Dunes of Ice

Presque Isle State Park is a gem of the state park system in Pennsylvania. The name roughly translates to English (from French) as an “almost” island and, indeed, the peninsula connects to Pennsylvania’s notch and city of Erie by a strip of land barely wide enough for a beach and a few traffic and parking lanes. Without a series of breakwaters and the winter phenomenon of ice dunes it is very likely that Presque Isle would graduate to being an actual island over the next few hundred years.

The bitter cold of winters on the Great Lakes facilitates the development of ice dunes that cover and protect the frigid sand on the western side of the peninsula. As water hits the beach, some of it freezes. Over the span of the winter, the ice accumulates into dunes. My husband and I make annual pilgrimages to Erie just to take in the sight of this natural oddity, even if we can only tolerate about 30 seconds on the beach before the bone-chilling wind and cold is too much (despite dressing appropriately for the weather). In fact, this year the wind was so sharp and cold that it drew blood! After getting into the car to warm up I noticed a spot just below my right eye, blood. Never even knew that to be a hazard of the frigid wind (the temperature itself was not abnormally cold, mid-20s).

If you have not had a chance to visit Presque Isle in the winter, it is a unique kind of wonderland. The frozen harbor on the eastern side of the peninsula is often congested with people ice fishing. While ice-fishing shanties recently made news when an Ohio mayor expressed concerns about prostitution, there was no apparent red-light district off the shores of Erie. It is also always fascinating to see the lake freighters in the harbor, inspiring me to play the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (did not sink on Lake Erie, but the vibe is about right). Plus, the monuments and memorials on the peninsula are much less crowded and facilitate quiet reflection between gusts of frigid, winter winds.

And when you’re finished at Presque Isle, it’s always fun to do a little bit of shopping and Wegman’s and grab a sandwich at Picasso’s.

Biking Presque Isle

I think I have visited enough state parks in Pennsylvania to know that Presque Isle State Park is probably my favorite. The park provides for dramatically different experiences in each of the four seasons and includes a variety of different environments: beach, wetland, and forest. It amazes me how the thick, solid ice dunes of February, however, reveal pristine beaches in the summertime.

Just one of the perfect beaches on the unprotected Lake Erie side of Presque Isle, a few months earlier this section of beach was covered in ice dunes

The term Presque Isle is derived from the French term for an “almost” an island. So you find yourself on a peninsula surrounded by Lake Erie. The Presque Isle Multi-Purpose Trail is about 13.5 miles long and takes users on a complete loop of the peninsula: through the harbor protected by the peninsula, through wetlands and wildlife refuge, past beaches getting surprising amounts of surf from the unsheltered waters of Lake Erie, and even some cool, shaded forest. The route is a loop and it is largely level. There are some areas that follow the shoulder of the main road through the park so if you go, note that bike traffic generally moves counter-clockwise but, if you are not up for a solid 13.5 miles, there are plenty of opportunities to take shortcuts and enjoy different aspects of the park.

Our approach was to park in the first lot we found that had space and start from there, with the intention of completing the entire trail, which we did successfully. The ride was awesome, except when we were stuck behind people in rental surreys who could not quite seem to figure out how to operate the vehicles that everyone on board can help pedal. However, it is rare to encounter places in the trail where slower traffic cannot be passed in fairly short order.

Check out Presque Isle State Park and bring your bike, and do so especially if you are trying to find a way to spend more time on a bike or practice biking. Besides, the more you pedal the more you can justify eating all the junk food at the beach concession stands along the way. There may or may not have been a fully loaded foot-long hot dog near the end of my biking day.

For more information on the trail, including a detailed and printable map, I suggest checking out the listing on AllTrails, linked here.

See you on the trail soon!

Best of 2014: Auto Art

GCJ8M8 – Auto Art
Hidden by MsKardiac
314 Favorite Points
Found on May 24, 2014

Erie, PA has offered up some really fascinating adventures. Whether I keep falling over in knee-high snow in a desperate effort to look at the ice dunes at Presque Isle or am being attacked a lawn of a nondescript side road by enormous robots constructed out of car parts, there is never a dull moment.

This virtual cache does what virtual caches often do: highlights a particularly unique, scenic, historic, or other relevant superlative in a location one may lack familiarity with. The photographic opportunities here are out of this world, in more ways than one.

Attacked by one of the pieces of "auto art"