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Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
	Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
	IUCN Category III (Natural Monument)
Location	Alger County, Michigan, USA
Nearest city	Munising, Michigan
Coordinates	46°33′44″N 86°18′45″W / 46.56222°N 86.3125°WCoordinates: 46°33′44″N 86°18′45″W / 46.56222°N 86.3125°W
Area	73,236 acres (296.4 km2)
Established	October 15, 1966
Visitors	476,888 (in 2005)
Governing body	National Park Service

Bridalveil Falls emptying into Lake Superior

Miners' Castle

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore on the shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. It extends for 42 miles (67 km) along the shore and covers 73,236 acres (114 sq mi; 296 km²). The park offers spectacular scenery of the hilly shoreline between Munising, Michigan and Grand Marais, Michigan, with natural archways, waterfalls, and sand dunes.

Pictured Rocks derives its name from the 15 miles (24 km) of colorful sandstone cliffs northeast of Munising. The cliffs are up to 200 feet (60 m) above lake level. They have been naturally sculptured into shallow caves, arches, formations that resemble castle turrets, and human profiles, among others. Near Munising visitors also can view Grand Island, most of which is included in the Grand Island National Recreation Area and is preserved separately.

The U.S. Congress made Pictured Rocks the first officially-designated National Lakeshore in the United States in 1966. It is governed by the National Park Service (NPS), had 22 year-round NPS employees as of May 2006, and received 476,888 visitors in 2005.

[edit] Access

Munising, on the western end of the lakeshore, is accessed by M-28 and M-94. Grand Marais, on the eastern end, is reached by M-77.

Paved highways penetrate part way into the lakeshore from both ends. Travelers seeking to drive from one end of the lakeshore to the other must use County Road H-58. Roads only come close to the shoreline near Miners Castle, 12 Mile Beach, and the Grand Sable Dunes. The rest of the shoreline is only seen from land by hiking.

A 42-mile (67-km) section of the North Country Trail spans the lakeshore.

Pictured Rocks Cruises^[1] offers daily trips from Memorial Day weekend through October 10. Sea Kayaking is a popular method of exploring the park. While this may be the best way to see the natural formations, it is a serious trip in dangerous and cold water, which should not be undertaken lightly or without proper equipment (dress for the water temperature, not the air temperature). Guides are available. The most efficient port of entry to Pictured Rocks, for a sea kayak, is from the harbor at Munising.^[2]

Camping must be done only in designated areas, and is strictly regulated by the National Park rangers.

Winter sports activities include cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing.

[edit] History

Au Sable Light, built in 1874 after numerous shipwrecks

Although the Pictured Rocks lie adjacent to sections of Lake Superior that are rich in fish, the sandstone cliffs are dangerous to canoes and other open boats skirting the coastline. Pierre Esprit Radisson, the fur trader, made this risky passage in 1658 and noted that his Native American companions offered some tobacco to the local spirit of the cliffs.

During the Romantic Era of the 1800s, a series of American writers described their feelings upon sight of the Pictured Rocks. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft paid a tribute in 1820 to "some of the most sublime and commanding views in nature." As long ago as 1850 developers platted a tourist resort, Grand Island City, adjacent to the Pictured Rocks near the current site of Munising.

After the lumbering era ended around 1910, many of the parcels of land making up the current Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore reverted to the state of Michigan for unpaid property taxes. Eager for federal help and recognition, the state cooperated with the federal government in the region's redevelopment. Congress enacted a law in 1966 to elevate the shoreline between Munising and Grand Marais to the status of a National Lakeshore.^[3]

In October 1966, Congress passed a bill authorizing the establishment of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, “... in order to preserve for the benefit, inspiration, education, recreational use, and enjoyment of the public, a significant portion of the diminishing shoreline of the United States and its related geographic and scientific features.” When President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill, Alger County became the home of America’s first National Lakeshore.

On March 30, 2009, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act was signed into law, protecting 11,740 acres (47.5 km²) of Pictured Rocks as the Beaver Basin Wilderness.

[edit] Points of interest

From west (Munising) to east (Grand Marais):

Rock arches and sea caves are popular with kayakers

Munising Falls and Interpretive Center
Sand Point—National Lakeshore Headquarters
Miners Castle—Rock formation, Miners Falls, paved road to overlook
- Significantly altered by a major rockfall on April 13, 2006
Miners Falls, interpretive trail
Grand Portal Point—rock formations
Mosquito Falls
Mosquito River
Chapel Rock
Chapel Falls
Twelvemile Beach
Shipwrecks
White Birch Forest
Au Sable Point—Au Sable Light
Log Slide
Grand Sable Dunes
Sable Falls and Interpretive Center

[edit] Grand Sable Dunes

The Grand Sable Dunes, at the eastern end of the Lakeshore, are a perched dune formation. Sand washed ashore by wave action was then blown upslope by northerly prevailing winds until it came to rest atop a glacial moraine. The Grand Sable Dunes today form a sand slope that rises from Lake Superior at a 35° angle. The summits of the tallest dunes are as high as 275 feet (85 m) above lake level.

[edit] Climate and Weather

Weather data for Grand Marais, Michigan
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °F	25.3	27.4	36.4	49.2	62.1	70.4	75.9	74.8	67	55.8	41.5	29.7	51.3
Average low °F	11.2	10.6	17.9	29.3	37.9	45.7	51.9	52.8	47.1	38	28.2	17	32.3
Rainfall inches	2.3	1.4	1.6	1.6	2.5	2.9	2.5	3.2	3.6	3	2.6	2.5	29.8
Snowfall inches	47.3	30.7	16	4.8	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.9	12.6	41.7	154.2
Average high °C	-4	-3	2	10	17	21	24	24	19	13	5	-1	11
Average low °C	-12	-12	-8	-1	3	8	11	12	8	3	-2	-8	0
Rainfall mm	58.4	35.6	40.6	40.6	63.5	73.7	63.5	81.3	91.4	76.2	66	63.5	756.9
Snowfall mm	1201.4	779.8	406.4	121.9	7.6	0	0	0	0	22.9	320	1059.2	3,916.7
Source: ^[4] 2009-06-05

[edit] Photo gallery

Munising Falls	Looking down at the Miners' Castle. November 2004.	Miners' Castle.	Pictured Rocks in the distance.
Miners Falls	Grand Sable Dunes	Grand Sable Dunes	Sable Falls