MLive says: “Located on the largest freshwater delta in North America, Harsens Island is almost as far east as you can go without leaving Michigan. On the north side of Lake St. Clair, this island is full of diverse wildlife. The sapphire water here is perfect for kayaking and the recently popular sport of paddleboarding. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources manages much of the island, while other property is owned privately. This is a popular summer destination and you'll see residents and visitors taking advantage of the water and wilderness by boating, birdwatching and partaking in various outdoor activities.”
June 25-26, 2020
I spent a lot of time on Harsen’s Island growing up - my dad would take us there by boat over Lake. St Clair, and we’d tie up at Brown’s Bar for french fries and soda (or fish and beers, for my parents). It has been literally over a decade since my last visit, so I found this county stop to be a little nostalgic.
Bill and I left Grand Rapids on the morning of June 25, and dropped the big dog off at doggie day care. Since we were going to be hitting multiple stops on this trip and playing by COVID rules, Bela wasn’t going to be an easy addition for this particular adventure. We made our way across the state and into the thumb, where all of our destinations would be for this round of exploration.
In Algonac, we drove right onto the Harsen’s Island car ferry and made our way across the St. Clair River. The car ferry runs all day, every 15 minutes or so, and is $12 to cross. If you walk/bike on without a motorized vehicle, it’s free to get to the island.
We were staying at the Harsen’s Island Getaway Resort, which was actually a BNB run out of someone’s home on the island. It was nice, and they were operating under capacity and had COVID procedures set up for all guests. Our intentions for Harsen’s Island were to bike to the St. Clair Flats State Wildlife Area for bird watching, but the free bikes at the BNB were kind of busted and honestly, painful to ride. We opted to drive the short route over instead, but quickly learned that many of the roads on the inland portions of the island were flooded. This makes sense, because the entire Great Lakes region is experiencing historically high water this year - I don’t know why we didn’t think of this! Since we couldn’t get “into” the refuge and there weren’t clearly marked places to walk, we opted to drive around instead, and see what there was to see.
The wildlife was ABUNDANT. As we drove, we spotted a bathing Moorhen (the black waterfowl with a red beak), a Red-Tailed Hawk VERY up close, a Great Blue Heron (once again, very up close), American Coot, White Tailed Deer, and more dragonfly species than I have ever encountered in my life.
There is basically one main road on Harsen’s Island (154) that splits off a few times; we drove somewhat aimlessly around the island, stopping to get out and take some photos here and there. We even drove by Brown’s bar (I really wanted to go in for a beer and a plate of french fries, for nostalgia’s sake, but we opted not to for COVID safety reasons - keeping ourselves and the communities we visit safe is the most important thing right now)! We saw a freighter pass the island and marveled at old houses on the waterfront, all the while commenting heavily on how much we never wanted to live in a swamp (most of the island is covered in wetlands, as it should be, but why would you want to live in a wetland?).
The one thing that keeps coming up in these county trips, time and time again, is public access to waterfront recreation. I REALLY wanted to swim in Lake St. Clair. We drove out to the point at Muscamoot Bay (a classic boating spot, and the site of Michigan’s annual jobbie nooner tie off which my family always avoided because it is honestly pretty gross) and I was ready to hop in that lake in my bra and underwear. The lake of my childhood always calls to me! However, there was absolutely NO WHERE to park the car for 15 minutes so I could dip in, and tons of signage declaring private property/no parking on shoulders/private access/etc. My biggest pet peeve is when there isn’t public access on the waterfront. So many of Michigan’s inland lakes have this issue, but I did not expect it to be a problem on the island! Unfortunately, this gal didn’t get to swim in Lake St. Clair on this trip.
We made our way back to the BNB after driving around with the windows down and taking in the wetlands and the waterfront views. The BNB had a pool and a giant back deck, so we took a swim and then cleaned up for a picnic style dinner in the backyard with veggies, hummus, crackers, and beer. We hung out while the sun went down, but then the bugs came out (massive mosquitoes come out of wetlands like the ones on Harsen’s Island). We retreated inside for the rest of the night.
In the morning, we went for a long walk before heading back to the ferry to leave the island. I was determined to take more photos of wildlife, but we didn’t see as much on foot as we had by car (weird). Our walk took us along the road (no sidewalks, everyone walks on the road) and we found a historic biology research farm, which was really cool! I took some photos, but we cut our walk short because of the heat and humidity.
We packed up at the BNB after returning from our walk, and headed back to the car ferry. After getting back into Algonac, we took the scenic route to our next St. Clair stop (yes, we added some stops along the way).
We drove into Port Huron to pursue Bill’s love of lighthouses - Port Huron is home of the Great Lakes last remaining lightship, which is basically a portable lighthouse! The historic ship is aground and functions as a museum now, so of course we had to stop. Prior to touring the museum, we got lunch from Kate’s Downtown, a great cafe & coffee shop with vegan options in the city. We ate outside in a park, watching boats go by in the St. Clair River and enjoying the waterfront.
After lunch, we went on a guided tour of the lightship (with masks) and we each had the opportunity to signal to passing freighters using the ship’s horn - it made the children-at-heart in us very excited. I somehow didn’t take a single photo of the lightship, but it really is a wonderful piece of Great Lakes history preserved right within Port Huron’s wonderfully managed waterfront, which, by the way, is FULL OF PUBLIC ACCESS POINTS. They’ve actually created a paddling stretch with multiple ADA accessible kayak launches, as well as created tons of greenspace along their waterfront and set the business district back a bit. It’s impressive - other cities should take note (looking at you, Grand Rapids).
While in Port Huron, though, we were very well aware that Sarnia was just across the water; this is the endpoint for Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline in Canada, which makes its journey through much of the Great Lakes, including the Straits of Mackinac, where it’s been highly controversial for many years. Sarnia is the site of oil & gas refineries, and spews pollution over and into the St. Clair River. Passing it on the U.S. side of the river, and knowing that our state and federal governments were complicit in the infrastructure development that led to such pollution, reminded me once again that the fossil fuel industry needs to be dismantled to its very core. As much as I enjoy the lakes and rivers of Michigan, they constantly remind me of the burden we bear as their keepers - the fossil fuel industry will NEVER be able to guarantee their safety, and it’s up to us to make sure they aren’t welcome here. #SDL5.