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The shoreline around the Old Mission Peninsula is really taking a beating. Beaches have vanished, roads are disintegrating, and orange cones and barriers are now part of our OMP landscape, thanks to high water causing erosion issues.
The north end of Bluff Road has been closed since last winter, and Brad Kluczynski, manager of the Grand Traverse County Road Commission, says there’s a possibility it might never re-open.
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Other roads around the Peninsula are having their own erosion issues, including Neahtawanta Road, the south end of Bluff Road, and Peninsula Drive.
If you’ve been to Mission Point Lighthouse, you’ve no doubt noticed that there’s very little beach in front of the lighthouse. Here’s photographic evidence below (thank you to the unsuspecting swingset and beach models in the distance).
I took these standing directly in front of the Lighthouse. The first is towards the north, the second to the south. The little stairway on the south side is partially submerged in water.
But one area of the Peninsula that doesn’t get a lot of attention is the shoreline south of Mission Point Lighthouse – mainly because you can’t see it unless you’re kayaking or hiking along there.
Last night, I parked at the lighthouse and hiked that shoreline to the south (not the shoreline itself, as there’s not a lot there, but the little foot path along the top).
Here are a few photos of the erosion along the shoreline south of Mission Point Lighthouse. The trees are toppling into the water like toothpicks.
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SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
Because Old Mission Gazette is a "Reader Supported Newspaper" -- meaning it exists because of your financial support -- I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks our way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. In a time when local news is becoming a thing of the past, supporting an independent community newspaper is more important now than ever. Thank you so much for your support! -Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette
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[…] Related story: Erosion and high water battering lighthouse shoreline […]
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[…] Beaches were pretty much non-existent, and the erosion caused by high water resulted in trees toppling into the bay at the Lighthouse and the north end of Bluff Road closing […]