Aug 21, 2016

Presque Isle State Park and Lake Erie

Presque Isle State Park in Erie features several beaches open for swimming.
A significant part of summer for Pennsylvanians is not spending summer in Pennsylvania.

That's not meant to be a dig at my wonderful state. After all, I've dedicated this blog to it and all the amazing attractions it has to offer.

Perhaps the greatest one of all time was a replica of the bike used in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" on display at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.
But many Pennsylvanians seek an escape from the blistering heat, and what better place to do that than the beach?

With the exception of last year, I've gone to the shore with my parents every year since I was 6 months old. Just like my family, thousands of other Pennsylvanians take time each summer to drive several hours to places like Cape May, New Jersey; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Ocean City, Maryland; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and the Outer Banks, North Carolina.

We do this because, in Pennsylvania, we don't have much of a choice. Pennsylvania has the misfortune of being a landlocked commonwealth surrounded by several coastal states. In many parts of Pa., there are state parks such as Hickory Run, Canoe Creek and Shawnee with lakes that have small sand beaches on them. These act as a nice retreat on sweltering summer days, but they don't have the same feel as a coastal beach.

When Cassidy and I moved to central Pennsylvania a few years ago, we looked at different places we could visit in the western portion of the state. Looking at a map, I realized I never visited the Erie region before. I love fishing and boating, and Lake Erie seems like one of the best locations to do both of those things in Pa., but my family never made the trip out there because it's about a five-hour drive. In that amount of time, we could go to Rehoboth Beach, which was our preferred vacation destination for the first half of my existence. Mom and Dad didn't feel the need to travel that far for a lake when you could have the entire ocean instead.

As for Cassidy and I, we found out there was a state park in Erie that had swimming beaches on it. We figured if we were to journey that far out, at least we could swim for a bit. It would only take us about 3.5 hours to drive there, as well, so we settled on Lake Erie for a trip.

I say "settled," which makes it sound like the trip was more of an obligation than an adventure, but we never "settle" for Erie anymore: We try to find every damn excuse to get back there.

We had to settle for a sandy beach, bath-warm water and few tourists. It was horrid.
Cassidy and I fell in love with the area the second we arrived, including Presque Isle State Park. The park is a 3,200-acre sandy peninsula that hovers over the City of Erie, according to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Presque Isle, which is French for "almost an island," has about a dozen beaches, ponds, trees and shaded trails, which all seem out of place when you look across the water and see the rows of buildings and roads that make up Erie.

Image courtesy of DCNR / This image shows how close Presque Isle State Park is to the City of Erie, but only one road connects the two areas.
You can't look at that map of Presque Isle State Park and not ask yourself, "Where the hell did that come from?" There are two explanations for its existence -- one is a Native American tale, and the other is a scientific theory.

The former tells the story of how the Great Spirit led the Eriez Indian nation toward the shore of the lake because of its abundant food, fresh water, and health-giving breezes, according to presqueisle.org. One day, the Eriez went into Lake Erie to find where the sun sank into the water, according to DCNR. This action upset the lake spirits, so they conspired against the Eriez by causing a horrible storm. The Great Spirit saw what was happening and wanted to protect the Eriez, so he stretched out his left arm into the lake to save them from the storm, according to DCNR. A large sand bar appeared in the area where his arm rested. This led to the creation of Presque Isle, which served as a barrier to protect the Eriez people from any dangers near the lake.

Then there's the scientific explanation. Presque Isle is a moraine, which is a ridge of sediment left behind by glaciers, according to presqueisle.org. The glacier that created Presque Isle was part of a larger ice sheet over Pennsylvania between 13,000 and 14,000 years ago, the website says. Presque Isle marks where the glacier stopped and melted about 11,000 years ago, leaving clay, sand and gravel in its place.

Whichever theory you believe, both explanations make Presque Isle's creation sound majestic. It's perhaps one of the most unique places in Pennsylvania.

Tourism websites promote Presque Isle State Park as the state's only shoreline. That might seem absurd to many people because it's on a lake. But as I mentioned earlier, Presque Isle has about a dozen beaches on it -- most of them are connected together to form one long, continuous shoreline. Despite the Erie region being associated with its harsh winters, its summers are hot, and the lake's water tends to be warm. I was surprised when I first set foot in the water at Presque Isle and realized that the Atlantic Ocean in Delaware is colder than Lake Erie.

Because of the lake's size, it makes it feel as though you're looking out over the Atlantic from a Delaware or Maryland beach. Even on a clear, sunny day, visitors can't see land over the horizon despite the fact that our amiable, maple syrup- and hockey-loving neighbor Canada sits just on the other side. That's remarkable, eh?

If you squint hard, you might be able to see a Tim Hortons.
If I showed you the above picture without any context, would you have guessed this beach was in Pennsylvania? I'm going to assume you wouldn't, because I've had pictures of Presque Isle as my computer's background at work, and people will ask: "Wow, that's a beautiful picture. Where was that taken?" When they learn it's Lake Erie, they always have a look of surprise on their faces. I think it's because people don't believe Pennsylvania could have a beach, or at least one that resembles a coastal shoreline so much.

You have to realize, however, that even though Lake Erie is one of the smaller Great Lakes, it's still a massive body of water. It's so large that it was used for shipping, and at least one war was fought on it. Lake Erie's water can be so dangerous that Congress felt the need to fund the construction of lighthouses along Pennsylvania's coast with the lake.

That's right: Pennsylvania has a shoreline, and it also has lighthouses -- three of them are on Lake Erie. In fact, one of them is considered one of the first American lighthouses on the Great Lakes: the Erie Land Lighthouse.

The Erie Land Lighthouse as it appears today.
The tower pictured above is the "third" Erie Land Lighthouse. The original lighthouse first shone in 1818 but was later dismantled because it was settling into the ground, according to lighthousefriends.com. Another tower was constructed around 1858 in its place, but that one also began to sink into the earth. The builders of the third lighthouse moved the site further away and made the foundation larger to better distribute the tower's weight, according to lighthousefriends.com. That lighthouse, which went into operation in 1867, still stands today. I guess the builders of the third tower didn't want to "settle" for a mediocre lighthouse?

Even my father didn't approve of that "dad joke."
The Erie Land Lighthouse, as it is today, sits in a children's park in Erie on a bluff overlooking the lake. I think there are tours available on certain occasions, but they seem random, so don't plan on climbing the lighthouse if you make the trip to it. You can still get a few pictures, though.

The other two Pennsylvania Lake Erie lighthouses reside in Presque Isle State Park. The one is coincidentally named the Presque Isle Lighthouse.

Possibly true historical fact: It took the builders seven months to come up with the name for the Presque Isle Lighthouse.
The Presque Isle Lighthouse stands not too far from the water in a grove of trees near Goddard Beach. Unlike the Erie Land Lighthouse, the Presque Isle Light is the original tower that was first lit in July 1873, according to presqueislelighthouse.org. There were some modifications along the way, such as an additional 17 feet added to the tower and the white paint, but other than that, the Presque Isle Lighthouse resembles what it looked like decades ago.

Until about 2014, the lighthouse's property was private, so guests could not climb the tower or visit the neighboring keeper's house. An organization now maintains the property and offers tours to guests Thursday through Monday between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.

If you take a tour, you can follow up with a swim, picnic or walk on a nearby beach. This was my favorite spot on Presque Isle, so if you're going to visit the state park, I highly recommend you take a few minutes to stop there.

To see the most current hours and rates for Presque Isle Lighthouse tours, visit the organization's official website here: http://presqueislelighthouse.org/

The third lighthouse in the area is the Presque Isle North Pierhead Lighthouse, which, despite the name, is located on Presque Isle and at the head of North Pier. I don't think the name does it justice.

Try to say "Presque Isle North Pierhead Lighthouse" five times fast.
The smallest of the three Pennsylvania Lake Erie lighthouses, the North Pierhead Light has relocated several times as the pier and area changed. The original tower was built in 1830, according to presqueislelighthouse.org.

The current tower first shone in 1857 or 1867 (depending which website you consult) and resembled a wooden fire tower. The black and white steel plates were added in 1940, according to lighthousefriends.com. The lighthouse marks the entrance to the channel that lets watercraft enter Presque Isle and Misery bays. You can't climb the North Pierhead Lighthouse, but visitors can walk up to it and fish from the pier.

During a trip to Lake Erie in 2015, I took a rod and my camera to the pier at sunrise and tried my hand at fishing. I'm a better amateur photographer than an angler, so I caught more pictures of sunsets than fish that day. You should be thankful I suck at fishing, because otherwise I couldn't share these photos with you:




If you want to learn more about Pennsylvania's Lake Erie lighthouses, you can read my post about them here: http://manifestdestinypa.blogspot.com/2016/08/pennsylvanias-lake-erie-lighthouses.html

So Presque Isle State Park has sand beaches and lighthouses. Does it sound like a trip to the shore yet? If you need more persuasion, you can find stone jetties in the water just like at some New Jersey and Delaware beaches. Depending on the day, many swimmers will also encounter small waves that are enough to simulate a shore setting but not too large where you will end up with ears filled with salt water and a concussion if you're not careful.

Grab your surfboard!
You can also go boating and fishing on the lake. I've seen groups of people anchoring their boats close to shore and jumping into the water for a swim. You'll also notice people fishing from boats, piers or any location near water. I've failed to catch anything at Lake Erie, but I remember being outdone by an older woman who caught a catfish on North Pier.

For just being caught, this fish looks unusually happy.
A typical day of fishing for me: catching nothing.
A fishing boat makes its way past North Pier into Lake Erie.
To top all this off, Presque Isle even has shorebirds including gulls and whatever these things are:

Bald eagles?
I hope you get the idea at this point. The beaches at Presque Isle State Park offer almost all the amenities a Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey or Virginia shore would provide. A few exceptions include a large boardwalk, bundles of shops selling useless crap mass produced in a foreign sweatshop, and overly priced, heart attack-inducing food. Mind you, I love all those things about the beach, as well; however, Presque Isle, in my own opinion, resembles the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the Outer Banks.

Compare this picture taken in Avon, Outer Banks, North Carolina, to the one at the beginning of this post.
What they both have in common is they're less congested with tourists, and they're also more natural. Boardwalks and shops are tons of fun, but sometimes the best beach escape is when you have a grove of trees or miles of sand dunes behind you. Presque Isle has the occasional snack stand, but for the most part, you go on a beach there for the sake of sticking your feet in the sand and cooling off in the water, not to max out a few credit cards on novelty clothing or to ride a roller coaster constructed with so much neglect that it is unsafer than a Ford Pinto.

I've spent a majority of this post trying to convince you why Presque Isle should be your next beach destination. There are people, though, who dislike beaches. I think these people are monsters because I have a difficult time understanding how anyone can hate a beach, but I'll play devil's advocate.

Presque Isle is a state park, so there is much more to do there than just acquiring a horrible sunburn from lounging in a beach chair all day. I mentioned fishing earlier. Presque Isle hosts a series of ponds, bays and of course, Lake Erie, all which feature various fish including perch, bass, walleye, trout, steelhead, panfish, muskellunge, northern pike, crappies and smelt, according to DCNR. Keep in mind that you need a Pennsylvania fishing license, and in some locations around Lake Erie, a special Lake Erie stamp is required. Check out the Fish & Boat Commission website for more details: http://fishandboat.com/

You can spend days fishing around Presque Isle, and if you're like me, you won't catch anything. If that's the case, you can wallow in self pity while walking, hiking or running on one of many natural trails on Presque Isle. There are 11 miles of natural trails, in addition to the Karl Boyes Multi-purpose National Recreation Trail, which is a 14-mile paved walkway, according to DCNR. Many people use the latter for walking, running and bike riding. Despite my love of walking, I have yet to go on any of the trails at Presque Isle, mostly because I spend the majority of my time on the beaches. I can say from observation, however, that all the trails are well shaded by Presque Isle's numerous trees, and since the peninsula is flat, you need not worry about having to scale large hills or mountains.

If you're not into walking or running or just hate land altogether, you can give boating or paddling a chance. Presque Isle offers ample water space to take a boat out on the lake and enjoy a few hours away from the crowds. The state park also lets people rent canoes, kayaks, small motorboats and pontoon boats at certain locations on the peninsula.

Lake Erie's size allows boaters to drive at high speeds.
Most of these are summer activities, and even though I hate winter, I understand some people embrace the cold. Presque Isle has some wintertime opportunities, including ice fishing, cross-country skiing and ice skating. Lake Erie is the perfect place to do these sports most of the time because of its lake-effect weather.

Maybe you're not into nature, in which case I'm not sure why you're in a state park. But hey, we all do things to break the routine.

There are some places where you can go sightseeing on the peninsula. I mentioned the lighthouses before. The new tours at the Presque Isle lighthouse are a good way to burn time and to learn more about the tower's history and its prominence in Lake Erie's maritime history. Even though you can't climb the North Pierhead Light, its still neat to see in person.

Another interesting site is the Perry Monument, a tall concrete pillar commemorating the accomplishments of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and his crew.

The Perry Monument sits near Misery Bay.
Perry is known for winning a key battle against the British on Lake Erie near Sandusky, Ohio, during the War of 1812. A few of his ships were built in Presque Isle Bay, and after returning from his battle, Perry had his ships worked on in Little and Presque Isle bays. During the winters in 1812-14, however, Perry's men experienced harsh weather conditions and an alleged smallpox outbreak, which resulted in several deaths, according to DCNR and presqueisle.org. It's rumored that the bodies were placed in a pond neighboring Little Bay. That pond now carries the alluring name "Graveyard Pond," and Little Bay later became known as "Misery Bay" because of Perry's crew's struggles. And you thought this post was going to be all sunshine and rainbows.

In reality, there's sunshine and rainbows with undertones of death and British aggression.
 If you wander off Presque Isle State Park, you can continue your sightseeing tour in the nearby City of Erie. I mentioned the Erie Land Lighthouse as a tourist stop before, but there's another tower not too far away that's worth looking at. The Bicentennial Tower, which stands over the southside of Presque Isle Bay, is a 187-foot-tall structure built to recognize Erie's 200-year anniversary in 1996, according to Port Erie's website.

The Bicentennial Tower can be seen from across the bay on Presque Isle State Park.
For a small fee, you can take an elevator to an observation deck that not only gives you a glimpse of Presque Isle Bay, but of the City of Erie, as well. It's taller than any of the three lighthouses in the area, so it provides the best aerial view around.

The view of the City of Erie from the top deck of the Bicentennial Tower.
Not far from the Bicentennial Tower is the Flagship Niagara & Maritime Museum, which houses a replica of Commodore Perry's ship of the same name. Cassidy and I wanted to visit the museum but found out it was closed the day we stopped by.

Another educational trip is the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, named after our former governor. The center highlights the environmental aspects of Presque Isle State Park and its importance to many species of animals.

Speaking of animals, you should consider a trip to the Erie Zoo. It's about 15 minutes from Presque Isle State Park, but the zoo houses many of the animals you would see at major zoos in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. Some of the animals are quite entertaining, including a giraffe that loves licking fences and a river otter that enjoys making faces at guests.

The giraffe did this for about 15 minutes while we were at the zoo.

Maybe the exhibits at the Erie Zoo are made out of sugar glass?
After you spend a day on the beach or sightseeing around town, you can decompress by going shopping at one of the many stores in Erie, or you can grab some food and a beer or two at several restaurants. If your day was more stressful than it should have been, you have the option of choosing from a few microbreweries or wineries around town. Maybe you want to relax but don't like alcohol. A sober and family-friendly option is Waldameer Water World, an amusement park within earshot of Presque Isle State Park.

I'm sure there are more things to do that I forgot to mention, but this should be a good starting point for your Lake Erie trip. I can't imagine anyone visiting and not finding at least one thing that interests them. I've never seen a state park and its surroundings with such a diversity of activities in Pennsylvania -- with the one possible exception being Point State Park. But the City of Erie is only a fraction the size of Pittsburgh, yet it manages to pack so much recreation into such a small area.

I know I explore Pa. "so you don't have to," but I recommend you make the trip to Lake Erie, even if it's only for once in your lifetime. If you're not satisfied, I won't give you your money back because I'm poor as hell, but I will give you the opportunity to say "I told you so." I don't give those out too often, so take it if you get the chance. I'm confident this won't happen, though. The combination of Presque Isle State Park and Lake Erie is perhaps my favorite destination in Pennsylvania. It's at a close tie with Pittsburgh, but even that doesn't have a beach. Go see for yourself and help me settle the tiebreaker.

Note: These organizations and their websites provided me with much of the information for this blog post. I thank them for making my research and life much easier:
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