninterrupted hardwood forest canopy. Lake Superior dominated the broad sweep of the horizon as well as any seawater ocean in the world.
At noon I hitched up the land dinghy and headed into the west again along the park’s narrow Southern Boundary Road. In the hour of driving I saw six cars, one grouse and no roadside power lines; my kind of driving. I reached the west end of Porcupine Mountain State Park to check out the ranger suggested Presque Isle River area. It had three waterfalls cascading down the Nonesuch Sandstone formation. The brick red layers looked like a deck of cards pushed over. Again I lost myself in what I saw. Niagara Falls is one huge drop then it’s over. Here the river played among rock shelves moving one direction then another; dropping off of a series of mini-ledges then off of a major drop. Always moving, dividing then rejoining. Rock layers would play with the water then pass it on to the next set of sandstone layers. This place was an inspiration. This place was a photographer’s paradise.

From what the locals lovingly call the Porkies, I moved again west and for the first time in fourteen days I entered into a new state – Wisconsin. I dropped anchor in a small state park called Amnicon Falls State Park just east of the city of Superior. I’m too far from the falls to hear water again tonight but the memory of the waves on the beach from last night will be with me tonight in thought.