Big Sable (pronounced Sauble) Point Lighthouse is about 5-8 miles north of Ludington harbor. I parked at the State Park and got a map to the lighthouse. You can't drive there! On the internet, the hike was listed as 1.5 miles one way. However, the map I received today noted the mileage to be 1.8 miles one way. I followed directions to the gravel trail and took off walking! I could hear Lake Michigan rolling in, but these immense dunes were blocking my view the entire way! See the tippy top of the lighthouse in the distance?
As I walked along, the dunes were to my left and to my right there were lower dunes and little lakes and pools of water all along the way. Plus there were lots and lots of people taking this hike. I wasn't out in the middle of the woods all by myself. And where was Mr. Jones? Well, this is not his favorite thing to do. He's not really enamored with beaches and lighthouses. And I'm kind of a pain in the neck when I'm taking pictures. Plus, he had an appointment early this evening to run trains with his buddy, Thom.
I must say that Big Sable Point Lighthouse is definitely one of my favorites, now that I've been here. It's just everything you would want a lighthouse to be, isn't it?!
It was built in 1867 and the tower is 112 feet tall. There is a lot of interesting history to this place, but I am too absolutely exhausted to tell you any of it tonight!
I took 182 pictures today, but I've only posted maybe 23 ... such restraint! It was a completely clear and beautiful day ~ I couldn't take a bad picture!
I paid my two bucks for the video tour and then climbed all 110 steps to the very top of the light! What an incredible view! I absolutely love heights. But the wind up there was so strong and it was actually COLD!
This is the view from one of the portholes about halfway up the tower ...
And this is looking south from the top of the tower. Wow. I can't believe I haven't taken this trip before today. I have lived in West Michigan since 1971 ~ this is only a 90 minute drive from my house!
This is the view looking north up the beach ... which goes for miles and miles with no houses or cottages ... just undeveloped land, beautiful dunes, soft sand ... as far as your eye can see!
Note the little sign saying: "Shortest distance to Wisconsin 51 miles."
This is the very circular stairway ~ which did not make me dizzy at all on the way up ... but descending was quite another matter! I do struggle with vertigo and whew ... I was glad to reach the bottom stair!
I was glad to find out that I could walk the beach all the way back to the State Park and avoid taking the trail through the woods ... the trail was pretty, but I'd much rather be right on the water.
About halfway back, there is this notice of a shipwreck. They have it all marked off, but there isn't really much to see that is very ship-like ... a few markers noting the length of the ship, etc. They think it might be what is left of the George F. Foster, a 93 foot two-masted schooner that sunk in the late 1800's ... wouldn't it be so cool to see a ship like that sailing on the lake?
Since I had to drive right through Ludington to get home, I pulled in at the City Park and just snapped a few pictures of the Ludington North Breakwater Light. I had taken a bunch of pictures of it last year while on vacation with Ruthanne, but I snapped a few more this afternoon ... it's such an odd-shaped lighthouse, isn't it? Definitely not one of my favorites ... it was built in 1924.
It was about 5:00 and I was debating whether or not to take the time to see Little Sable Point Lighthouse and almost decided against it ... but with gas prices being what they are, it was practically right on the way home! Might as well see two for the price of one, right?
Little Sable is off the Hart exit of the US-31. It's about a 10 mile diversion to reach because you have to go all the way through Silver Lake ~ where I had never been before either! What an amazingly beautiful little place that is! I've never seen dunes like this before in all my life. I didn't take any pictures of them because I was driving and didn't want to have an accident!
This lighthouse was built in 1874 and this sand-colored brick is it's original facade. At first, I didn't think I was going to like it ...
But I changed my mind. It's just that I wanted there to be a lightkeeper's house attached to it. It seemed to need one! I wanted to reach out and sketch one next to it (but I'm not very good at sketching any more)!
It's such a lonely looking tower, isn't it? But a beautiful and bleak kind of lonely ...
What a sight! I didn't arrive here until 5:45. The tower had closed at 5:00, so I missed climbing to the top of this 107 foot tower! I guess I'll have to do that another time, another day.
I am happily filled right up to the top tonight with lighthouses, beaches, dunes, the lake ...
"The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. He gave the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs." Psalm 33:6-7 NLT 
This was my last view of the lake tonight! I hated to leave it! Such a paradise we have here in Michigan. I'm so thankful for all of it!
8 comments:
Hi Carol! I loved your pictures and it made me want to be there right now! I love the water and those looked like nice spots to visit. I think that the Little Sable Point Lighthouse is the one that Jean and the girls have been going to for years - right down the beach. I'll have to check Suzie's pictures again to be sure. If you have time today, go online and listen to and view John Wayne's Tribute to America. I heard it yesterday on the radio and then was able to view it with pictures today online. It is beautifully done!
Thanks, Ruthanne, for the tip to watch the John Wayne tribute. What gorgeous pictures! We have such an amazingly beautiful country! :)
I love all your pictures Mom! I miss lake michigan beaches and definitely the cool lighthouses. What a great day! I can't wait to see the rest of these pictures the next time we visit! especially since it'll probably be christmas time we can look at these and feel warm maybe!!!
I agree that the second lighthouse looks lonely, and in need of a lightkeeper's house. Poor lonely lighthouse.... Which makes me wonder if you've heard that Nickel Creek song, "A Lighthouse's Tale"?
Hi Suz! No I have never heard of that song! I will have to look it up! :)
Hi Carol,
It's your cousin Suzie. Wow, I'm sitting here stunned. First of all, I want to go with you and Ruthanne on you sister's retreat next year, but that would be cheating! What would that be called: a "cuzers" retreat?? A custers retreat?
Secondly, you'll never believe: I've been looking at your blog for the longest time, and it's really late: almost 2:30 Friday night. I was just about to head up to bed and something made me click on just one more link. I forget what the link was called, but as I followed it, suddenly, there was my lighthouse, my beach, the very sand dunes and walkways and bricks and dunegrasses that are in the blood of my youth, that still evoke such emotion in me that the tears well every single time I see them. I can see, feel and hear my dad every time I see that lighthouse: he loved it like no other place on earth, as do I. This summer is one of the first summers in a long time that my sisters and I haven't gone there: money and our schedule's, and Mary's move, prevented it.
Ruthanne was right: I have some photos of LPS up on Facebook. Additionally, I believe that we have OLD photos of Ruthanne and Beth walking down that beach together from behind, when they were about 4 or 5. Unless I am mistaken and those are photos taken way back when the families used to go to Florida together. We will have to check with Ruthanne or my mom about that. So that may mean that both of you actually WERE there before, but just don't remember it.
Anyway, my dad started taking our family there when I was 6 months old, so I never knew a summer of my childhood that wasn't spent there. I know every square inch of Silver Lake and the beach front belonging to LPS. We all grew up playing in that little channel that connects Silver to Lake Michigan as babies. It was my mom and dad who introduced Aunt Sal and Uncle Richard to that place too, and they started coming every year with us. Their kids fell in love with it as well, and they continue to come as adults with THEIR children! It remains to be seen if it will be passed on to yet another generation, but I imagine it will, since Julia's Benjamin and his wife Angie took their honeymoon there! (We were there at the same time last year as they were, and went to their wedding reception and later, ran into them on the beach in front of the lighthouse during their honeymoon!)
Anyway, my sisters and I take a certain pride in knowing that this is our dad's legacy (though I don't think Aunt Sal's kids are really aware of that, and certainly her grandkids aren't!).
I want to tell you also that you had an uncanny vision of a lighthouse keeper's house, which should have existed right next to that lighthouse: indeed, there used to be one. I will send you some links to the old photos, so you can see it. How close did you get to the lighthouse itself? Do you recall all the big chunks of concrete around it? Part of that is from the old foundation of the home, still there after all these years.
For many years, when we were there, the lighthouse was white, and then, blessedly, it was sandblasted back to its original beautiful red brick. Oh, I can't tell you how many walks I've taken in my life to that lighthouse. My dad used to run: he always ran to the lighthouse. It measured so many distances for all of us over the years.
Some day I will tell you in person about a young man from England that Dad picked up hitchhiking and brought home... but the short story is that he lived with us for a time and he went to Lake Michigan with us that summer. His name was Michael Grimwood, and he did not come from happy circumstances over in Great Britain. After my dad died, he made a trip back to the states and wanted to see the place again, so Annie and Mary and I told him to come spend a day with us there. He hadn't ever been back, from the time he was 21 until 30 odd years later. I have a video tape of our reunion with him (he had been like a big brother to us), and when he got down to the beach, and saw that lighthouse, he stood there and wept like a child. It was very, very moving to see that. It just brought back to him that summer of being with us, and with our dad, and finding Christ... a neat story.
Wow, I'm really rambling! I have so much more to say! I HAVE to go to bed, it's 3 AM! How about I promise more later? (Unless you'd rather I just shut up... yeah, right, you're thinking: like you'd ever take this chick ANYWHERE with you...!)
I miss you, I miss all of us. I wish we had... time. Oh, tell your sister to forward you the massively long email I sent her. And did you know I talked to your brother on the phone about a month ago for about 45 minutes? Yeah, I've been getting around.
Did your mother tell you that my mother said that the family reunion at Sarah King-Lipek's was the best time my mom has ever had at a family reunion? All my sisters said the same thing. Everyone had a fantastic time. I could not go. Maybe with planning they can pull it off again next summer. I will post photos of Annie's to Facebook and let you and RA know when I do, so you can see them. Maybe you did NOT get this news from your mom as my mom says they have not been communicating as much since your mom got married... makes sense.
LOVE YOU, so much. More later,
Suzie
SUZIE! I absolutely freaked out when I was looking back at my lighthouses two days ago and found your prolific comment! Oh my goodness! Could all of you come each summer within two hours of me here in Grand Rapids and I never ever knew it?!!! I have lived here since 1971! And your father ... what a sweet and wonderful man, a great uncle ... I loved him ... this was his favorite lighthouse? That makes it immediately extra special to me too then! I'm going to have to return there frequently, sit down on the beach, and just imagine all of you dear folk making memories there ...
How can I get ahold of you, dearest cousin? I would LOVE to talk and talk and talk and talk!!!! :) Remember how we can do that hours without end, never coming up for a breath?
Ruthanne says you are on Facebook. I don't have an account. It's all I can do to keep up with this little blog and those of my family. Please send Ruthanne an e-mail address or invite me to your Facebook ... I really really do not know how that works at all! I've never been on! (I'm OLD).
Love you, Suzie!
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