Into the Woods– August 20, 2015

Today we were promised sunny but cool weather so we planned a trip to the Crisp Point Lighthouse and the Bear Ranch.  We were warned the road to the lighthouse had a section that was not paved but it was well traveled and no problem.  The first ½ hour I was not at all concerned even though we were seeing nothing but trees; no other cars or houses anywhere.  The second ½ hour I was expecting to see Sasquatch any minute come running out of the woods.  One thing I decided is For Sale and Stop signs seem foolish in the middle of nowhere.  We had packed a lunch thinking we could picnic at the lighthouse and at this point Jim said he was glad we brought food.  To make things worse, it started to rain pretty heavy and I announced if it continued I was not getting out of the truck.

Then we saw a sign that said the road was narrowing making our two way dirt road into a single lane winding road with many blind corners.  A little while after that we saw a sign that said, “Lighthouse 6.5 miles.”  We had already driven over twenty miles averaging about 16 miles an hour (do the math) and I seriously doubted the existence of this place.   As the signs counted down the miles, the road seemed to get even narrower and then suddenly there it was; a lighthouse on the edge of Lake Superior and even other cars with visitors like us.  The restroom door had a note above the sign that said “Thank God a restroom” and I agreed completely.  By the way, just as we approached the lighthouse the rain stopped.

This lighthouse, unlike so many others, has no fee or rules and was maned exclusively by volunteers who came and camped for one week at a time.  It has no funding source other than donations but the light itself is still operational and serviced by the Coast Guard.  This was the same situation at the Whitefish Point Light station; the Coast Guard only owns the top ten feet of the station including the light.

Typical shoreline of Lake Superior

Shoreline is sand and rocks

Crisp Point Lighthouse from beach side

Of course once we were far enough away from the truck to run back, it started to rain again and we ate our box lunch in the truck.  So much for the Bear Ranch!

When you read this post, you have to understand we had to go to McDonalds to have coffee and use their Wi-Fi to share this story.  By the way, using the fresh water tank is not that bad because it holds 80 gallons.