• Saturday-What'sUP April 7 - 07:35 am

After a recent storm, Donna MacIntosh looked out her window as the sun was coming up and this is what she saw. A very creative way to catch a sunrise, but that wasn't enough to satisfy her "inner photographer", so she waited and watched as the sun rose each day, only to capture the second photo with the sunrise shining up into the sky like a spotlight as it rose above the horizon. I'm assuming this is a sun pillar, similar to the ones we featured last week, but I don't think I've ever seen one quite like this.

beautiful pictures!

Spectacular! Thank you Donna.

WOW! Aren't those beautiful???

If you want to be the first in country to see the sunrise, go to Bar Harbor, Maine. Drive to outlook on top of Cadillac mountain in Acadia National park before sunup. The sign there says from that vantage point, if you were standing there by yourself, you would be the first person in America to see the sunrise that day. It is the Eastern most point in states.It is similar to being on a bigger version of the top of Mountain Drive.

Hey Neil, if you were flying at 10,000 feet over the Keweenaw would you see the sun rise before Bar Harbor or would you have to fly higher?

Viewing the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain must be quite spectacular. You might be lucky enough to catch a green flash from that vantage point!

Neil certainly triggered my 'armchair geographer' mode, and inspired a virtual visit to the coast of Maine, where I gathered the following bits o' trivia that I never quite realized or appreciated:

Surprisingly, the elevation of Cadillac Mountain (1520') is not dramatically higher than Brockway (1330), Mt. Bohemia (1440'), Mt. Houghton (1460) or Mt. Gratiot (1470') -- even lower than Mt. Curwood (1978') and Mt. Arvon (1979')! (Elevations above Lake Superior, of course would each be roughly 600' less.)

As to the eastern most point in [the] states, while 'tis generally true that Cadillac Mountain is indeed close I find the true "easternmost point in the states" is in fact West Quoddy Head, near Lubec, ME — roughly 63 miles east and 32 miles north of Cadillac Mountain. (Although I certainly do not mean to be argumentative or to quibble with Neil!)

Far enough east? Betcha didn't know, West Quoddy Head is in fact more than 163 miles east of Nantucket, MA and 825 miles east of Miami, FL and on the same longitude as Mayaguez, Puerto Rico and Caracas, Venezuela!

As far as latitude, however, the northern tip of the Keweenaw (at approximately 4.25 mi west of Copper Harbor) is approximately 1.294 nautical miles (1.5 statute miles) further north than the northern most tip of Maine! That would put the northern tip of Maine at the latitude of beautiful downtown Eagle Harbor, MI, or the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge!

I have a hunch that folks who love the Keweenaw and the UP would find a lot to like about "da nort woods" of Maine as well!

I set the camera in as close to the same spot for these two photos as I could. They show the shift to the north and time of day for visible sunrise.

The sun was up earlier in the first one but appeared at 8:01 due to the fact that it rose behind land and trees rather than the flat lake. The second picture was taken at 7:23. They also show the changing ice patterns of spring melt.

A difference of two weeks in sunrise.

Alex "UP-Goldwinger" (Alex):
"if you were flying at 10,000 feet over the Keweenaw would you see the sun rise before Bar Harbor ..."

I'm afraid you'd have to be quite a bit higher.

For a "real hasty" calculation:
The straight line of sight distance d in kilometers to the true horizon on earth is approximately:

However, the northernmost point in the 48 contiguous states is near Angle Inlet in Lake of the Woods. It's part of the mainland, but the only way to reach it from the rest of Minnesota by land is to go through Canada. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

P.S.: Someone has WAY too much time on their hands to be doing (much less, posting) math calculations on a Saturday afternoon!! ;-)

FRNash: Thanks for the detailed explanation. Neil might make it that far, but he would definitely need a couple of cans of Red Bull.

Capt. Paul (Eclogite):
"... the northernmost point in the 48 contiguous states is near Angle Inlet in Lake of the Woods."

Yes, neat, eh? Betcha very few people know that!

"P.S.: Someone has WAY too much time on their hands ..

That's fer sure. (Darned mathemagicians, anyway!)
Can ya tell I don't want to tackle that 'round tuit' list?