A Stop at the Rifle River Recreation Area

 So I decided to take my mom up to the Rifle River Recreation Area.  It has been quite a few years since I've been there, so it was kind of cool.

There was a little spot where we could stop.  They had an observation tower and the foundation for a house that used to be here.

It was kind of a nice spot.

I decided to take my drone up.  I'll have to admit it was a pretty cool view.

I'm not sure was lake this is.

A little closer.

The river itself.  I used to go canoeing down this when I was growing up.

another spot.

Then I decided to climb up to the observation tower.  Granted the view from here wasn't as cool as my drone but not too bad.

Looking out around.

the road leading away from the observation tower.

A group of indian paintbrushes.

A closer picture of that.

A single Indian paintbrush.

A pair of them.

A daisy.

This is why my mom wanted to go up there.

It is a pink lady's slipper.  Apparently, they have some yellow ones but we couldn't find any of those.

I was able to get a few different angles.

Another one.

I like this one.

But this one might be my favorite.

Watching the Ojibway Sail By

 The next ship is the ship I wanted to catch.

She was about a half hour behind the Tregurtha and that gave me plenty of time to catch her.  The only problem is that it was a kind of a warm night and this is where the heat haze was less pronounce.

The Ojibway was heading down from Thunder Bay and she was carrying a load of grain.

She was heading to Sorel, Quebec which is about about 50 miles to the northeast of Quebec on the St. Lawrence River.

I think Sorel may be a trans shipment point where another ship will pick up the grain to take it overseas.

The Ojibway of course will not be that ship.

I also think grain shipments have been pretty steady for the past couple of year.  In fact, I think it helped prevent a complete collapse of Great Lakes shipping last year.

Based on the ships I've been seeing, I think Great Lakes shipping seems to be bouncing back.  But I wont really know until I see the numbers at the end of the year.

There are still a few ships that are in layup.  The Cason Callaway and the Philip Clarke are still laid up.  I'm not sure when they are coming back out.

The John G. Munson just left Sturgeon Bay to head to Calcite to pick up her first load of stone.  As I type this, she is heading up to Duluth and may have just passed through the Locks.

The Blough is still awaiting her fate but I have a feeling they are going to fix her.

I'm not sure what ships are still laid up for the Canadians but again it doesn't seem like many.

And then I switched to my droen.

I think I'm getting the hang of flying it.  I am also thinking I want to get one of the next ones up.  My one complaint about my drone is that I can't fly it well when it is windy outside.  But that is okay, I don't want to get too dependent on it.

One of the cool things about the Ojibway is that she was built in my home town.  I hope that the local maritime history group will be able to get their hands on her when she retires.

Even though she is a straight decker, that may be a while.  I'm pretty sure she sports a newish engine.  And I think they had to some other things when she transitioned from an American ship to a Canadian ship.

At any rate, she continues on her way.  If I remember correctly, she would be about two days to her destination.  It was about two days from her origin to this point which makes it roughly a 4 day journey.  It is one of the longer trips on the Great Lakes.

Catching the Lee A. Tregurtha at Algonac State Park

So on Wednesday night, I saw that I had a chance to catch two ships that I like to catch.  They were both heading down the St. Clair River.

I had hoped to catch her in Marine City but I saw that she was passing by the time I got there.  So I headed down M-29 to Algonac State Park.

There is a little spot where you can turn off and you get a pretty good view of the river.  The Tregurtha was booking so I didn't get as many shots of her as I wanted.

She was heading down to Toledo.  I think she was carrying a load of iron.

They built a new iron plant in Toledo.  Next time I pass that way and I have time, I will have to get a picture of it.  Apparently it is now the tallest structure in Toledo.  When I was heading back from Magee yesterday, I saw it.  I will have to say the thing is huge.

Anyway, that makes another destination for iron ore when ships pass this way.

And then I switched to my drone.

I am really liking my drone.  It gives me different angles.  It also gives me the ability to get shots away from the sun.

She starts to pass.

A beam shot.

And she passes.

I think at this point, she is about 3 hours from Detroit after that is roughly another 4 or 5 hours to Toledo.