Our Most-Read Stories of 2014: An Icy Year in Review

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It's easy to summarize 2014 on Lake Superior's shores. I need just one word: icy.

The ice came early and stayed late; it delighted and it delayed. The ice cover peaked at nearly 96 percent, water temperatures were at or below average all year, and ice still covered more than 60 percent of the Lake in late April. In four decades of record-keeping, no other ice season lasted so late into the year (which shippers were none too happy about). The views on a warm Memorial Day in Duluth were hugely incongruous, and icebergs were still being spotted in early June.

Just five months later, the ice was back, appearing in harbors in mid-November.

This was also the year that, at long last, Lake Superior's water level returned to long-term average. The level had been below normal for more than 15 years, a record-long span. By the beginning of December, the Lake was 8 inches above long-term average.

And now, here are the most-read stories we published online in 2014. We hope you enjoy this look back at an eventful year, and have a wonderful New Year.

#10: On a Duluth Beach, a Mysterious Barrel Appears

We put on our detective hats for this one: What was a concrete barrel doing on a Duluth beach? [September 30]

#9: Above It All at Copper Peak, Where My Friend's Work Still Towers

In this Lake Superior Journal, which first appeared in the October/November issue, writer Donn Larson tells the story of Michigan's Copper Peak ski jump, once the tallest – and only – ski-flying facility in the western hemisphere. [December 12]

#8: Best of the Lake 2014

More than 1,200 voters helped us choose the Lake's very best, in 13 categories. [July 23]

#7: The Ice Caves of the Apostle Islands

Accessible on foot for the first time since 2009, the iced-over mainland sea caves at Wisconsin's Apostle Islands National Lakeshore went viral last winter, drawing a record 138,000 visitors and generating millions of unexpected dollars for nearby communities.

+ Late this year, in response to the extraordinary number of visitors, the National Park Service proposed, and eventually enacted, a $5 fee to visit the ice caves. According to Apostle Islands officials, "This fee is a cost recovery fee and would allow the park to cover the majority of the costs associated with staffing this event." [February 3]

#6: Western Lake Superior Nearly Frozen Over

A harbinger of an epic ice season: By January 22, more than half of Lake Superior had already frozen over. [January 22]

#5: Ice Cover Hits 95 Percent

Then, after more than three weeks of bitter cold, Lake Superior's ice cover reached 95 percent. [February 12]

#4: Watch: Ice Breaks Up at the Apostle Islands Sea Caves

The Apostle Islands ice caves were closed to visitors in mid-March, due to concerns about the ice conditions. In late April, the ice that allowed thousands to experience a true Lake Superior treasure finally broke up. A University of Wisconsin webcam captured the ice-out. [April 28]

#3: "Horrible" Ice Conditions Stall Shipping Season

While most of us, safely ashore, were marveling at the long-lingering ice, lakers and Coast Guard vessels struggled through 4-foot-thick ice to reach the Soo Locks:

One week into the shipping season, ice on Lake Superior has sent two vessels – including an icebreaker – limping back to port, and no laker has yet reached the Soo Locks.

Earlier in the month, U.S. Coast Guard vessel traffic manager Randy Elliott said, “We’re in an ice condition that hasn’t been seen in at least 20-plus years." [March 31]

#2: Video: 2013-14's Lake Superior Ice Season in 60 Seconds

After the U.S. Coast Guard concluded five months of ice-breaking work on the Great Lakes, we commemorated Lake Superior's iciest winter in decades with this video. Watch the ice develop in December, envelop the Lake in February and linger through the spring.

(And if a minute is too much time to spare, we made a 10-second GIF version, too. It's available at the link just above.) [May 16]

#1: What This Winter's Ice Bridge to Isle Royale Means for the Island and Its Wolves

And, finally, our most-read story of the year, by a wide margin.

The ice afforded us the opportunity to examine the plight of Isle Royale's wolves, the changes wrought by a warming climate and the management quandaries with which the National Park Service continues to grapple. [February 17]

A solid ice bridge over Lake Superior has formed between Isle Royale and the mainland, an increasingly rare link that could bring new life – quite literally – to an isolated and inbred Isle Royale National Park wolf population facing extirpation.

But whether or not wolves cross the 20-some miles of ice this winter, park officials say many of the island’s species face an uncertain future as the climate continues to warm.