Long Point Provincial Park in May

We spent a great week in May in Hamilton, ON, attending the International Association of Great Lakes Research conference. We had an opportunity to get our paddles wet in Hamilton Harbor, which was fun, but the real treat was a quick weekend camping trip and day canoe trip at Long Point Provincial Park. Why not see another side of Lake Erie, we thought. As it turned out, this was a very different Lake Erie from what we're used to.

We were surprised to find a wild peninsula with pristine sand dunes and beautifully clear water, not the typical image we Michiganders have of Lake Erie. Limnologists often talk of Lake Ere as having three basins: Western, Central, and Eastern. The bathymetric map from NOAA demonstrates why this is the case. In Michigan, we know the Western Basin, characterized by shallow water and water quality issues aggravated by the agricultural Maumee River watershed. Long Point appears at the western end of the Eastern Basin, jutting out into the northern side of the lake from West to East. The Eastern Basin is much deeper, and ,being further separated from the Maumee Basin, is less affected by nutrient loading, resulting in clearer water. The waters we saw at Long Point Provincial Park really did represent a different system from the Michigan waters of Lake Erie.

Image credit: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/greatlakes/erie.html

We were only at the park for the weekend, with one full day available for paddling. We decided to head from the campground to the tip of the peninsula. We guessed it was a few miles, and the weather was lovely for a paddle and a sail.

The provincial park is located a few miles out on the peninsula, just as the land narrows. We started with the sail up, thinking a full day would be plenty of time to reach the tip. Atypical of us, we didn't have a very good map, and for some reason, we didn't think it would be too much of a trip to head out to the tip. As it turns out, it is nearly 19 miles from the campground to the tip of the peninsula, almost due East! 

We spent a few minutes tacking upwind and then pulled off on the endless beach to reevaluate our goals for the day.

Perfect time for an MR340 Training paddle, we decided. So we packed up the rig and pushed off for a solid, nearly 20 mile, workout upwind along this sand dune beach.

We saw only one boat landed on the beach during the entire 20 miles. This peninsula is a truly a remarkable Great Lake gem.

The interior of the peninsula is protected, so we only landed once and stayed on the periphery of the beach. It was surprising to us just how wild the place felt. There aren't many places like this left, especially on Lake Erie. Without the protection of the provincial park, it is easy to imagine that it could have turned into a narrow spit of land crowded with cottages, condos, and tennis courts.

We made it out to the end, where we looked for the lighthouse. This lighthouse is one of a select few locations where eddy covariance stations provide observations for overlake evaporation measurements. Despite representing nearly 1/3 of the Great Lakes' water budget, considerable uncertainty remains in the estimation of evaporation from the lakes' surfaces, so these stations are an important binational resource for Great Lakes water level forecasting, management, and conservation.

We pushed to the tip of the peninsula, where flocks of seagulls squawked and filled the air with that distinct pungent fishy/birdy smell.

Before heading back, we landed in front of the lighthouse to change over into sailing mode. We were looking forward to a downwind run after the grueling 17 mile paddle upwind!

It was an awesome downwind sail all the way back to the campsite, just as we were hoping. We stayed out in the wind and enjoyed the scenery of the dunes passing by in the distance.

We made it back before dark, always a good feeling. After a nice evening campfire, pasta dinner, and solid sleep, we headed back to the good ol' U.S.A.