An unusually warm night for January, allowed us to explore the winter shore in relative comfort, despite the high winds which played havoc with long exposure photography. The trees moved, the camera moved, everything moved during the 4 second exposures.
During our hour or two visit, we didn't see or hear another person anywhere, not even passing on the road nearby. This is not unusual for a cold, winter visit, but this evening was right around 32 degrees, I expected to see a few people on the beach.
Plenty of footprints lead from the viewing area to the beach, and then onto the mounds of shelf ice. Large cracks and hole can be seen in this ice, and especially with the high winds creating waves, the mounds can break off and roll into the freezing cold water.
The yellow light pollution from the city of Chicago, some 40 miles away, illuminated the sky, making the horizon look almost like sunset, but looking up a bit, the stars can be seen. The evening began cloudy, then as we explored the shore, the clouds rolled out a bit, exposing the stars over Lake Michigan.
The warm weather is expected for a couple of days, then back to the cold again. Time will tell how the changes in temperature, wind speed and direction will affect the mounds of shelf ice along the shore. Generally, these changes create much more interesting shapes and mounds - I'll certainly visit again soon to see for myself.
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