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Love Our Lakeshore: the power of nature
November 24, 2025
During this challenging time of change for our nation and for our national parks, Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore wants to shine a bright light – a lighthouse beacon if you will – on this very special place and on the people dedicated to protecting the national lakeshore for future generations. That’s the goal of our series entitled “Love our Lakeshore.” (You can tell us why you Love Our Lakeshore by filling out our simple form at this link.)
In this report Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore board member Neil Howk squeezes in one more hike before the snow flies, to witness the power of nature. And based on the current snowy forcast for Thanksgiving week, his timing was perfect.
This week I walked the section of the Lakeshore Trail between lunch beach (east of the mainland sea caves) and the campsite at the trail’s end. I had not explored this area in a couple years and wanted to see it before it was covered with snow. The day was gloomy, overcast, and breezy. I’ve been listening to “the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” a lot recently and this was a good day to contemplate the power of the gales of November.
Downed fir trees near Lunch Beach – Click to enlarge
The first evidence of this power was obvious in the forest above lunch beach. A northwest gale off the lake had torn into the fir and birch trees near the shore. They were tipped over or snapped off and left lying on the ground like oversized pick-up sticks. Fortunately, the trail at this spot was far enough inland that it was relatively unscathed by the windthrown trees.
I followed the trail down to the shore near the east end of lunch beach where the strength of the waves washed away all the sand, leaving behind fist-sized cobbles and larger boulders. (as shown in the featured image at the top of the page.)
These rocks were all carried here in the glaciers that bulldozed across the region and covered the Bayfield Peninsula more than 10,000 years ago. As the glaciers melted, all the rocks, cobbles, and sand that were locked in the ice were deposited over the landscape in layers of glacial till. Close inspection of the beach rocks reveals not only pieces of local sandstone; but basalt, granite, dolomite and other types of rocks from all around the Lake Superior basin.
Mainland campsite with bear box and picnic table – Neil Howk photo
As I neared the campsite, the trail emerged from the woods onto a beach covered in a layer of black sand known as a lag deposit. Storm waves tend to erode sandy shorelines. As winds subside after a storm, waves slowly lose their energy allowing suspended sand grains to settle on the beach. Sand grains are composed of a variety of minerals like quartz, feldspar, and magnetite. The black grains of iron-rich magnetite are heavier than the other minerals and are the first to settle out after a storm creating these areas of black sand.
Pebble beach – Neil Howk photo
Waves shape the shoreline – Neil Howk photo
Black sand – Neil Howk photo
Snow bunting on sandy beach – Neil Howk photo
As I thought about the landscape carving power of wind, ice and waves, I suddenly noticed that I was not alone. I may have avoided the snow but was pleased to find a single snow bunting following my tracks on the beach. We looked each other over, then the bunting took off and flashed its white wing patches at me as it flew down the beach. The power of nature to surprise and delight us with unexpected beauty helped brighten up an otherwise gloomy day.
Neil Howk began working as a park ranger/interpreter for the National Park Service in 1978. He worked at a number of different parks over the years and served as the assistant chief of interpretation at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore from 1993-2016. He now serves as a board member of Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
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