Chris Otto, a water resources biologist at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, is keeping a close eye on North Bar Lake in late July and early August—often the warmest time of the summer—for greenish algal blooms and signs of cynobacteria at the popular swimming destination.
Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak in Empire teamed up with FLOW (For Love of Water), Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Surfrider NoMi, and S’well for an April 22 Earth Day beach cleanup at North Bar Lake.
The beach house overlooking North Bar Lake’s channel to Lake Michigan will be demolished in 2018, says Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich. The home has gone from beautiful to derelict in the two years since its original owner, Edward P. Cole, died. Why will it be torn down and not used for some other purpose? And why was Cole able to stay in his home all this time, when many other land owners literally cried at having to give theirs up when the Park was formed. Here’s the story of what happened and why it’s coming down.
By Linda Alice Dewey Sun contributor We all love to take our children and grandchildren to lakes and rivers on “beach days.” But when the weather turns cold or rainy, kids can get tired of stay-at-home activities. We wondered where the “locals” here take kids in the summertime. These are some of the answers we […]
Everyone here has a favorite Lake Michigan beach. But what about those smaller lakes that dot our woods and meadows, or the creeks and rivers meandering through our woodlands? Which inland waters are preferred by locals who have lived in the area for a long time?
Ella Skrocki of Empire loves North Bar Lake, not only for its beauty and wildlife but for its dark history. Ella’s grandmother, Faith Lewis, once lived on Lake Michigan near the North Bar Lake channel. She would talk about the “land pirate” who used to live there. Skrocki’s mother, Beryl, passed the tale on to her children. Ella says that knowing this makes it even more fun to paddle and swim there. That may be true for you, too, once you know what happened.
Local law enforcement believe they may have stopped a massive and illegal rave party from taking place at North Bar Lake last Saturday night. Dozens of police cars were deployed to Empire by the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and sheriff’s departments from Grand Traverse and Benzie County.