Sunday, October 5, 2008

Sunday, which is still a garage sale day to Boyfriend Extraordinaire, saw us escape our room at about noon, to search for more garage sales before heading down the highway to Au Train.

We arrived at Forest Lake to find it mostly secluded and absolutely pristine.


Though the leaves were just beginning to peak, the ground was covered with leaves already.


We kicked around the shore for quite a while, watching the snails suck on rocks in the shallow water, and B.E. always, always, always looking for artifacts. Some of the things he likes to find are old glass bottles, things that look like they might have been created by Indians, and anything metal. He found one old bottleneck, but we quickly realized that Forest Lake, despite how beautiful it is, seemed to be a dumping ground for beer bottles. They were everywhere. Walking in sneakers was dangerous because of all the broken glass on the edge of the water. We needed hardcore boots to be safe here. Why and how this happens, I don't know. I've never seen an area in the U.P. with so much crap dumped in the woods. It's a shame, and it kind of made me want to leave.

We crossed the highway, where the power company dams off Forest Lake and controls the flow down the river to Au Train Falls.

Lower Au Train Falls is a fun place to visit with its slow flow of water across a wide basin, leaving a shallow amount of water falling over the shelves of rock, with bright green algae and plantlife constantly thriving in the bright sun and regular water.



One of the most fascinating parts of Lower Au Train Falls is a wall of rock next to the falls, where water drips constantly over the edge about 10 feet above the path, creating a smaller version of Au Train Falls on this slimy wall. We have dubbed it The Wall of Ook.


Click below to see the rest of the photos on my Tabblo page.

After Au Train Falls, we decided to zip to Miners Castle for the sunset.


We stuck around until well after sunset, chatting with a couple from Chicago, then we had to hustle back to the car, up a steep and winding path through the woods, by moonlight.


It was freezing, but B.E., wearing his infamous down coat that's as big as a tent seemed to be fine while I was shaking from the inside out. Returning to the warmth of the room was great, and we settled in for another late night of TV and pajamas.