Babs has been perched on a ridge contemplating the long view. She writes, Not too much sunshine here lately, but interesting skies and the trees are full of color. This was taken from Cairn Highway looking at the end of the Old Mission Peninsula.
From this perspective, you can see why a settlement at the tip of Old Mission made sense. In the context of the nineteenth century in northern Michigan, it was centrally located on the major highway. We lose track of this—we think of lakes as something to go around on our way from here to there, but in 1850 they were the way to get from here to there.
One thing hasn’t changed. They’re still beautiful.
Every week photographer Babs Young captures moments in northern Michigan, and every week she sends one to Torch Lake Views just for you. You can find more of her photos at the Babs Young Photo Archives and on her Blue Heaven Flickr photostream.
Torch Lake Views 
uphilldowndale
January 18, 2010
There is always a logic to the way things are, if you look from a previous perspective it all makes sense. Food, safety, ease of travel.
Around here all our old routes are high on the hillside, to boggy to have tracks and roads in the valley bottom.
Gerry
January 19, 2010
So the fellrunners are simply traversing historic paths, eh? Certainly it’s easy to see how the high road would give a person a chance to avoid trouble. It’s different out west, but in my part of the world a really big hill is less than 900 feet high. Often much less. But ah, the lakes . . .
isathreadsoflife
January 19, 2010
This is a fabulous view ! How interesting to know about this approach about lakes being “the way to get from here to there”. Here it also explains the construction of medieval towns like Fribourg at the side of a river. An indispensable way for communications and commerce.
Gerry
January 19, 2010
Yes, cities grew up along our rivers, too, especially along those that flow into the Great Lakes or the Mississippi River and on to the Gulf of Mexico. Little islands in Lake Michigan that are very quiet today were bustling fueling stops for the freight and passenger ships that sailed the inland seas in the 19th century. Rushing rivers in New England powered the textile mills. More placid rivers were the superhighways of their time–and are still a good way to move heavy freight.
I admire European cities with castles and cathedrals perched on the high ground above the river. Nothing quite like the combination of hills and river valleys for breathtaking scenery.
Anna Surface
January 19, 2010
Beautiful. Reminds me somewhat of Kansas scenes and some of the shots I’ve taken. Lovely capture of Northern Michigan.
Gerry
January 19, 2010
Thank you, Anna – Babs has a gift, no doubt about it. Like you, she is photographing a landscape she loves, always finding something new.
p.j. grath
January 19, 2010
The logic of migration and settlement pleases me because it follows nature’s curves rather than mathematical logic’s artificial grids, here in Florida as Up North in Michigan. It’s good to be able to drop in and visit you, Gerry. How deep is the snow these days?
Gerry
January 19, 2010
Good morning, PJ! A lot of the snow that was here when you left has melted away. We’ve been having Unseasonably Warm Weather, with the occasional bit of sunshine. Put us in a fine mood all over the Township. It’s still January, though, and today it is snowing in the drumlins, ever so gently. By the weekend we’ll be grousing about the weather again.