PICTURED ROCKS

cliff formations of red Cambrian sandstone, extending east of Munising for about 15 miles (24 km) along the southern shore of Lake Superior in Alger county, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S. Rising to 200 feet (60 m) above the shoreline, the cliffs are multicoloured and form intricate designs, caves, and columns carved by wind and wave action. They were named as the dwelling place of the gods of thunder and lightning in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha. The area was created a national lakeshore by the U.S. Congress in 1966 and includes Grand Sable Dunes and Banks (west of Grand Marais) and surrounding forest.