Point Pelee National Park

I originally posted these hike reports on the Great Lakes Hikes Yahoo Group:

10/27/02

Hello all!

I just want to remind all the SE Michigan hikers that this place is nearby...

I hiked with some friends on Saturday from the Marsh Boardwalk to the tip of the Lake Erie sandspit here for a total of about 8 miles. We used a combination of trails through woods, marsh and along beach. The Canadian national park service likes to limit the number of trails in the park for wildlife purposes, but you could probably double or triple the hike total if you hiked down the eastside of the spit as well.

Anyway, you get views of two lighthouses, a couple of offshore islands and passing freighters. The woodlands are nice, but most of the interior spit is marsh. That is unique in its own way. The place also harbors cacti.

We saw an old cemetary and several thousands ducks in one large mass flying about one foot over the lake at breakneck speeds. The visitor's center is nice with helpful rangers and film clips. There is a group camping area, but I'm not sure about camping regulations.

This is not rugged hiking by any means, but it is extremely beautiful with great sunsets only 35 minutes from downtown Detroit. It should be on every Metro hiker's regular hike list.

Mike

BTW, the trees had very little color. They were all still green. Lake Erie regulates the temperature. They should have color well into November.

02/04/03

Cross the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit and head to Pointe Pelee National Park in Canada. It's a long sandspit into Lake Erie.There are two offshore lighthouses, miles of snow-covered beach, a completely frozen Lake Erie - looks like the Arctic - and ice formations at the southern tip of mainland Canada. There are about 7 or 8 miles of trail and a really nice visitor's center. It's probably an hour or 1.5 hours from you. And the trip to Canada is really fun if you've never done it. Bring birth certificate or passport.

5/28/3

Re: Point Pelee

Hi Jeremy!

Point Pelee is a bit of undiscovered "Detroit" gem. I've been there 8 or 10 times in the past decade. In the winter, it has impressive ice formations and feels like the arctic. In the summer, it has miles of beautiful beaches. In the spring and fall, birds and butterflies cram the point.

PP is about 45 minutes from the Detroit/Windsor border. You can shoot straight there or loop along the lake. If you loop, you can stop at the Ojibwa Prairie Preserve in Windsor, Fort Malden in Amherstburg and the John R. Park Homestead along the top of the lake. There are a few other conservation areas in the vicinity. I'd do an Essex County Conservation Area Web search to find them. TheChrysler Canada Greenway is a bike trail that gets near the point from near Windsor.

I've always enjoyed hiking the park, although it is a bit small to be a classic hiking destination. I would spot a car at the Visitor's Center and go back to the Marsh Boardwalk Trail. I would walk the boardwalk and then take the hike/bike trail south to the tip, using the various park trail systems to increase natural surroundings and hiking distance. They are all connected. This ends up being in the neighborhood of seven or eight miles.

BTW, there are some nice dirt "unofficial" trails that parallel the hike/bike trail at various points just inland from the beach. These are the best options when creating a longer distance hike in the park. There are many types of marsh here and some are quite beautiful. When you reach the tip, you can take the motorized tram back to the Visitor's Center parking area or hike the beach. Be sure to check out the cactus area. Funny to think of naturally occuring cacti on Lake Erie, but here it is.

The park is about seven kilometers in length and both sides can be hiked along the beach. One of these days, I'm going to hike the entire east side, but I've only gone a few miles so far.
There is an organizational camp in the park, but individuals camp at Wheatley Provincial Park. This place is nice with bluffs onto Lake Erie and some nice interior water elements. A bit further up the coast is Rondeau Provincial Park. This is a great, great place that is large and mostly undeveloped. The campground area isn't much, but I've been wanting to get back. I think it might just have the best Western Lake Erie hikes. I also want to bike Pelee Island.