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About a week ago now I came across this photo by Mark Lindsay. I asked former Park Ranger Bill Herd, and he told me what has since come out in the media. From 140-year-old shipwreck piece washes ashore on remote stretch of Sleeping Bear Dunes beach in mLive:

Sleeping Bear Dunes historians believe the schooner fragment, estimated to be about 40-feet long and peppered with twisted metals spikes, is part of the ship’s bilge keelsons, which the Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archeology says were long timbers running most of the ship’s length, strengthening the keel.
It’s one of several fragments of the wreck to wash ashore over the years, said Laura Quackenbush, museum technician with park service. In fact, wreck fragments from the Jennie and Annie, as well as other ships which foundered off the dunes coastline, wash ashore once or twice a year.
“It’s a very dynamic shoreline,” she said. “It’s a common occurrence around there.”

Over the weekend photographer Ken Scott made the hike and posted the video below of the Jennie and Annie and also of the other (as yet nameless) wreck that we reported on last year.

Photo credit: Sleeping Bear Point Wreck by Mark Lindsay

Taking a truck loaded with people tearing around the Sleeping Bear Dunes would land you in jail. But long before the days of endangered pitcher thistle plants and piping plovers, back when most people thought that a fragile ecosystem was something you better pack with extra styrofoam, there were the Dune Rides.

It all began, according to the brochure:

"In 1935 Louis C. Warnes equipped a car with special motor and giant tires for personal pleasure trips into the vast sand lands near his home. Friends begged him to take passengers. Soon he added other cars and trained drivers...."

The website Oh Ranger! adds more detail, noting that Marion Warnes (D.H. Day's youngest daughter) was a gig part as well of Sleeping Bear Dunesmobile Rides out of Glen Haven.

They started the rides with a used 1934 Ford that took four people at a time to the crest of the dunes and back for 25 cents each. By the time the rides ended in 1978, there were 13 dunes wagons each carrying 14 passengers on a 12 mile, 35 minute excursion.

I haven't been able to find anything specifically on the "Dunesmobiles" themselves, but to the left is a photo of a Travelalls made by International Harvester. The book A Nationalized Lakeshore by Theodore J. Karamanski notes that Warnes, backed by his new ten-year concession agreement, purchased ten brand-new Oldsmobile 88 in 1956. They used balloon tires and the two that I've seen around Leelanau are both Olds 88s.

For over 40 years the Dunesmobiles rode over one of the most breathtaking landscapes in the world, bringing those to young, old or lazy to walk closer to the beauty that dwells in the heart of the Sleeping Bear. With the coming of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the days of the dune rides were numbered and in 1978 the dune rides ceased altogether.

Today, the trucks have been pressed into service by Manitou Island Transit and far fewer people get back into the "real" dunes. The result is certainly best for the health of the dunes, but it also means that for folks who won't journey more than a few hundred feet from their cars, memories of the Sleeping Bear Dunes will consist of a few runs up and down the dune climb.

There's a couple of photos from the brochure below and you can see some more (with a few from the dune rides at Silver Lake Dunes thrown in) from Don Harrison's postcards of the dunesmobiles. The photo above is Sleeping Bear Dunesmobile by Seeking Michigan (click to see it bigger!)

Sleeping Bear Dunesmobile Headquarters by UpNorth Memories

The Bear -- which has since disappeared

A "Dunesmobile" on the specially constructed gravel road

 

This photo of the Northern Lights over Fishtown was taken by Ken Scott in October of 2011. Today on Absolute Michigan we posted a feature about a solar flare that may bring northern lights to Leelanau's skies tonight (and potentially over the next few days):

NASA's Space Weather site is the place to go for Aurora Borealis forecasting as they help make sense of the data the space agency receives about solar flares and their impact on earth's atmosphere. Yesterday they gave Northern Lights watchers a lot of hope with this news:

This morning, Jan. 23rd around 0359 UT, big sunspot 1402 erupted, producing a long-duration M9-class solar flare. The explosion's M9-ranking puts it on the threshold of being an X-flare, the most powerful kind. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the flare's extreme ultraviolet flash (shown right or in short movie right here)

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft detected a CME rapidly emerging from the blast site: movie. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say the leading edge of the CME will reach Earth on Jan. 24 at 14:18UT (+/- 7 hours).

That means it's hitting the Earth 11 AM - 6 PM EST, but this level of intensity makes the Northern Lights a real possibility for the next couple of days so definitely LOOK UP tonight and tomorrow if there's any break in the clouds! If the northern lights hit, our Northern Lights Log will light up with reports. You can also learn a lot more about the Northern Lights at Michigan in Pictures and also at aurora borealis on Leelanau.com!

This week's photo was taken by Mark Miller at Empire Beach. Last week we featured another of his photos from this spot - what a difference a few days and a Lake Effect storm can make!

Check it out big as the beach and compare it with last week's photo in Mark's slideshow.

A pair of fun winter events are on tap for next Sunday...

The annual Cedar Winterfest happens from 1-3 PM at the Snowmobile Club 2 miles north of Cedar on Schomberg Rd.

You're invited to bring your winter sleds, tobaggans, saucers, cross country skis and snowshoes for a Sunday afternoon of fun. They'll have a bonfire to warm you on the outside and hot chocolate and snacks to warm your tummy. Free and open to the public!

The fifth annual Roy Taghon Memorial Snowmobile Ride begins at 1 p.m., Sun., Jan. 22, at the Empire Airport and continues to the Maple City Fitness Center, behind Kerby’s Bar and Grill, 172 W. Burdickville Road, Maple City. Whether riding on a sled or driving, all are welcome to participate in the fun-filled afternoon. Hot dogs and chili will be served at 2:30. Suggested donation is $7 per adult, $4 per child.

All proceeds benefit the Roy Taghon Music Scholarship Fund which provides an annual music scholarship for Glen Lake High School students. Roy lived in Empire and was an avid snowmobiler and church organist for more than 30 years. For information, call (231) 326-5519.

This week's photo was taken by Mark Miller at Empire Beach. See more of his great work in his slideshow.

Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next Moon.
~Old Farmer’s Almanac

Speaking of wolves and January, last month the US Fish & Wildlife Service removed wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the federal endangered species list. Wolves are now managed by states in the region and the ruling takes effect on Friday, January, 2012. Read the release from the Michigan DNR about wolf de-listing.

Photo credit: Moon over Lake Leelanau by Missy Luick (a February full moon...)

Michigan author Jerry Dennis shared this except from his new book The Windward Shore from University of Michigan Press with us on Absolute Michigan. It features Leelanau's Lake Michigan shore, so in case you missed it, here is is!

The Lake in Winter
by Jerry Dennis

(January, Cathead Point, near the tip of Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula)

It changes every day, every hour. It is a thousand lakes, changing faces with every shift in wind and light - flurried by offshore wind, whitecapped in squalls, colored flannel gray or pearl-white or stormy black beneath the winter clouds, a dozen blues when the sky is blue. (more...)

This week's photo is Lake Michigan ... from Empire Bluff with a Christmas Eve sunset, from and featuring photographer Ken Scott. See this photo and nearly 300 more in Ken's snow slideshow!

You can check out all kinds park & trail information on our Sleeping Bear Dunes Homepage and get snow & trail condition updates at Ski Leelanau!

There is no better way to get outside and burn off some of those extra holiday calories than by joining a Park Ranger at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on a guided snowshoe hike every Saturday. Meet at 1 p.m. at the Visitor Center in Empire for these popular weekend afternoon adventures. They take place every Saturday, starting on January 7, 2012 and going through the month of February. Dress in layers, wear waterproof boots, and don’t forget to take your camera along to capture the wonders of winter.

Park Rangers meet interested snowshoers inside the Visitor Center to first provide basic snowshoeing instructions, and then directions to a trailhead or off-trail area pre-selected by the Park Ranger. If you do not have your own snowshoes, the National Park Service will loan you a pair free of charge (they are limited to 30 participants so email or call them to pre-register). While exploring outside, the Park Ranger will encourage participants to inquire and learn about winter’s effect on the park’s unique features. Be prepared to be outside until about 3 p.m.

Not only is snowshoeing easy, fun and good exercise, it is also an activity that can be enjoyed by all ages. The Park Ranger-led hikes are mildly strenuous, yet they proceed at a leisurely pace for no more than one and a half miles. This allows visitors an opportunity for discovery, adventure, and to look for signs of wildlife or evidence of ancient glaciers. Some snowshoers simply want to experience and enjoy a winter wonderland, which is what you will find at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

There is no charge for the programs, however, participants need to display the park entrance pass or have an annual pass to join in the fun. Reservations are not required, but are suggested, especially if you wish to borrow snowshoes or are with a group. Please call (231) 326-5134, ext. 328, for details and to make reservations. For more in-depth information about Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, visit www.nps.gov/slbe.