The massive 75-pound ice boulders that washed ashore in Michigan are the size of a dog and are now “washing ashore” on Facebook and on YouTube. Leda Olmsted, the woman who discovered the massive 75-pound ice boulders, is known in the news media, Facebook, and YouTube as “the woman who was walking her dog at the Sleeping Bear Dunes national park.” Thanks to the social media, Leda Olmsted is no longer the only woman who is in awe of the massive boulders.
According to a Feb. 28, 2013, Daily Mail report, Leda Olmsted was out walking along Good Harbor Beach with her dogs, Zola and Bula, when she first discovered the massive ice boulders.
“I thought it was the coolest thing ever especially since I've never seen anything like it. … I have a small English bulldog and they were as tall as her. They were pretty massive.”
After having posted pictures of the massive ice boulders on her Facebook page, the boulders have “rolled” over to YouTube and are becoming a worldwide sensation.
On Feb. 28, 2013, BBC World Exclusive uploaded a video of the boulders on YouTube with the description, “These massive snow boulders, estimated to be about 75 pounds, have washed ashore off the coast in northern Michigan. The stunning snowballs, seemingly from another planet, were spotted by a woman who was walking her dog at the Sleeping Bear Dunes national park.”
On Feb. 28, 2013, NewsAroundU also published a video of the massive ice boulders on YouTube with the description, “The coolest beach in America: Hundreds of giant ice boulders weighing 75 POUNDS wash ashore in Michigan. These massive snow boulders, estimated to be about 75 pounds, have washed ashore off the coast in northern Michigan. The stunning snowballs were spotted by a woman who was walking her dog at the Sleeping Bear Dunes national park.”
On her Facebook page, Leda Olmsted wrote that “I've never seen anything like it. A few people told me they have heard of it happening from something they saw on TV about weird weather occurrences.”
For Sleeping Bear Park Ranger Amie Lipscomb, the hundreds of massive ice boulders that are lining the coast of Sleeping Bear Dunes national park in Michigan are not quite a weird weather occurrence.
The park ranger explained that the massive round ice boulders are similar to the rounded and smooth stones that usually wash up on the beach; except the ice boulders are not smaller parts of bigger rocks but smaller parts of the large ice sheets that cover Lake Michigan.
After pieces of ice break off the large ice sheets, the waves “tumble and pummel the ice” and form the roundness and smooth surface of the massive ice boulders.
Like the small round and smooth pebbles one can find along the shore, the massive ice boulders also wash up on shore.
Park Ranger Amie Lipscomb said that “recent high winds have whipped up strong waves along Lake Michigan” which most likely have brought the massive ice boulders to Sleeping Bear Dunes national park.
Even though Park Ranger Lipscomb’s explanation for the appearance of the massive ice boulders makes certainly sense, how would she explain the fact that by now the massive ice boulders (or at least pictures of them) have rolled over to Facebook and YouTube?
Maybe Leda Olmsted, “the woman who was walking her dog at the Sleeping Bear Dunes national park” and played with her dog among the massive boulders in Michigan best summed it up for many in three easy words.
“Mother Nature rules."
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