Last Day at the Beach, Summer 2010

This was the last day at the beach at Whitefish Dunes State Park in Door County, Wisconsin: August 29, 2010 A.D.

There were a lot of people on the beach because the water temperature was only 57 degrees.

Farther up the beach there were fewer people.

The warm sand was soft and fine.  Sometimes erosion washes away much of the sand, but August 2010 was a good month with lots of beach.

The overall temperature in Northeastern Wisconsin was 88 degrees.  The 30 degree difference in temperature between the water and the humid air caused a cool mist to roll in over the beach.  The water may have been cold, but one can’t go to the beach on a hot day without going for a swim.  Right?

A father and son walked along the beach with a football.

Grassy hills and trees stand behind the beach.

The mist thickens.  The picture above has a flaw in it, but it’s good enough to share electronically (because it’s still cool, and it’s the only picture like it that I took that day).

Someday, I’d like to share pictures of various state parks in a large format book.  I wonder if anyone would be interested in such a project.

The sun shines over the trees through the mist.

The waning sun still warms the sandy beach.

Sun beams shine through the trees and mist.  The sun sets behind the trees and the dunes casting long shadows on the beach about an hour before the official sunset on the flat horizon.

White birch trees stand over a picnic table.  This picnic table is at the top of the trail leading to the second beach.  (The only facilities here are a couple of outhouses).

This is a view from Old Baldy, the tallest dune in the park.

The golden sun is starting to set.  This picture was taken from one of the trails on the north side of Old Baldy.  The beach with the mist is on the other side of the dunes.  It’s time to start walking back to the car.

This picture was taken from the beach again on the lake side of the dunes.  A little change in geography can definitely change the atmosphere.  (The last two pictures in this post were taken only 27 minutes apart).  The sun has set on the horizon, and the cool atmospheric fog has definitely rolled in.

May God bless you.

Read Full Post »

Water Quality at Whitefish Dunes State Park

On Sunday, June 21, 2009 A.D., the first day of Summer, I went to the beach determined to get wet.

As soon as I stepped on the beach at Whitefish Dunes State Park in Door County, Wisconsin, my nose knew something was wrong.  Raw sewage.  The water was a thick soup of disgusting green algae, and the rocks near the beach smelled of raw sewage.  Not even my feet got wet that day.  Disappointing.

I figured the sewage came from the usual suspects: Milwaukee or Chicago, but who knows.  Everybody has sewage, but not everyone accidentally dumps it into public waterways.  Anyway, I spent my time hiking and taking pictures of seagulls.

On Tuesday, June 24, 2009 A.D., the following news blurb appeared in the Appleton Post-Crescent:

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District says heavy rains caused 935.7 million gallons of sewage and storm-water from combined sewers to be dumped into area waterways.

The district noted that overflows happened because of severe storms early Friday …  It said intense rainfall quickly filled the 405-million-gallon Deep Tunnel, which can hold sewage for later treatment.

The district estimated that overflows from combined sewers only contain 5 percent to 15 percent of raw sewage and water from homes.

The wording of the news blurb is funny but typical.  Whew!  What a relief!  According to estimates, only 5 to 15 percent of the overflow was raw sewage.  Let’s see, 5% of 936 million gallons is only 47 million gallons of raw sewage.

47 to 140 million gallons of raw sewage.  From one city.  In one day.

Read Full Post »