Lake Superior Aquaman: My Origin Story
Aqualad and Aquadad
“Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious.” – Carl Jung
How did I start dressing like Aquaman to chronicle my adventures in and around Lake Superior?
Aqualad and Aquadad
“Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious.” – Carl Jung
How did I start dressing like Aquaman to chronicle my adventures in and around Lake Superior?
Looking ahead to winter
It was a good summer. The lake was warm enough to swim for a span of several weeks. I took full advantage of the aqua-recreational opportunities, which I chronicled here. I have no natural love of fall, but this year I am looking at it as what it is: the long, slow, beginning of winter. And since I feel fortified against the coming colder weather, snowfall, and ice conditions, I am making plans.
This video by Erik Wilkie documents a Sept. 3 surf outing at Stoney Point on Lake Superior, just south of Knife River.
I first launched this sort-of virtual tour of the area in January 2018. I just updated it with more than 30 new features, including more than 130 new photos, several video links, links to news articles, the paths of my various “skate patrols” and “flamingo patrols,” The People’s Free Skate, a greater spread through the region, and all my latest activities. Enjoy.
Minnesota-based nature photographers Jon Smithers and Craig Blacklock shot this video near Shipwreck Point on Lake Superior’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore at Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. When a section of the sandstone cliff collapses, a group of kayakers is just far enough away to avoid injury.
Caught by Steven Gotchie and Jordan Korzenowski on Lake Superior, about five miles out from the Aerial Lift Bridge.
Lake Superior water temps rise to roughly 60°F in late July, but even that can feel like a “frigid ice box” for folks like photographer Kip Praslowicz.
Someone sent this along.
Duluth skipped its way toward competing internationally yesterday at the inaugural People’s Free Rock-Skipping Contest.
With Duluth’s natural renewable bounty of perfect skipping rocks, the time is now to claim the mantle of one of the top rock-skipping destinations in the world. I propose a Duluth League that plays by its own rules, owing to our iconoclastic position as Outdoor Adventure Capital of the United States. Envision a day when Duluth’s rock-skipping force fans out over the globe to win championships and decimate festivals. Tomorrow (Saturday July 13, 2PM Leif Erikson Park) will usher in such an age. A Facebook comment about the contest said, “I remember a rock-skipping contest in Duluth in the 1950s.” It’s revealing of Duluth’s decades-long funk that this never blossomed into an annual contest, or festival, in the intervening 70 years. By comparison, look at what the Michiganders of Mackinac Island have going: they just had the 51st Annual Stone Skipping Competition and the Governor comes and skips the first stone. If Duluth had kept its 1950s contest going, we’d be ahead of Mackinac Island by 20 years…
This Saturday, July 13, 2PM, Leif Erikson Park beach. Prizes are gift certificates etc. donated from local businesses (Pizza Luce, Vikre Distillery, Hoops Brewing, Sir Ben’s, Global Village, Whole Foods Co-op, Duluth Coffee Company). If the weather turns on us we will reschedule, but it’s supposed to be full sun and little-to-no wind, which is critical for great rock-skipping. From the folks behind the People’s Free Skate, this is the first of what must become an ongoing rock-skipping festival, either annually or more, a lifestyle choice. Aren’t we having informal rock-skipping contests all summer anyway? All I know is, Lake Superior produces truly great skipping rocks, and Duluth deserves to be known as The Rock-Skipping Capitol of the World. Read on for contest rules!
Working closely with the Sheriff to keep y’all safe over the past few days.
