Pictured Rocks derives its name from a formation within the park, 15 miles (24 km) of colorful sandstone cliffs northeast of Munising. The cliffs are as tall as 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 382,264 visitors in fiscal year 2003.
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 H58, which is partly unpaved. Roads only come close to the shoreline near Miners Castle, 12 Mile Beach, and at 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 [link]offers daily trip from Memorial Day weekend through October 10th. Kayaking is a popular method of exploring the park.
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 on the site of the current Munising.
After the lumbering era ended about 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 Washington, D.C. 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. [link].
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.
Points of interest
From west (Munising) to east (Grand Marais):
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 4/13/2006
Grand Portal Point - Rock formations
Twelvemile Beach
White Birch Forest
Au Sable Point - Au Sable Light Station (1874)
Log Slide
Grand Sable Dunes
Sable Falls and Interpretive Center
Au Sable Light
The Au Sable Light tower and attached keepers' quarters were built in 1874. It is the heart of the current Au Sable Light complex. The tower was furnished with a Third Order Fresnel lens.
A wooden boathouse was added in 1875; the fog signal building was added in 1897; the keepers' quarters were converted to a duplex in 1909; and the oil house was raised in 1915.
The lighthouse complex was automated in 1958. The Fresnel lens, which required continuous maintenance, was retired (it remained on the site as of 2005).
The lighthouse tower was open to the public in summer as of summer 2005. The complex was maintained by the U.S. National Park Service and the automated light continued to be operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The National Park Service's stated goal was to continue to maintain the lighthouse complex to its 1909-10 appearance, during its first year of operation as a two-person station.
[link].
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.
