It’s been an interesting week here on the Old Mission Peninsula. Ferocious winds pummeled our little Peninsula, causing road closures, trees down, collapsing banks and more.
And if you’re on any of the NextDoor groups for the OMP, they’re filled with all manner of beach things missing and found: dock sections, kayaks, rafts and more. Here are a few storm photos from around the OMP.
Old Mission Gazette is Reader Supported.
Click Here to Keep the Gazette Going.
Bluff Road tree and bank collapses. A tree collapsed into East Bay on Bluff Road, about a half-mile south of Boursaw Road. The tree took most of the bank with it, causing erosion along the edge of Bluff Road.
I came upon this scene right after it happened, as a couple of folks from the Grand Traverse County Road Commission were awaiting a truck to come fill in that bank – which happened that same day.
Peninsula Drive closed, then re-opened. The section of Peninsula Drive between McKinley Road and Wilson Road was closed for a couple of days, as water from West Bay washed over the road and into the drainage ditch on the other side.
Here are some photos taken by Pete Meyer as the Road Commission worked to stabilize the area.
The road was re-opened yesterday, so I drove by and took a few pics. You can see where the Grand Traverse County Road Commission put some fill in there, along with a few orange barrels to alert drivers. I’m guessing more needs to be done to “shore that up.”
Haserot Beach disappears. While I was out taking photos, Jon Andrus alerted me that the water was washing over Haserot Beach and taking most of the beach with it. If you’ve been reading the Gazette website or following us on Instagram, you know that much of the beach vanished this summer due to high waters. Now there’s even less there.
Downed power lines on Smokey Hollow Road. If you look closely at this photo, you can see electrical workers in the woods chainsawing trees off of a downed power line on Smokey Hollow Road, about a half-mile south of the Old Mission Road intersection.
Tree down on Smokey Hollow Road. Gazette reader Melissa Weber sent along this photo of a tree down on Smokey Hollow Road, in the tree line near the intersection of Ladd Road. Thanks, Melissa, for being a Gazette roving photographer!
[…] the high winds we’ve been experiencing on the Old Mission Peninsula during the past week, there’s […]
[…] on the Old Mission Peninsula is generally not a cause for great concern – unless you’re camping on the shoreline – Tim and I have a little version of that quote we like to say, because we never know what […]
[…] It’s no secret that the shoreline around the Old Mission Peninsula is taking a beating lately. The waters of Lake Michigan – including East and West Grand Traverse Bay – were already high to begin with, and the recent fierce winds have only intensified the situation. […]
[…] than 100 people crowded into the Peninsula Township Hall last night for a presentation about the erosion taking place around northern Michigan and the Old Mission Peninsula, and what residents can do to protect and […]
[…] no secret that we’ve been deluged with high water around the Old Mission Peninsula shoreline this year, but it’s always good to remember that water levels are generally guaranteed to cycle back […]
[…] it appears that it will continue through 2020. We first reported on this portion of Bluff Road in October 2019, noting that a tree had collapsed into East Bay on Bluff Road. The tree took most of the bank with […]
[…] has been closed to all traffic since last winter. We first reported on this portion of road in October 2019, after a tree collapsed into East Bay, taking most of the bank with […]
[…] issues along that stretch of Bluff Road began in the fall of 2019, when we reported that a large tree had collapsed into East Bay, taking part of the bank with it. At the time, GTCRC […]
[…] a fallen tree created the first significant slide in the Fall of 2019, a resident called the GTCRC, only to be told it was not their issue; Peninsula Township had to […]