A wintertime visit via snowmobile to the endangered Waugoshance Lighthouse in the Straits of Mackinac in northern Lake Michigan can be an exhilarating experience. However, this wintertime trip, under this season’s extremely cold conditions, was to offer preservationists a better opportunity to access the condition of the lighthouse and the effects that winter ice was having on its foundation.
However, this type of trip is not recommended for everyone. It takes the knowledge of locals with many years of experience on the ice, and even then the trip is not considered totally safe. A combination of the strong currents at the entrance of the Straits of Mackinac, along with Coast Guard Icebreaker and freighter traffic, can create unstable and dangerous conditions. When they do venture out, they look at many factors, including weather and pressure patterns, shipping traffic, and recent wind and wave conditions at varying points along Lake Michigan as well as verifying the ice thickness as they travel out to the lighthouse.
To learn more about Waugoshance Lighthouse, you can visit the Lighthouse Digest website at www.LighthouseDigest.com or www.Waugoshance.org. Donations toward the restoration can be mailed to Waugoshance Lighthouse Preservation Society, P.O. Box 1061, Mackinaw City, MI 49701. (Photo by Chris West.)
This story appeared in the
Mar/Apr 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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