Women on Ice: Frequent Lake Superior Magazine photo contributor and first-class dog lover Hannah Stonehouse Hudson was featured in a story this morning by Minnesota Public Radio. The story by Dan Kraker talked with Hannah about an ice fishing gathering she will lead today and tomorrow on Lake Superior off Wisconsin’s Bayfield Peninsula. (That’s Hannah with a brown trout she caught on her birthday this week on the Big Lake.) The Women Ice Angler Project plans the event. Hannah has been a strong promoter of teaching and encouraging women to fish in open or on frozen waters, but she admits it’s both a joy to ice fish and a sadness on Lake Superior, where her husband, fishing guide Jim Hudson, broke through the ice on his snowmobile six years ago and died. Jim was a well-known and well-seasoned guide who initiated several ice safety initiatives among local guides, but he was caught surprised by open water where just a short time before there had been ice, Hannah explained. It was Jim, who grew up on the nearby Red Cliff Ojibwe reservation, who taught Hannah to ice fish and about the best spots on the Lake. "Ice fishing did not kill [Jim]," Hannah told Dan. "He gave that to me as a gift. He gave his knowledge of Lake Superior to me as a gift. And I am never going to give that up." Hannah has contributed a number of how-to stories on photography for our magazine, including “Dogged Pursuit of Better Pet Pictures” and “Going Viral,” which tells about her two internationally distributed photos – one of a man comforting his old dog on his shoulder in Lake Superior and another of a bear swimming near the Madeline Island Ferry.
While the angling women still intend to gather this weekend, the United Northern Sportsmen’s 66th Annual Ice Fishing Contest, scheduled for Sunday on Island Lake near Duluth, has had to be postponed because of the dangerous freezing temperatures forecast. The fishing will go on Feb. 17 instead.
We Know You Know, But … As temperatures around the region plunge from TDC (Too Darned Cold) to LJSH (Let’s Just Stay Home), we want to remind you about the dangers to pets and the dangers to any skin you choose to expose outside to the frigid air. The University of Michigan has a quite helpful webpage about the dangers of cold and how to recognize when your exposure has been too great (which can be within minutes at the temperatures we are experiencing). Here are two of those descriptions: “‘Frostnip’ usually affects skin on the face, ears, or fingertips. Frostnip may cause numbness or blue-white skin color for a short time, but normal feeling and color return quickly when you get warm. No permanent tissue damage occurs. Frostbite is freezing of the skin and the tissues under the skin because of temperatures below freezing. Frostbitten skin looks pale or blue and feels cold, numb, and stiff or rubbery to the touch.” The harder parts of the hand to keep warm – the ring finger, pinky finger, tips of the fingers and outside of the hand – are most at risk. “In more severe cases,” the site notes, “pus-filled blisters may form or the skin may turn black.” If you go outside to enjoy our gorgeous winter landscapes and lakescapes, go prepared.
Now the Winter Work Begins: The Soo Locks are closed to maritime traffic, but now is the heavy-lifting maintenance time for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews. The Soo Locks Visitor Center posted several images showing how the locks are plugged and drained. In the first photo, a final “stop log” is lowered into place at the upper end of the Poe Lock. “These logs fit one on top of the other to form a temporary dam so the water can be removed from the lock chamber. Each log spans the entire length of the 110 feet wide lock and weighs 49 tons,” noted the center post. Once the logs are placed, a diver (in photo) climbs down the ladders built into the stop logs to open the underwater valves on the lock floor. The surface water temperature, notes the post, was 32.4° F. Not exactly swimming weather. In the third photo, explains the post, “The crane barge Harvey is set into place in the lower fore-bay of the Poe Lock. As the water is removed from the lock, the Harvey will settle on cribbing secured to its hull and provide crane support at the lower end of the lock. The dry lock will also serve as a dry dock for the Harvey for inspections and planned upgrades.”
Just a note for those who might be curious, the U.S. Army Corps, which is under the Department of Defense, is funded and those workers paid. That also means that the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center in Duluth continues to be open, though on its winter hours - Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Helping the Coast Guard: It’s usually the U.S. Coast Guard doing the rescuing, but with the continued partial shutdown of the U.S. government, the U.S. Coast Guard crews, required to work without pay, face financial crises and need help. The Coast Guard, unlike other military branches, is not under the Department of Defense, which is mainly funded. The USCG is under Homeland Security; historically a part of the Department of Commerce. Many Lake Superior communities have a Coast Guard presence, and many people, according to the Duluth Station, already have begun to help. Dropping off food and other donations. People can donate up to $800 directly at your USCG station, but not in cash. The stations are welcoming gift cards and food. Meanwhile, the crews continue their work. On the Facebook page of the Duluth-based USCG cutter Alder, photos were posted showing an electrician replacing a light bulb, shaken to death while ice breaking. Or, as the post notes in USCG speak: “EM2 Ziemba up the Jackstaff fixing the forward anchor light, photo by BM3 Walter.” Thank you for your work and perseverance to all the USCG crews (and all the federal workers at the job without pay, like our air traffic controllers and airport TSA workers).
Home (Area) Schooling: Regional high school students poised to graduate in the eastern portion of Lake Superior seem increasingly interested in doing post-secondary education closer to home. According to a story by Darren Taylor of SooToday, Algoma University’s applications have increased by nearly 35 percent this year, the highest in the province as noted by the Ontario Universities Application Centre. Many of those applications come from students within the region, but also from across the province. The university officials believe good marketing and the smaller class sizes enhance its allure. “They don’t want to be in a class of 800,” Algoma’s president and vice chancellor, Asima Vezina, told reporters after a meeting Thursday of the university’s board. The university board also officially signed a collaborative “2+2” agreement with Sault College, giving students a path to use their college diploma toward a university degree.
Cliffs of Ice: Chelsey Lewis of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week reported on the pending tours of the cliffs and ice formations at Red Cliff in Wisconsin. While the famed ice caves of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore are not yet accessible – and updates on safety unavailable as is the superintendent’s permission to open them due to the government shutdown – there will be tours of the Rustic Makwa Den (or rustic bear den) starting with a “grand opening” Jan. 31. The caves are accessible through the paid tours because they are not part of the national lakeshore but are within the Red Cliff reservation. The summer and winter tours were started by tribal members Troy Gordon and Travis Barningham in 2017.
OK, That’s a Wow: You’ve likely seen a sky full of images of the Super Blood Wolf Moon, as this lunar eclipse was dubbed, but we wanted to share this spectacular and well-planned photo by Matthew Breiter. The Long Prairie, Minnesota, photographer does portraits to landscapes through his Matthew Breiter Photography – and yes, he sells prints of this one, too.
Photo & graphic credits: Women on Ice; Healthwise; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; BM3 Walter / U.S. Coast Guard; Algoma University; Rustic Makwa Den; Matthew Breiter Photography