Well, this lake is indeed superior

June 28, 2022 4:15 AM

(CW: Just a bit risqué; Twitter links as noted.) Chilly Lake Superior stands with women's right to choose (Twitter), but did you know the lake itself is capable of delivering a massive burn (Twitter)? Gordon Lightfoot might need to put out a new album (Twitter).

About Lake Superior (Wikipedia)

Shipwrecks of Lake Superior. Then there's new finds. (Smithsonian Mag) And a newer find (Global News, video included).

The serenity of Lake Superior. (Getty Images)

Hope this bit of a humorous look at the ways we can find a moment of wonder in nature or due to one of its social media gurus is a nice break.

posted by warriorqueen (28 comments total)

The Great Lakes fascinate me. I've always lived within a short drive of the ocean and by comparison a lake is a relatively calm body of water that you can always see the opposite shore of. The largest lakes I've ever seen are Lake Winnipesaukee and Sebago Lake and it just wierds me out that there could be a body of fresh water that is large enough to have a true horizon, waves, and even "tides" (seiches) and support ocean-going vessels.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:26 AM on June 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

As one person tweeted, fine I'll follow a lake on twitter.
posted by interogative mood at 5:44 AM on June 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

...a body of fresh water that is large enough to have a true horizon, waves, and even "tides" (seiches) and support ocean-going vessels.

And a growing surfing scene! Lake Superior surfing comes with some added challenges such as less buoyancy, more closely-spaced waves, and (since the biggest waves are in the colder months) ice.
posted by theory at 6:04 AM on June 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

"I am the greatest lake of all time. G.L.O.A.T. (she/her) #BigBeautifulWater"

love it.
posted by martin q blank at 6:23 AM on June 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

I live in Kingston, which is right on Lake Ontario, and as someone who grew up around the Gulf of Mexico for a lot of my childhood, I scoffed at the idea that the Great Lakes were really that big.

Nope, they are and it's pretty amazing. Even my mom said on her first visit here, "Wait, that's a lake!?"
posted by Kitteh at 6:50 AM on June 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

Hah. Thanks for this.

@LakeSuperior is a great follow in that "hey, there is stuff on Twitter that's informative and fun, it's not all toxic sludge" kinda way. And as its recent tweets have shown, when the chips are down, that lake is there when it matters.

it just wierds me out that there could be a body of fresh water that is large enough to have a true horizon, waves, and even "tides" (seiches) and support ocean-going vessels.

You might enjoy this footage from the deck of the Cason J. Calloway during a storm on Superior.

At the risk of being self-linky (to a Metafilter post, that is), the Port of Duluth and the various webcams and YouTube accounts that document the ship traffic through it are pretty great.

I grew up on Lake Huron, but I accept Superior's status as the G.L.O.A.T.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:53 AM on June 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

In 2016 I was camping on Grand Island when the weather turned nasty. I could only get Twitter to work. So I tweeted something along the lines of "On an island in the middle of a Lake Superior storm and I can only get on Twitter. Double whammy." When I woke up the next morning I was amused to see the Lake itself had liked my tweet. It's the only good thing to come out of that awful night.
posted by MaritaCov at 7:04 AM on June 28, 2022 [18 favorites]

> it just weirds me out that there could be a body of fresh water that is large enough to have a true horizon, waves, and even "tides" (seiches) and support ocean-going vessels.

Honestly if you just think of them as inland freshwater oceans it'll make more sense. (Grew up along one of the Great Lakes, lived near another in grad school, and honestly all other "lakes" seem like glorified ponds to me. I low-key enjoyed when we had grad student/postdoc/faculty candidates from the East/West coast whose minds were blown by the reality of the Great Lakes!)
posted by ASF Tod und Schwerkraft at 7:08 AM on June 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

As often as I find myself loathing the Twittersphere these days, accounts like this remind me there is still light to be found in that realm.
posted by johnxlibris at 7:25 AM on June 28, 2022

I low-key enjoyed when we had grad student/postdoc/faculty candidates from the East/West coast whose minds were blown by the reality of the Great Lakes!

I drove once from Toronto to Montreal with a Swiss woman. When after three hours we stopped for lunch at Sandbanks Provincial Park, she asked what lake we were beside. When I revealed it was still Lake Ontario, she initially thought I was joking.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:39 AM on June 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the reply turns your tweet towards ratio?
posted by nubs at 7:56 AM on June 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

I'm confident I have a lot more experience in making things wet than you do.

That's gonna hurt come winter.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:05 AM on June 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

if anyone needs a handy mnemonic for remembering the great lakes
posted by i used to be someone else at 8:31 AM on June 28, 2022 [11 favorites]

I was really happy not knowing who Tom Fitton was until today. Thanks Lake Superior....
posted by fluffycreature at 8:47 AM on June 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I managed to get mild hypothermia swimming in lake Superior on the north shore last summer. It felt cold but not that cold, though I guess spending 40 minutes in the water will get you eventually.
posted by Ferreous at 9:23 AM on June 28, 2022

I lost my shit laughing at "Lake Superior hasn't wrecked anyone this hard since the Edmund Fitzgerald." Fantastic.
posted by bile and syntax at 9:48 AM on June 28, 2022 [9 favorites]

I live 6 minutes from Lake Erie...just a wee bit South of Buffalo. It's the shallowest of the lakes. But on many days we have impressive waves...come winter, watch out for the ice chunks crowding up on the shore ...much to the dismay of homes built right in the lake. I've come to refer to it as Lake Eerie.
posted by Czjewel at 9:51 AM on June 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Just another reason supporting the local saying of Superior that "The Lake is the Boss."
posted by Preserver at 10:06 AM on June 28, 2022

I lost my shit laughing at "Lake Superior hasn't wrecked anyone this hard since the Edmund Fitzgerald." Fantastic.

And Diedrich Bader (Lawrence from Office Space - and a voice actor in every cartoon made since 1995) is involved in that twitter conversation.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:27 AM on June 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I see an opportunity to share a tune from Rae Spoon's Superior You Are Inferior, and I share: Great Lakes
posted by elkevelvet at 11:44 AM on June 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I lost my shit laughing at "Lake Superior hasn't wrecked anyone this hard since the Edmund Fitzgerald." Fantastic.

Right in the Gitche Gumees.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:39 PM on June 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

I kayak a lot on Lake Superior and our saying is “the lake is the boss”. Whenever doing an overnight trip to one of the islands I always let people know that I might be late getting back due to being weather bound and there is generally no cel service there.

There are usually a few deaths per year from people not taking the lake seriously. Storm systems come out of nowhere and you haven’t seems the maws of hell until you’ve kayak in 8ft Superior waves.

As for surfing. Keep in mind that 40F degree water can feel balmy compared to -20F air temps. The ice beards are the thing to behold.
posted by misterpatrick at 12:48 PM on June 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

if anyone needs a handy mnemonic for remembering the great lakes

When I was a kid the mnemonic they taught us on Open Door To Michigan was "HOMES".
posted by rfs at 12:49 PM on June 28, 2022

I have been to the biggest lake on the biggest island in the biggest lake -- but we didn't swim out to the larger of its small islands, alas. *sigh*

Isle Royale, I will come back to you someday, but that means crossing mighty Superior again.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:34 PM on June 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Here's a pic of Isle Royale I took while flying to Thunder Bay three or so years ago. Had some great Lake Superior views on that flight since it was a nice clear day.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:49 PM on June 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

Oh, mandolin conspiracy, I love that view! Thank you!

You can totally see how it's just a giant fold in the Earth's crust that rears up through the water.

I hiked the island in 1988, and never forgot that week. (Especially crossing and re-crossing the main ridge...)
posted by wenestvedt at 10:51 AM on June 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

My pleasure, wenestvedt. I was wondering why this felt like a familiar discussion here, and...

...it seems we've been here before. It's just such a cool geological feature, though!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:29 PM on June 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

OK, that's funny. :7)

High five, mandolin conspiracy!
posted by wenestvedt at 2:22 PM on July 4, 2022 [2 favorites]