Pictured: Ice islands form in the middle of Lake Michigan as massive snow boulders weighing 75 POUNDS wash ashore

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 00:52 GMT, 9 March 2013 | Updated: 00:54 GMT, 9 March 2013


As freezing temperatures continue to plague the Midwest, the chill has been particularly felt in the Great Lakes region where heaps of freezing water have piled up to form ice islands.

Outdoor enthusiast Josh Baker and his family came across the towering collection of ice blocks on Sunday in Lake Michigan off Emmet County. Area residents say the island formed over the course of six to eight weeks.

Cold weather and wind combined in the area along the Lake Michigan shoreline to build ice into islands mountains and caves. The brave soul faced the chilly temps to canoe across the frozen sheet covering the expansive water and explore the ice island.

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Pile of ice:

Piled high: Josh Baker stands atop an ice island that formed off Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula near Readmond Township, Mich.

Freezing

Freezing: The sun shining through the clouds isn't enough to melt away this heap of ice. Cold weather and wind combine in the area along the Lake Michigan shoreline to build ice into islands mountains and caves

The ice island is the latest winter creation of Lake Michigan to draw looks. Earlier this year, hundreds of ice balls and boulders piled up at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Park. They were the size of beach balls or basketballs.

In February, one cold weather enthusiast snapped stunning shots of the massive snow boulders, estimated to be about 75 pounds, that gathered nearby on the shore off the coast in northern Michigan.

The snowballs were spotted by a woman who was walking her dog at the Sleeping Bear Dunes national park.

'I thought it was the coolest thing ever especially since I've never seen anything like it,' said Leda Olmstead. 'I have a small English bulldog and they were as tall as her. They were pretty massive.'

Amazing: These ice boulders, estimated to weigh 75 pounds each, washed ashore in northern Michigan. Officials believe they broke off from hunks of ice floating in Lake Michigan and were rounded into shape by wind and waves

Amazing: These ice boulders, estimated to weigh 75 pounds each, washed ashore in northern Michigan. Officials believe they broke off from hunks of ice floating in Lake Michigan and were rounded into shape by wind and waves

Olmstead said the snow boulders lined the coast for about a 100-foot stretch and there appeared to be hundreds of them.

She was walking her two dogs, Zola and Bula, when she happened upon them.

Olmstead quickly pulled out her camera and took these amazing photographs that were picked up by local media.

Hundreds of the boulders lined the coast of Sleeping Bear Dunes national park when they were spotted by a local woman who was walking her dogs.

Hundreds of the boulders lined the coast of Sleeping Bear Dunes national park when they were spotted by a local woman who was walking her dogs.

'People think it's so boring and gross up here in the winter but I think it's beautiful,' Olmstead said of northern Michigan.

While the snow boulders seem like freak occurrences, or from another planet, weather experts provided a straight-forward explanation for how they came to be.

Sleeping Bear Park Ranger Amie Lipscomb told Michigan Live that the ice boulders begin to form - much like a pebble from actual boulders - when hunks of ice break off from the sheets that float in nearby Lake Michigan.

Then, after waves beat down on the pieces of ice, they become rounded and smoothed and are then washed ashore in seemingly perfect boulders.

There have been high-winds in the area of late which contribute to the boulders.

'Along the shoreline, lots of different ice formations form because of the waves crashing along the beach,' Lipscomb said.

What fun: Leda Olmstead and her two dogs enjoy the chance to play around with the massive ice boulders. She said people who have lived in the area their whole lives have never seen anything like it

What fun: Leda Olmstead and her two dogs enjoy the chance to play around with the massive ice boulders. She said people who have lived in the area their whole lives have never seen anything like it

Olmsted told The Weather Channel, 'Most of the people who've lived here their whole live said they've never seen anything like it either.

'So it's really cool.'