Leaves

Fall displayed signals of its immanent arrival early this year so with cheerless grey clouds that were accompanied by a persistent mist that hung in the air as my companion I biked to the lake even though every part of my being screamed at me “stay in bed!”

               The lake was calm and reflected the dark gloominess of the sky on its surface and some of the leaves on the trees had started turning color.

               I walked along the beach and tossed my trout fisherman’s thermometer out into the water and waited for it to tell me that the water was a temperate 62 degrees. I had no intention of going in the water until I noticed a birch tree in color and some of its leaves drifting aimlessly onto the water and I thought “that could make a great photo!”   So off with the shoes and my sweat shirt and t-shirt and with steely resignation into the water I went.

               With parts of my brain deliberating between – this is going to be great – and – what the hell? – I slipped below the surface popped my head back out for a few quick body shocked breathes and then drifted my way over towards the leaves.

               The lake was calm, the falling leaves were calm and I was calm the only hindrance being the coldness in my hands was making it hard to work the buttons on the camera as I worked my way through and around the leaves photo’ing.

               Maple leaves also slowly drifted out over the lake seeming gravity averse before landing on the water’s surface where they danced with water striders who relaxed on these leaf boats – can you find the resting water striders on the leaves?

Pointe Aux Baies

Pointe Aux Baies

               Lake Superior has 2726 miles of shoreline and some of that shoreline comes together to form a slab of rock outcropping that is called Pointe Aux Baies or the Pointe Abbaye Natural Area.

I like to think of it as the mini Keweenaw Peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior separating Keweenaw Bay from Huron Bay that invites a view of the Huron mountains across the water.

               Getting a chance to snorkel here is a fusion of influences like water temperature, sunshine and a lack of waves that roll in all the way from Canada gathering size and strength as they go. Over the ages the grinding force of waves, ice and time let mother nature sculpture the edges into stairs that could lead you to the bottom of the lake, it also can make car sized boulders look like they are floating.

               A space alien that is detained in a rock formation that hangs above the water keeps an eye on me as I snorkel around.

               For such a comparatively small area there are many time worn rock formations. 

               Lake Superior contains over 3 quadrillion gallons of water that harbors an abundance of tiny residents like small trout out on the rock plains with the refraction’s of light that dance across the bottom.

               Living among the rocks is the tiny Mottled Sculpin 2 to 4 inches is stature – can you find it blending in with the rocks and algae in the photos bellow? 

The next photos I think are of the Dart family - if you know what type of fish they are please leave a comment.

Remember we are all just little fish in a big pond.

Weeds?

Twisting, weaving, clambering and rising towards the light out a bivalve’s garden with names like Spatterdock and Spike rush the lakes are populated with aquatic plants.

  Encountering them when we are boating or swimming we act with an annoyance declaring them all derogatorily “weeds!” Some of these aquatic plants names are combined with and do end in weed like pound weed and duck weed.

They are more than unsightly weeds they are a home and sanctuary they become part of the fry and the fray along with vegetation mazes for the hunter and hunted from the minnow to the musky.

These aquatic plants may even obscure a Nibiinaabe the water sprite from Anishinabe folklore that has come out of hiding to see what I am doing … or it’s an otter that wants to know if I’m something to worry about – study the blurry photo and you decide – it happened so fast I’m not sure what it could have been???

They are more than just weeds they have function and splendor take a closer look next time you’re on the water this is some of what you might see.