The Fury of Lake Michigan

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St. Joseph, Michigan Lighthouse
Saturday, February 9, 2008

With white-caps as far as the eye could see, Lake Michigan slammed into the outer light of the St. Joseph, Michigan Lighthouse. Ahead of a cold front that brought sub-zero temperatures and 40 to 50 mph winds to the area, these winds were strong enough to create waves high enough to batter the Michigan shoreline.

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Ice and snow deposited by the high surf
St. Joseph, Michigan

Looking a lot like the aftermath of a snowplow, these 15 foot high piles of ice and snow were created by the wind, the cold and the waves. It's very hard to find the actual shoreline, but if you look close, you can see the piling that outlines the pier.

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The Wave that Got Me Wet

The waves inside the protected harbor were around5 or 6 feet high, and often crashed over the railing of the pier. In this case, it splashed me up too!

Making a Splash

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South Haven Lighthouse
South Haven, Michigan

An approaching winter storm churns up Lake Michigan sending waves crashing into the South Haven lighthouse. The waves created splashes over 45 feet high while I was there - probably much higher that night when the winds increased to 40 mph!

This splash and spray combined with the bitter cold air is what causes this lighthouse to become covered in ice over a foot thick! I'll bet after this storm and the below zero temperatures, it's covered once again.

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Lake Michigan pounding the frozen shoreline

A dangerous product of winter along the lake is shelf ice. This ice is formed along the shoreline and can pile into mounds up to15 or 20 feet in height (probably more where it's colder). It's really dangerous as you're walking along the shore because you don't know you're walking on it. The mounds of ice are located at the edge of the ice and water, so you think you're walking on shore because this ice also contains sand blown by the wind - but you're actually walking on the ice.

I encountered this last year as I was walking along the Chicago shoreline. I wanted to walk out toward the large piles of ice along the shore and figured it would be safe up to the mounds. As I walked out on the flat, smooth sandy surface, I noticed an absence of stones and rocks and immediately backed up to an area with lots of stones and pebbles. It seemed to me that the wind had no problem carrying sand out onto the ice, but it couldn't carry rocks and stones, so I was walking on ice. I was right, and lucky I didn't fall in.

Now when I visit the shore, I look for obvious signs of solid ground and don't venture past them.

Silky Waterfall

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Lake Falls in Winter
Matthiessen State Park
Near Utica, Illinois

In the late 1800's Frederick Matthiessen purchased a parcel of land near Utica, IL on which to build a summer home. The land contained a unique feature for it's location in Illinois - a mile long canyon with a small stream running through it. The canyon was cut through the St. Peter's Sandstone by the Vermilion River following the last glacial melt. He employed 50 workers to build dams, bridges, stairways and walkways around the canyon.

People would travel from far away to walk through the canyon and around the unspoiled forest. The forest remains largely unspoiled to this day, thanks to the heirs of the Matthiessen fortune. The land once owned by Frederick Matthiessen was given to the State of Illinois to be set aside as a state park.

Beautiful in every season, the sandstone canyon and forest are a treat to explore.

Field and Fog

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Field in Suburban Chicago

A dense, winter fog surrounds this abandoned crib barn in south suburban Chicago. At times visibility was down to a few yards, making it difficult to find interesting subjects to photograph!

Taking the Plunge

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View of Deer Park Lake Falls from the top

This 45 foot tall plunging waterfall was created by a man made dam in the lower dells area of Matthiessen State Park near Uitca, IL. The natural sandstone canyons of this area are beautifully stained by the seepage of mineral laden waters seeking the lowest level of the canyon and ultimately to the nearby Vermilion River.

A foot bridge spans the canyon just over the dam, offering a great view of Deer Park Lake, the lower dells canyon and the waterfall.

Dwarfed by the Frozen Canyon

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Looking up from the Lower Dells

The 35 to 45 foot tall sandstone canyon walls line the lower dells portion of Matthiessen State Park near Utica Illinois. A beautiful place to visit and explore in any season, numerous waterfalls dot the canyons including the 45 foot tall Deer Park Lake Falls and 35 foot tall Cascade falls. Most falls are a few feet or less, and meander through the mile long canyon.

At the bottom of the canyon is a stream that leads to the Vermilion River so right now it's frozen and we're able to walk on it. In other seasons depending upon the amount of rain, it is difficult to walk in the canyon.

It's a bit slippery in winter and muddy when it's warm, but well worth the bumps and bruises!

Winter in South Haven, Michigan

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South Haven, Michigan Lighthouse

Crowned and bearded in ice, The South Haven, Michigan lighthouse endures another brutal winter. I'd love to see this lighthouse at night. All of these catwalk lights illuminated and their reflections in the snow would be fantastic. - a great summertime sight too.

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Looking a lot like Antarctica, frozen Lake Michigan is pretty barren, except for the interested souls wanting a closer look at the ice covered lighthouse 1554 feet down the pier.

Icy Details

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Close up of South Haven, Michigan Lighthouse
January 27, 2008

In keeping with the lighthouse series this week, here's a close up of the buildup of ice near the lantern of the lighthouse in South Haven, Michigan. You can easily tell which way the wind was blowing on the day of the freeze.

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Ice build up on the windward side of the South Haven, Michigan Lighthouse

From the Lake, this lighthouse is not even recognizable. The ice here is over a foot think, in some places almost 5 feet thick. I did not even think of venturing any further around the lighthouse, this was as far as I could get without hitting an icy hill sloped toward Lake Michigan.

It's hard to imagine the stress the ice is putting on the structure of the lighthouse and the breakwater.

Icy Grip

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South Haven Lighthouse
January 27, 2008

Another shot from last weekend's drive to South Haven, Michigan. To me, these photos seem surreal, even more so because I was there and walked up to it. It was very quiet, cold, and slippery, but the frozen surroundings looked so alien - or at least foreign. Things just didn't seem to behave the way they normally do. It was a very interesting drive to say the least.

A "Light Icing"

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South Haven Lighthouse Laden with Ice
South Haven, Michigan

Sunday was a great day for a drive to see the sites around the Michigan shore of Lake Michigan.
Upon reaching South Haven, we noticed the lighthouse was covered in ice, five feet thick in some places! Previous high winds and high waves coupled with very low temperatures coated the lighthouse, catwalk and breakwater in pure ice.

Luckily, a fresh snowfall made it possible to walk all the way out to the lighthouse without slipping into the lake - still dangerous though.

This photo is also featured on the weather channel web page as the "pic of the day" and was shown on the television network as well.

Just won't get buried

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Contrasting Seasons

This remnant from last season refuses to be buried by the new fallen snow of winter.

Sun Pillar

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Sun Pillar seen in Romeoville, IL

This mornings sunrise was a rare treat. The cold temperatures and ice in the atmosphere helped the sun produce a sun pillar - the narrow, tall shaft of light rising above the sun.

The sun pillar only lasted a few minutes and disappeared as soon as the sun came over the horizon.

Frost Leaves

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Frost crystallizing on a twig next to a waterfall
Darien, Illinois


Feather-like crystals of ice on the surface of the stream
Darien, Illinois

The temperature around Chicago dropped last weekend, sending windchills down to minus 20 degrees. This cold air combined with the relatively warm, flowing waters of Sawmill Creek (warm meaning around 34 degrees!!) created some very interesting ice and frost growth in and around the waterfalls in Waterfall Glen forest preserve.

I managed to keep warm enough for a hike to the stream and the falls and found this interesting growth of frost on a twig about 4 inches long.

Probably the only nice thing about cold weather.....

Bitter Cold

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East Pierhead Light
Michigan City, Indiana

High winds and near zero temperatures made for a cool picture, but it wasn't fun walking to the lighthouse. It's about a two block walk from the parking lot in Washington Park to the spot where I captured this photo. After about 45 minutes of exposure, I decided I had enough photos and got back to the car. The fine, blowing snow attacked my exposed face like needles, but walking backwards helped keep me warm.

This photo was featured on flickr's Explore (a group of photos rated as most interesting for any given day) on January 19, 2008 as number 25. That's the 25th most interesting photo of that day. There are over 4,000 images added to flickr every MINUTE so that's 25 out of over 5 million photos!

Can't wait for more windy days that are below zero - got to get a photo of this lighthouse covered in ice!

Two States of Water

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Solid; Liquid
Frozen; Flowing

Walking around the woods this afternoon was a treat. The sun was finally out again so it felt warmer than 27 degrees, and the stream was beginning to freeze over which always means two things:
1. No mud - to get on the dress shoes.
2. Little ice windows with views to the running water beneath

One of my favorite winter subjects to photograph is ice - especially when it's on or near running water.

Grosse Point Lighthouse

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Grosse Point Lighthouse
Evanston, IL

Built in 1873, the Grosse Point lighthouse was built after several ships ran aground on their approach to the growing Chicago ports. Orlando Metcalf Poe, a civil war hero and lighthouse engineer, managed the design and construction of the lighthouse.

One of only five ever installed on the Great Lakes, the illuminating optic at the top of the tower is a second order Fresnel lens, the largest type of optic used on the Great Lakes. Light from the lighthouse could be seen up to 21 miles over the lake as it warned ships of the shallow waters around Grosse Point.

The lighthouse grounds are open to the public all year, but the light itself is only open for tours between June and September.

Evening at St. James

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St. James at Sag Bridge Church and Cemetery

I managed to walk through "Monk's Castle" at night and not get caught. I wasn't forced to kneel in salt or on broom handles either!

This is a pretty church at night.

January Thunderstorms

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Fast Running Stream

After last night's heavy thunderstorms (unusual for January in Chicago), this often dry stream in Naperville, Illinois is carrying a lot of water toward the DuPage River.

As usual, I didn't have my tripod, so I relied on the next best thing - a tree, a stick or a found 2x4 piece of wood! With slow shutter speeds of only .4 seconds, it's very hard to keep the camera steady without a tripod.

The Willow-Brook

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Willow-Brook Ballroom
Willow Springs, Illinois

The Willow-brook ballroom in Willow Springs, Illinois has been a hot spot for ballroom dancing for decades. Founded in 1921 as an outdoor dance hall called Oh Henry Park, it played host to the likes of Count Basie, Bennie Goodman and many other legends. Around 1930, the Oh Henry burned and was soon rebuilt (at a cost of $100,000 - huge at the time) and named the Oh Henry Ballroom, where scores of people danced to swing music.

Later, a 200 seat banquet room called the Willow-brook was added and in time, the entire ballroom became known as the Willowbrook. With it's own soda fountain, flower shop and restaurant, the Willow-Brook offered everything a couple needed for a "swinging" date.

Legend has it that Resurrection Mary spent her last night dancing at the Willow-Brook before she died.

The Willow-Brook Ballroom continues to be a hot spot for big band music, as well as banquets and parties.

"Deer" Friends

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Two Deer Greeting
Justice, Illinois

Who said cemeteries weren't full of life? Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, IL is! - Well, wildlife anyway. The place has lots and lots of fearless and messy deer and geese that follow you around.

These two were just getting to know each other a little better as I snapped their photo.