Ice Formations along Grand Traverse Bay

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and dynamic speaker. 

She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile journeys exploring the Great Lakes and has authored three books about these adventures. 

To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to 

http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/

Winter changes the Great Lakes.

Many people think that ice just forms on the top of the lakes, sealing the lower liquid for a time. It can do that, but it is also infinitely more creative. 

Water transforms, coats, blows, and freezes.

Below are a few photos taken on a single day along the shoreline of Grand Traverse Bay in Traverse City.

Just look at what nature created:

Frozen spray locked these milkweed seeds in place

Ice balls form around grasses and reeds along the shoreline...

...then the weight of the ice snaps off the reed and the ice ball floats away

Buddy ice mounds hanging out along the bayshore

Ice volcano

Melded ice balls locked in sheet ice