Cruising Lake Superior

On Saturday, I went on my first boat ride on Lake Superior. Clay and I went with a friend from work. The cruise was called A View From The Lake through the University of Minnesota (and other sponsoring agencies). We left from Two Harbors (about 30 minutes north of Duluth) around 9:45A and spent about 2 1/2 hours on the lake.

The trip was an educational one, with the main goals of highlighting the problems of storm water run-off, mercury and global warming. While out there, we played a watershed game, collected plankton from a 47 meter water column, and pulled out worms and shrimp-like creatures from a bottom sample (collected at 370 feet). We also looked at pervious pavement, a composite concrete in which water flows right though. An interesting idea that needs a little more experimentation in the Northland.

Fun fact of the trip: Lake Superior has a flush rate of roughly 185 years. This means that a particular drop of water (or pollutant) would take 185 years to leave the lake. Lake Erie on the other hand, has an approximate flush rate of 5-10 years.

We couldn't have asked for a better day to travel on the lake. The breeze was nice, but the sun was warm. A nice break from the heatwave we've been having.