Like yesterday, today dawned cool and overcast in Southwest Micigan with one difference – a gusty breeze had blown in from the west overnight. Collars turned up against the wind, we walked downtown looking for breakfast and hopefully, a short wait. Fortunately, we found Caffe Tosi, a small Italian style café in downtown St. Joes with a walk up counter serving made to order breakfast sandwiches. Even more fortunate, we were able to grab an inside table – outside, our paninis and egg mcmuffins would have been airborne in minutes.
Satiated, we walked to Silver Beach County Park to see St. Joseph’s iconic lighthouses. The strong winds had turned the placid Lake Michigan of yesterday into a frothing churning white capped sea. Large waves crashed against the concrete breakwater so we decided to forgo walking out on the pier. Two lighthouses connected by an elevated catwalk sit atop the breakwater at the mouth of the St. Joseph River. The Outer Lighthouse is a round, cast-iron plated tower topped by a round watch room and 10-sided lantern; the Inner Lighthouse is more like a house with a pyramid shaped roof, octagonal tower and circular lantern room. Although the Outer Light stands a good ten feet taller than its sister light, the Inner Lighthouse appears taller when viewed from the shore. Together, these two lighthouses stand like courageous sentinels braving the pounding surf.
So why two lighthouses connected to each other? Having a range light system, aka the two positional lights, helps watercraft enter the channel safely. When an incoming vessel lines up the two lights, it knows that it is properly positioned to enter the St. Joseph River. Five years ago, the lighthouses underwent a $2 million renovation to restore them to their 1932 appearance. Still used as navigation aids today, the Fresnel lenses were retired to a local museum and replaced with solar powered optics.
We walked along the mostly deserted walkway paralleling the beach. Snow fences were already up in preparation for strong winter gales – this slated fencing acts as a barrier helping to contain blowing snow and sand. It’s easy to image the power of the wind and waves coming off this big lake. Even the sculptures we passed along the walkway were industrial strength – made of steel and anchored in concrete to withstand the mighty forces of nature.
Another prominent steel sculpture adorns the pier overlooking the St. Joseph River. Called ‘And You, Seas’, the artist, Richard Hunt took inspiration for the piece from a poem of the same name. The poet, St. John Perse writes of his love of the sea, and explores both its wonders and terrors. So too, the sculpture’s form depicts waves, winds and both the gentle and destructive power of nature while also commemorating the sailing community within the region. Legend has it that the sculpture, or more specifically the caissons that anchor it, had to be approved by the Army Corp of Engineers for strength. The durability of ‘And You, Seas’ has been tested repeatedly by the power of this large inland sea, surviving storms with gusting winds of up to one hundred miles per hour.
Down the beach from the sculpture, sits the Silver Beach Carousel, one of the few artifacts of the renowned Silver Beach Amusement Park that graced the shores of Lake Michigan from 1891 till its closure in 1971. Serving millions of guests from the Midwest, the park which provided steamboat transportation from as far away as Chicago, guaranteed patrons an afternoon of fun – carnival rides, snacks, games of chance and skill, musical entertainment and the occasional big ticket sporting event, family picnics, a swim in the big lake, or a moonlight stroll along the boardwalk. The carousel with its stable of 44 beautifully carved horses was installed in 1910 and became an instant hit. After the amusement park closed, the original carousel was sold in 1973 to a New Mexican collector but twenty five years later a local historical society formed to investigate bringing the carousel back to Silver Beach. Efforts to purchase the original carousel were unsuccessful, so countless hours of planning and fundraising focused on installing a replica. In 2010, the new carousel and carousel house, were open to the public complete with two of the original horses that were donated by a collector. Today the carousel operates year round Thursday through Sunday (weather permitting) as a testament to the former Silver Beach Amusement Park.
While walking along the promenade, we learned another tidbit of local history, although put in context of the popularity of the amusement park, not so surprising. Silver Beach was the takeoff point for the first air powered flight across Lake Michigan. In July, 1913, Jack Vilas accompanied by passenger, William Bestar from Benton Harbor, flew a single engine by-plane sixty miles across the lake landing safely one hour and 34 minutes later in the water off Van Buren street in Chicago. Vilas broke the previous record for the longest open water flight besting the 20 mile journey across the English Channel. Given the early state of flight and the unreliability of engines at the time, this was a daring, remarkable feat that put Vilas and Silver Beach in the aviation history books.
Finished exploring Silver Beach, we left St. Joseph heading for Grand Mere State Park in nearby Stevensville for a final hike. Grand Mere is a 1000 acre natural preservation area with three small inland lakes nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan. We followed a marked trail from the parking lot – one that meandered between the middle and south lakes toward the dunes and the Lake Michigan shoreline. The foliage was beautiful but there was an abnormally large number of dead trees along the trail as if some type of pestilence or disease had run amok.
As we neared Lake Michigan, the trail changed from hard packed dirt to sand, clueing us that we were approaching the barrier of dunes that protect the forest vegetation from the ravages of waves and wind coming off the big water.
We climbed the dunes, heart rates accelerating, for another spectacular view of sand, sky, water and waves.
The trail led to a gap between two dunes, aptly named a blowout. Strong winds blow sand out from under and around the vegetation eroding the dune and creating an opening.
The trail followed the blowout. Shielding our faces from the blowing sand, we slid down the dune to the beach below. We watched the pounding surf for a few minutes but didn’t relish being sandblasted. The trail continued another two miles along the beach but we opted to turn back and retrace our steps the way we’d come to avoid the direct onslaught of the wind.
Once we crested the beach dune, the trek over sand was mostly downhill with wind at our backs; shortly thereafter, we were once again hiking through the woodlands on hard packed dirt. There is nothing more breathtaking than a Michigan forest in peak autumn color. Many regions boast of their fall foliage – once green leaves that gradually morph to shades of yellow, brown and maybe even orange, but Michigan is one of the few areas with trees whose green leaves change a vibrant red. Thanks to the abundance of red oaks and maples, Michigan woodlands burst into a rhapsody of scarlets and reds every autumn, beautifully complementing the browns, yellows and oranges of other species.
We passed a small grove of red oaks just before we reached the trail’s end. Despite the overcast, cool temperatures, strong wind and few sprinkles of rain, as well as plenty of sand in our boots, our southwest Michigan hikes delivered the dose of nature we were looking for!