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1

Walking the Lake Michigan beach — a public right, or trespassing?

It’s common knowledge that the public can walk along the Lake Michigan shoreline. You can walk it anywhere on public property. That means public road ends, or the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The question is: how far from the water’s edge can a person legally walk along private property? This is an important issue, since about 70 percent of Michigan’s “third coast” is privately owned. The answer is unclear, because neither courts in Michigan nor in other Great Lakes states have offered a clear and consistent answer.

2

“Packed” beaches? A curmudgeon comes around

One Friday afternoon last July, Tim Mulherin’s wife, Janet, suggested they go down to Good Harbor Bay Beach CR 651 (Good Harbor Trail) for a few blissful hours of relaxation. That favorite Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore location is conveniently located about two miles from our home in Cedar. Janet had the right idea: It was a glorious northern Michigan summer day, the kind that makes you want to drop what you’re doing and report to the nearest Lake Michigan beach. “Sounds good,” Tim said, “with one exception: It’s July and the beach will be packed.” Mulherin, a self-described curmudgeon, writes here about accepting “packed beaches” at the height of summer.

3

Revisiting the Empire shoreline—beach boulders, concrete slabs, and high water

Decades after writing the piece “Wind, waves and healing solitude,” I revisit the shoreline to the bluffs along Lake Michigan accessed from the south end of Empire beach. Years ago, in order to protect the shoreline there were concrete slabs positioned at a steep angle so that it became a tricky maneuver to reach the shore. Agile younger folks managed by using quick running steps over the slabs. This old lady found that going backwards on all fours was the safest way down. Fortunately, sand was recently piled atop the slabs affording easier access to the shore.

4

Private beach wall could dramatically change Empire shoreline

The Storm Hill Homeowners Association, whose properties are located on the high ground between Empire’s public beach and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore’s Empire Bluff, applied in June to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to armor the base of their bluff near the shoreline with a 740-foot-long steel seawall along 6 properties—that’s the length equivalent of 2.5 football fields.