Our second campsite in the UP is at Woodland Park Campground in Grand Marais right on Lake Superior. We enjoyed hiking out to a couple of local waterfalls: the Tahquamenon upper and lower falls just south of Whitefish Point and the Sable Falls just outside of Grand Marais. It is amazing to see a calm lake or river turn into a powerful, beautiful falls and then back again into calm water as the water flows into Lake Superior. This change shows you that reality isn’t based just on what we see in front of us because something else could just be around the corner.
In the late 1800s, logging was done in the Grand Marais area during the winter because it was easier to move the logs over the frozen ground. The loggers would stack the logs as high as they could, pour water on the pathway so it would freeze, and move the logs either the the chute or to a railroad car in other locations. We found this picture of the stacked logs in a museum in Marquette.
Loggers turned a natural chute into a wooden chute so they could send the logs down it to be carried away in someway that we haven’t figured out yet (but did find out a couple of days later). Got to see this chute when we went to Sable Falls.
questions for God from the forest
Have you ever come up with questions you wanted to ask God about? Two of mine are why aren’t downed trees cleared out of forests since they look so messy, and why did He create mosquitoes and other nasty bugs? Both questions were answered on one of our walks to the waterfalls. Downed trees make homes and safe places for small animals, especially in bad weather. Insects are food for mammals during the winter until leaves and berries are available. Shows me not to be critical of others who don’t do what I think they should and not to assume that what I don’t like doesn’t have value.
Gale force winds are expected tomorrow (Friday). We get to experience a Great Lakes storm! Hope we’re still excited about it on Saturday.
