Lake Michigan Ice Shelf
Lynne and I went for a drive along Lake Michigan Sunday morning. We were checking to see how much ice was building along the shore. Since our cold spell hit last week the ice shelf had begun to grow in spots, but in others it’s still absent. The best area was down by the Kenosha Harbor. There, the ice extended out about 40-50 feet and large ice volcanoes had formed. So we grabbed our camera and headed out to take some pictures.
At first we were standing on the beach, but it wasn’t long till we ventured out onto the ice. The ice was very thick and since the temps have been well below freezing for the last week, we figured this was a good time to get a closer look at the ice volcanoes.
Here are some of the pictures I took.
In the last picture you see Lynne up on the ice shelf. She was inching her way closer to that opening to get pictures of it. I didn’t really like her that close, but the waves weren’t that bad then, they got bigger a few minutes later. The first picture in row two is the same hole Lynne is near. I got closer to it and we were about 10 feet away from it when this blast came. We each got an icy shower! The thing is, we didn’t get wet because it was mostly ice. When it hit us though, it stuck. Lynne got it worse than I did and had quite a bit of ice on her jacket.
Here are some of the pictures Lynne took of that hole.
After spending about 20 minutes out we decided it was time to leave as the waves were getting bigger and it just didn’t feel safe anymore.
Two thing happened that day that had never happened before, I walked on the ice shelf for the first time and I got my first icy shower from Lake Michigan 
Later that night we wondered if we really should have been out there. It felt totally safe at the time, but once you get home and think about it, you wonder how safe you really were. Of course that’s not the first night I’ve though about my safety after a day of exploring. It happened a few times living in the mountains. Truthfully though, I feel we were safe out there.
BTW, the temp was 18 that morning and the windchill was about 3. The new gloves I bought in Bishop last spring got their first real test and passed with flying colors!
This is the first time I have heard of ice volcanoes!
Glad to hear you’re making the best of the cold weather. I for one was glad to leave WI on Saturday after running from Milwaukee to Wausau and back to Madison with the temps never getting above 20. (I actually blame the cold for my tripod breaking) After 10 days, it was a pleasure to be back in 50′s of the Bay Area!
Hopefully next trip I won’t be so busy running between family and I’ll have more free time to coordinate a get together to photograph. Ever since moving out of WI, it seems like I never have enough time to photograph while I’m back!
Yeah it’s been a bit cold lately. 50′s sound wonderful to me right now
I’m not planning on seeing them any time soon though.
I know how hard it is to get away to play when your running around with family. I had the same problem when we went to Bishop in the spring. I wanted to get out and shoot with a couple friends and just couldn’t find the time. Hopefully next time we can get together Greg.
Steven – whatever you do, don’t fall in!
Not planning on it Terry. A shower is one thing, but I really don’t want to take a bath in the lake.
Those are incredible Might some video of these things spouting be in the offing? You know it would be really cool if Lynne tethered your feet and lowered you into one of the spouts for some real closeups.
I think I could get some video. I was just down there with the dog, but didn’t have my cameras with me.
As for your other suggestion, I DON’T THINK SO!!
Very Cool (no-pun intended) pics! If you felt totally safe at the time, you probably were! But you can embellish the tale later in life and spin a colorful yarn about the time you and Lynne went “ice climbing” on a volcano just to get those cool shots ! LOL
Heck, as a kid in Michigan, I would ice skate over frozen ponds in the woods to the sounds of the ice cracking under my skates. It’s an intersting sound…ice cracking…the pitch varies if it’s just creeking under the pressure of your weight or if it’s really going to give way. I knew the difference and I never fell in. But then again, perhaps God had his Angels watching out for me back then.
[...] first pictures were taken down by the harbor in the same area I took the snow volcano pictures last week. I was standing on the beach and zooming in on the action. That’s all ice that you [...]