Michigan Ice Fest!

It's Michigan Ice Fest week here in the Munising, Michigan area of the Central Upper Peninsula.

The secret is out, Munising boasts the Midwest's largest concentration of climbable ice and the good folks over at Michigan Ice Fest have been hosting one of the nation's oldest ice climbing festivals now for nearly 30 years. I've been shooting it for awhile too, here are some picks. Climb on.

Above a gap on The Curtains, ice climbing, Munising, Michigan.

Sydney's is where the free Michigan Ice Fest beer can be found

Yea, I like this one too; The Dryer Hose, ice climbing, Munising, Michigan, Pictured Rocks

Good things happen at Michigan Ice Fest.

Bad things can happen too, but nobody laughs out loud, and newbs still get free beer too.

Recent Work-Marquette Michigan feature in Lakeland Boating

Check out the February issue of Lakeland Boating magazine for my 12-page feature on Marquette Michigan, the place I'm lucky enough to call home.

Lakeland Boating is based in Chicago, has a circulation of about 40,000 subscribers and covers inland and Great Lakes sailing and power boating in the Great Lakes region. I had no idea how popular it was in Marquette until the article came out and every boat owner in the region sent me an email. That was very cool. Freelancing is a solitary lifestyle and it's good to hear from readers, so thanks to all of you.

You can download a PDF of the article off my site by clicking the image below, then choosing "download original file" off the site page, or follow the link at the bottom of the page for a Google doc link.

Most travel writers have it easy. I've always found that inspiration comes freely when the scenery is changing every day. New places, new stories and new people offer the lens and the page a constant creative fresh start. Blank pages and blank pixels are vessels easily filled when in a new place. Plus, you don't have to worry about who you piss off when the article comes out, because you'll be long gone!

My career has been a strange brew. I'm a travel writer--but I mostly write about where I live, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the surrounding Lake Superior regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario. The cool thing about that, other than that it's an amazing place to work and play (and stretch the relatively meager bucks that come with this career :-)) is that I get to write about something I know and love intimately, not just a place I'm passing through or people I'll only know superficially, if at all.

The danger is in knowing too much about a place, which makes it difficult to decide what to include and what to leave out. Also, it's a constant exercise to think like someone visiting the area for the first time--to stay fresh. Marquette is a super cool town with a great history, but when you live here, eventually the ore docks that blow the minds of tourists become as common as the gulls trying to kill your picnic. Also, I have to live with the people I write about, which can make it tough to be honest and well liked, but so it goes.

WARNING GRATUITOUS BUT MOSTLY HARMLESS SEXUAL HUMOR AHEAD: Someone once told me that writing about your hometown is like making love with your spouse: It's important that you know each other well enough to get it right, but equally important to pretend you've just met so it stays interesting.

Read full Marquette Michigan feature article in Lakeland Boating here

 

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Cascade River State Park, Minnesota

The Minnesota North Shore has long been one of my favorite places. I dig the Scandinavian efficiency with which the coast from Duluth to Grand Portage is laid out: cool little towns, then state parks, then gobs of national forest, then cool little town, a bad ass tunnel through a cliff, etc. It seems tailor made for active travel, sort of like an inland Pacific Coast Highway, but better because you can wear flannel and there's less coke. Whoa, did I say that? I did.

I found this gnarled old cedar clinging to the black volcanic rock of Cascade River State Park near Grand Marais, Minnesota. That's the Cascade River behind it, ripping through a tight gorge before throwing itself over a series of falls and dumping out into Lake Superior.

I love finding spots like this where Ma Nature mouths you by the scruff of your neck and shakes you a bit. "Pay attention," she says, "I'm trying to teach you something here."

The lesson I learned here is to endure. Persevere. Hang on even if nobody else is. And above all, grow.

That's all well and good, and quickly forgotten as I hopped back in the car and went about my picture making way, trying to acquire as many salable images as I could during that short trip a few years ago. But here's the beauty of still photography: that image, that moment, is still here with us several years later and can teach the same lessons, ones that are even more important now that our houses are worth less than we paid for them, our beautiful children WILL NOT GO TO SLEEP and for some reason (I know this is trivial but it still pains me) the winter sky refuses to sprinkle us with its magic dust (not talking about coke anymore).

So, yeah, I need to wrap this up. "Be well, do good work and keep in touch." What? Somebody already said that? Keillor, again?

Okay....ah, how about: "Pay attention, remember and share?"

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but he's been known to go to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario too if the money's good.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Scott Falls

Scott Falls is only about 20 feet from the side of M-28 just west of Munising, one of the busiest roads in the Upper Peninsula. It’s so close you can actually pull up, roll down your window and snap a photo from your vehicle. Like black bears munching blue berries in the ditch and the handmade signs for pasties and smoked fish, Scott Falls is one of those precious roadside attractions that makes any trip to the U.P. memorable.

Compared to its brash, crashing cousins nearby, Scott Falls is a dainty maiden traipsing through a fairy tale landscape of thigh-high thimbleberry. The demure trickle drops about 10 feet over a sandstone lip, splashing into a shallow circular pool before running a few hundred feet into Lake Superior.

While the falls is beautiful, the best part is the cave behind it. That’s right, a real cave. Now, it’s instinctual to think “cave=creepy,” but really, this is “cave=cool.” Wade around the edge of the pool and slip behind the falls and into the sand-floored cavern with moss-covered walls. This is the kind of place where garden gnomes are born and raised. Yea, it's a U.P. gnome nursery.

Location: About 10 miles west of Munising on M-28, immediately across the highway from the MDOT Rathfoot Roadside Park.

Bonus: One more mile west is AuTrain Beach, one of Lake Superior’s warmest, and sleepiest sand beaches.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Bond Falls

 

Bond Falls has long been one of my favorite waterfalls to photograph in the Western Upper Peninsula (U.P.) It's easy to get to, visually stunning and the surrounding area has lots of potential for creating good images as well. The "Z" formation in the rapids above the falls has long proven popular with nature photographers visiting the region.

Bond Falls is located on the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River near the tiny hamlet of Paulding, in the Western Upper Peninsula.

The 50-foot high falls tumbles over a 100-foot-wide fist of dark, fractured rock. Below the falls the river pools around a small island, then slips away into the dense U.P. woods to the north.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Laughing Whitefish Falls, Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Laughing Whitefish Falls is located in the Laughing Whitefish Falls State Scenic Site just north of the former town of Sundell in Michigan's central Upper Peninsula.

Here the diminutive Laughing Whitefish River cascades down a sandstone bowl into a deep valley on it's way to Lake Superior.

Aaron Peterson is a writer and photographer based in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For more of his work from the Lake Superior region visit www.aaronpeterson.net.

Recent Work-Marquette Backcountry Ski

Here's the December 2011 Traverse magazine profile I wrote and shot featuring Marquette inventor David Ollila and his Marquette Backcountry Ski. The ski was developed for the Lake Superior hills of Michigan's Upper Peninsula but is proving popular all over.

 

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Snowy Owls invade Michigan's Upper Peninsula

There's nothing a photographer likes better than seeing something new.

Snowy owls, native to the arctic tundra, have been spotted throughout Michigan's Upper Peninsula and along Lake Superior. A photographer's dream come true.

Speculation abounds as to why the birds are here. It's not too uncommon, as every few years the owls' main food source, the lemming, crashes and forces the birds south out of hunger. However, this year reports are indicating that owl numbers are up and this migration may be a case of arctic overpopulation.

This owl was photographed on Lake Superior along the Keweenaw peninsula near Copper Harbor, Michigan.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette on Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.) For more images of life along Lake Superior and Michigan's Upper Peninsula visit my website at aaronpeterson.net.