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| Cripple Coot arrives on the beach below Au Sable Point Lighthouse |
The Crippled Coot's last left our latest journey to the Au Sable Point Light Station at the
trio pair of shipwrecks we encountered on the beach less than a half mile from the lighthouse itself. Because of our back and forth on the beach (due to mislabeled and misleading signage) we'd had nearly doubled our mileage, not to mention the fact that my usual form of exploring is to "take my time getting there". Needless to say, we were already feeling a little fatigued.
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It's good to get there!
A1.8 mile trail turned into 3 miles back and forth on the beach. |
Here's the
Wiki-history of the lighthouse:
The Au Sable Light Station was built in 1874 on Au Sable Point, a well known hazard on Lake Superior's "shipwreck coast". The Au Sable Point reef is a shallow ridge of sandstone that in places is only 6 feet (1.8 m) below the surface and extends nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) into Lake Superior. The Au Sable Point reef was one the greatest dangers facing ships coasting along the south shore of Lake Superior during the early shipping days when keeping land in sight was the main navigational method. The Au Sable Point reef was known as a "ship trap" that ensnared many ships, including the passenger ship Lady Elgin which was stranded there in 1859.
The shoreline in this area is considered one of North America's most beautiful, "but in the 1800s it was considered one of the most deadly because of unpredictable features below the surface and violent storms and blinding fogs above." The reef extends nearly a mile out as a ridge of sandstone a few feet below the surface. The shallow water caught many a vessel following the shore. Turbulence was common when the lake was "pushed in by violent storms out of the north and northwest." Thick fogs resulted from the mix of frigid lake air and warmth from the sand dunes. "As early as 1622, French explorers called the region 'most dangerous when there is any storms'."
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| Au Sable Light Station was built to prevent ships having their bottoms torn open by the nearby sandstone shoals. |
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| Shallow sandstone rock (like the ones I'm standing on) extend up to a mile from shore, waiting to snag and wreck unwary mariners of past eras. |
As is common with old lighthouses, the Au Sable Point Light Station sits on a prominence with a wide and vast field of vision over Lake Superior, making the vista from the environs of the facility very impressive. That's all good and fine if you're on top of the crest, having arrived on the flat forest path from the Hurricaine River Campground. It's a little less convenient when arriving from the beach.
To help you, my dear friend and reader, better place Au Sable Point Light Station into a proper perspective, here's a link to the Google map satellite view of the area -
MAP - as well as a vintage USCGS aerial shot of the lighthouse. The attached Coast Guard picture doesn't really capture the prominence of the point's elevation above the beach.
I'm guessing that to get from the beach up to the level of the light station, it's a 50' to 75' climb directly up an unstable sand face . National Park Service provided an odd surface for the climb, essentially it was like an oversized ladder, horizontal lengths of fence post material suspended at about three foot lengths on a pair of parallel wire cables running down the face of the sand about three feet apart.
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| United States Coast Guard photo of Au Sable Lighthouse in Michigan. |
I was able to stair-step up the incline, each foot balanced along my hiking boot's insole on the horizontal post with every step. It was steep and I maintained a steady balance only by leaning forward with every step while using a pair of trekking poles, one in each hand, to help with the balance.
Poor Mrs Crippled Coot wasn't so lucky! I'm sorry to say that I don't have any pictures, but it must be said that she was a sight to behold, coming up that trail on her hands and knees. My wife crawled up the whole way, unable to take large enough steps to walk on top of the wooden posts as I had, she found the most expedient way was to crawl up the side of the hill.
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| Au Sable Point Light Station circa 2012 |
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| The lighthouse tower and attached keepers' quarters were designed by Colonel Orlando Metcalfe Poe. In this capacity he designed eight "Poe style lighthouses" and oversaw construction of several. Poe was named District Engineer for the Eleventh Lighthouse District, Those lights are New Presque Isle Light (1870) on Lake Huron, Lake Michigan's South Manitou Island Light (1872), Grosse Point Light (1873) in Evanston, Illinois, Lake Superior's Au Sable Light (1874), Racine, Wisconsin's Wind Point Light (1880); Outer Island Light (1874) in the Apostle Islands, Little Sable Point Light (1874) on Lake Michigan, Manistique, Michigan's Seul Choix Light (1895) and Spectacle Reef Light. |
Feeling terrible that Mrs Coot was in such a state, crawling on all fours up the hillside, I did hike back down the to relieve her of the camera, to try and make her task easier. I also offered some (perhaps less than helpful) advice about how she might be able to walk up the posts in a more dignified manner.
In all her graciousness, and perhaps as a tribute to her German Mennonite heritage, she did refrain from cursing at me, not even under her breath did she take the Lord's name in vain either. She simply just crawled the rest of the way up the hillside, and, feeling her dignity restored, simply brushed the sand off her hands, knees, and shorts, when she got to the top.
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| View towards Grand Sable Banks (sand dunes
perched 200 feet above the lakeshore) from Au Sable Light Station |
While my fairer half was reduced to crawling up the steep sandy incline, a nice younger couple stopped at the top of the trail to consider dropping down to beach level to get a different perspective. I encouraged them to the best of my ability, explaining about the shipwrecks on the beach not far away as an added attraction, but my efforts were without avail.
In addition to being 20 to 30 years younger than myself, they were far stronger and certainly more fit than Mrs Coot and I find ourselves these days, but it was obvious they were intimidated from taking the stairs down to the shore, The visage of Mrs Coot on hands and knees struggling up through the sand had it's effect. With my attention returned to focusing on my wife, they disappeared down the (very level) path back to the trailhead.
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| Looking eastward towards the town and harbor of Grand Marais (hidden in the distance) this is the view of Grand Sable Banks from beside the Au Sable Point lighthouse. |
Finally at the lighthouse level, as I sat in the shade of a Maple tree, I began to realize that my blood sugar wasn't quite as high as a fellow with diabetes might like for a 1.8 mile trek back to the trailhead and our trusty Toyota Tacoma. I had about 8 ounces of a Sierra Mist soft drink in the daypack, but I'd failed to bring along a snack, figuring that we'd have long before returned to our basecamp for some proper nourishment. I sipped the remainder of the drink, at the same time sending Mrs Coot off to take the lighthouse (and vicinity) pictures we are sharing.
I'm glad she declined the opportunity to take the 45 minute guided tour the National Park Service offers of the lighthouse and associated buildings, the 20 minutes or so she took to shoot pictures was more than enough time for me to get into a small panic.
A distance of 1.8 miles isn't a terribly long trek, not even for crippled old coots, but the fact that my hands were already feeling a bit unsteady from a continually dropping blood sugar level didn't fill me with great confidence. I decided I'd have to tell Mrs Coot about the difficulty, and beat feet back to the truck before I managed to get myself into trouble.
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| One of the beautifully maintained buildings at Au Sable Point Light Station. |
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| The Big Sable Light Station (or Au Sable Light Station) comprises five significant buildings--a light tower, two dwellings, a fog signal house, and a boat house along with four accessory buildings. The light tower, the focal point of the complex, is a truncated stone cone standing on a cut stone base. The tower is painted white and featured a Fresnel lens. The rectangular-plan, two-and-one-half-story dwelling attached to the tower by a hyphen has walls of red brick topped by a metal shingle, hipped-gable roof. The nearby rectangular red brick-walled keeper's dwelling has a metal and slate roof and a privy nearby. The fog signal building is a rectangular-plan, tied brick building with a metal shingle hipped roof. The boat house is a wooden A-frame structure covered with vertical wood siding, topped by a wood shingled roof. |
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| The modernized lighthouse is now powered by solar energy. |
We only took a single break on the hike back to the trailhead, stopping to catch our breath and dry off a little, as our exertions had left me soaked with sweat. Sitting in the sun for warmth on a cool breezy day, we drank some water, and enjoyed the sound of Lake Superior's "surf" rolling into shore. I was warmed and relatively dry within only 10 minutes, and less than a half hour later we were back at our vehicle.
Sitting in the sun warmed cab of the "Cootmobile", we snacked on summer sausage and smoked Gouda cheese. Viewing the shipwrecks and the lighthouse was wonderful fun, and our time spent exploring the beach was absolutely priceless. It had been another great day in what was shaping up to be an outstanding vacation at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
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