So the wife and I have nicknamed our little slice of heaven on Lake Huron in the UP, “The Quarry.” It’s about an acre of land and we are currently buying it from my grandfather. For some reason, in 1993, he decided to buy the land, and never did a thing to it. Nothing. It remained vacant and unused – for 10 years – until I “discovered” it. For fourth of July, 2003, just before my 23rd birthday, I camped on that land for the first time and started a journey which has become an obsession ever since: moving rocks. making mining a beach, by hand and pry bar. It’s a slow process, but in nine years some serious progress has been made, most of which has been completed in the last 16 months (six weekends). To borrow a line from Ron Burgundy:“I’m a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That’s what kind of man I am.”
My wife first came up with the name, The Quarry, last summer. One OCD afternoon of rock moving, she said it was like we were in a rock quarry mining all these rocks out of here. It stuck.
The following images are from the process, starting in July 2003. The first image is a scanned photograph. This was probably one of the very last rolls of film I put through my Canon Elan 7E before I was introduced to the Canon 10D and had my world rocked.
July 4, 2003 | Just a foot path that doesn’t even make it to the water.
April 23, 2011 | That’s a long gap from 2003. I don’t have any images from that time dedicated to rock clearing. In that eight years we had plenty of visits, mostly just quick over-nighters before we jumped on the ferry and backpacked on Drummond Island. August 2005 marks the first appearance of Sarah Thelen, the soon to be Mrs. Patrick J Garrett.
Notice the great clearing to the left, but also notice the beginning of my first mistake: not having a plan. Once I made the first wall right in the middle of this image, I notice it’s in the middle of “play area.” Time to start over and start a new wall on the far right on the property line (a mistake I cursed time and time again as I moved those rocks twice). I highlighted the same rock in green as a reference point for you, which never moves, throughout these images. Here, notice that green rock is the same height as the wall.
July 4, 2011 | things are really starting to take shape. We’ve made some major progress on sub project ‘remove inner wall’ and have a clear defined goal of a section completed. “What the hell’s going on with that Stonehenge thingy you got goin on up there?” – my dad.
April 7, 2012 | Section almost empty! There’s just a few rocks left that I have dubbed “icebergs” (just the tip) or I need a second set of hands to help roll out of there. Friends will be coming soon to help with that. I’ve also cleared an additional 10 ft at the bottom of this image and added a wall. This represents a 50 ft wide section and the halfway point of our 100 ft of frontage.
May 15, 2012 | The OCD really grabs hold. I dedicate 36 hours to blasting a new path along the property line. I go overboard. I run a plum-line. I get pissed that I can’t move that one big effer by myself but I’m by myself. What am I gonna do? This solo trip also marks the upgrade from “standard 36 in. crow bar” to “60 in. 40 lb. breaker bar.” Efficiency greatly improves.
May 15, 2012 vs. July 2, 2012 | The new path. So much better than the original. Here’s a before an after of the most recent weekend. Surprisingly when you have 10 sets of hands, shit gets done fast! Yeah!
July 2, 2012 | Holy Shit we got a lot done in three nights! Thank you all who helped! This was my third Fourth of July here, my wife’s second, and this year we decided to start a tradition and invite all of our camp friends along for the great times. This year we had 10 adults, 3 children under the age four, and 4 dogs. Hopefully this is a start of a great tradition that we can share with you for ages. Can’t wait to have you all up again next year (and not just for your labor, ha!).
This weekend also marks the first appearance of the “Lower Pit” where we can now enjoy fires on the beach.
July 4, 2003 | Grandpa Jack and I.
One Comment (Add Yours)