Along the Shore
Dropping down from the launder, we make our way down the cliff face to the stamp sand beach at its base. North of here the stamp sand beach seems to stop, and instead the usual rocky Superior shore emerges. To the south, however, lies a different world. As far as we can see, the lake laps against a narrow gray beach, backed by a towering cliff made from sand. The sands along the cliff face feel less like sand and more like rock, the sands having compressed themselves into hard layers much like sandstone. In fact, these cliffs looked very similar (except in color) to those sandstone cliffs at Pictured Rocks, or Redridge.
Next to us the fallen remains of the launder lie canted in the water. Further up, we can make out the shadowy shape of more launder pieces under the water. Over the decades the lake has worked at the sands, carving them away and depositing them miles to the south undermining the launder and creating the cliff walls. Walking along we soon came to a series of artifacts along the beach. Two large stones sat on the beach, oddly shaped like upside-down mushrooms. Getting closer we realized that they must have been footings for some structure. The lake had washed the earth and sands out from around them, and now they simply sit atop the beach.
Directly behind these old footings the remains of a wooden launder could be seen protruding out from the cliff face. The sands had slowly covered it, until it was completely buried and forgotten. Over the years the lake slowly eroded away the sand, uncovering it again decades later. Because of its long slumber buried in the sand, the wood appears as if it hasn’t aged at all -almost as if it was just installed days earlier. Also nearby, a set of wooden support beam can be seen partially buried in the cliff as well. Our assumption was that these launders were older then the concrete one seen earlier, or that these were from the Wolverine mill also located in the area.
We turned a bend along the lake, and found ourselves looking down a long stretch of beach heading off towards the horizon. The sands seemed to go on forever, and we decided it was time to scale the cliffs and head back. After a difficult climb, we pulled ourselves over the top of the cliffs and onto the sands above. We had traveled further then I had thought, the Mohawk Mill Smoke Stack standing high above the tree line in the far distance. It was going to be a long hot walk back.