A visit to Big Sable Point Lighthouse

Wednesday was to be our last day at Ludington State Park Campground, so we decided to ride our bikes out to Big Sable Point Lighthouse.

While there is a "road" out to the lighthouse, it is frequently rather deeply covered with sand, so we had to "power through" at times (or get off and walk, whichever seemed more prudent at the time!).

We've arrived!

"Why, Yes! There *is* a lighthouse growing out of my head!"

We found it interesting that "more evaporation, up to 3 times more, occurs during the cold winter days than happens during the hot summer days... The reason is the warm summer air is generally heavy with humidity when it moves over the cool lake waters so there isn't much room in the air to absorb more water. Cold dry winter air moving over the warmer lake water makes the air become like a sponge and thus more evaporation."

Would you like to be a volunteer lighthouse keeper? Join the Sable Point Lighthouse Keepers Assocation (SPLKA - https://www.splka.org/)

The volunteer keepers on the day that we visited were from Madison, WI, Middlebury, FL, and Poplar Bluff, MO. At Big Sable Point Lighthouse, the volunteer keepers serve for 2 weeks and are housed in the house that was provided for the lighthouse keeper and associate keepers.

A representation of one of the former lighthouse keepers....

... and his kitty!

Close-up on the label

Carl said that these would automatically change to a new bulb if they detected that the first bulb had expired.

These were really big bulbs, but, unfortunately, we didn't get anything else in the picture to give perspective.

A model of a Fresnel Lens - the original light at this lighthouse would have had its intensity increased by a Fresnel Lens - the one that was originally at this lighthouse is now in the Maritime Museum in Ludington.

Going up the steps (Carl took a picture of me through the steps).

Being able to see down through the steps as we climbed was a bit disconcerting...

Looking out one of the windows as we climbed up - looking south -- you may be able to see the US flag in the bottom right out the porthole.

As we got near the top, there were a couple of hatches that we had to pass through... the ropes were hanging down to warn us to watch our heads coming up.

I guess lighthouse keepers stayed in good shape climbing the stairs so they didn't have to worry about getting too large for the hatch!

The current light is an LED bulb... no specialized lens.

One of the volunteer lighthouse keepers was at the top of the tower.

Looking east...

Looking North

Looking south, back toward the campground area (cannot see the campground).

Looking out one of the windows in the tower toward the lake.

A view from the beach

Heading back to the campground

We were glad we rode our bikes rather than walking. It was about a mile and a half, and, even with the deep sand in places, we made it in under 15 minutes (and got back to the rig to get some lunch!).