Beaver Island

While I cannot match Jay's exciting cross country to Washington in
unstable air, ADIZ, 11K runway, etc., we did do the bi-biennial trek up
to Beaver Island... (meaning it's been 4 years) The weather was so
calm, with 50 mile visibility, that it was fraught with risk because it
was just too darn nice out... Anyway, we took a couple with us who are
local business owners, and who are both also secondary ed teachers,
Dave and Sharon... Neither has been in a GA plane before... We flew
from Saginaw KHYX direct to Welke Airport 6Y8 - more or less direct
since it was a VFR flight and I was not in 'instrument scan' mode...
The flight path took us past Houghton Lake and Higgins Lake, East of
the two Traverse Bay's with their vineyards, with Petosky and Torch
Lake clearly visible, and the towers of the Mackinac Straits Bridge
shining in the morning light, directly over Charlevoix and offshore of
Lake Michigan, 27 miles to Beaver Island... The Island is roughly 14
miles long and 7 miles wide with several inland lakes on the island...

BTW, the lakes and towns I mention are right up there with the
exclusive and expensive shoreline property in the country... A quarter
acre lot where the lake is just visible through the trees, with no
utilities and limited access is near the quarter million dollar range -
and out on the islands (Beaver, Bois Blanc, Mackinac) every stick of
building material has to be brought in by ferry... A cottage on the
shore is in the range of "if ya gotta ask ya can't afford it"...

Anyway, Beaver Island is lightly developed, has a permanent population
of about 500 currently, and has just six miles of paved road centered
around St. James harbor, and is just hard enough to reach that the
tourist season is short and sweet... A round trip flight from
Charlevoix is $82 per seat... The ferry is cheaper but is a 4 hour
round trip - and not fun in rough weather; in an eyeflick Lake Michigan
can go from flat water to rough enough that captains of ocean
freighters often swear, "never again"...... Anyway, Beaver Island is
not as touristy as Mackinac and only gets a tiny fracton of their
tourist numbers...

The high school graduated 4 seniors this year, 3 girls and a boy...
The island has a storied history with french beaver trappers naming the
island for the numerous beaver inhabiting the lush, inland lakes on the
island - until they were eliminated... The other intereting history is
of King Strang and his harem and Mormon followers followed by his
assassination and then the mainlanders came over in boats and
physically ejected the Mormons from the Island... The major genetic
group that the islanders are descended from is the Irish where the
island was settled by two boat loads of refugees from the potato famine
(I am also the result of the potato famine by way of Canada and a
stroll across the ice floes to the thumb of Michigan to a village
called Pinnebog)... As a result the islanders show a strong tendency
towards reddish hair and freckles... I'm including a link to the
history of the island for those who are interested..

http://www.beaverisland.net/History/index.htm

Anyway, we did lots of walking around the village, ate a pair of rather
good meals, got nice and tired, bought a couple of tee shirts, and my
usual Beaver Island caps I wear as my old ones were rather tired after
the years, and flew back home... A good day, all in all...

BTW, I used 6Y8 Welke airport for the first time - we usually use the
township airport, KSJX, which is about 4 miles further from town... The
Welke 9-27 rwy has been paved and the airport is now listed as a public
airport... Nice folks... Other than being slightly short and having
trees rather close in, it is just another runway... Call 231-448-2210
for the taxi service...

denny

While I cannot match Jay's exciting cross country to Washington in
unstable air, ADIZ, 11K runway, etc., we did do the bi-biennial trek up
to Beaver Island...

Dang, that sounds like a great trip, Denny. We wanted to get up to
Mackinac Island badly -- but now, thanks to you, we've got a *new*
destination to aim for...

Is there *anything* on the island that the kids would enjoy, or should we
leave 'em home?

The other interesting history is
of King Strang and his harem and Mormon followers followed by his
assassination and then the mainlanders came over in boats and
physically ejected the Mormons from the Island...

The history of the islands of the Great Lakes is fascinating and often
extremely violent/tragic. Madeline Island (in Lake Superior) has become an
off-limits "place of evil" to Native American Indians because at one point
it became over-populated and the natives resorted to cannibalism to survive.
Many of the islands have tales to tell...

That and the sea-faring stories of the Great Lakes will raise the hackles on
the back of your neck. Incredibly dangerous waters, incredibly brave men.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Is Beaver Island the one with the wreck of the "Francisco Morazon"
freighter that ran aground in the 60's, or is it one of the Manitou's?

I flew up to Superior this weekend from Madison to run Grandma's
Marathon and toured the "William Irvin" ore boat and the USCGC Sundew,
and the whaleback freighter S.S. Meteor. Fascinating stuff, this Great
Lakes maritime history. Flying home I flew across the SW corner of Lake
Superior. It was calm, beautiful, a freighter or two at anchor outside
the Duluth breakwaters, hard to imagine the fury of the lakes in a
storm!!!

Ryan W.
Madison, WI

There is absolutely nothing for your kids... Make it a twosome with
Mary... It's slow, quiet, and tranquil... If you have done Door
County, etc., it won't measure up I suspect... It's certainly not
Mackinac Island with shops lining every street... There is no Grand
Hotel... No horse manure ripening in the sun, either... It will make
a nice 4 hour stop on the way to somewhere else... Bringing bicycles
would enhance your ability to cover ground..

The airport limo is not allowed to carry pets except seeing eye dogs...
He looked at our furball of a Chipoo (named Pasta) and said, "Looks
like a seeing eye dog to me.", and that was that... One resturant in
town refused to let us have Pasta outside on the patio during lunch so
we went up the street to another and they have a big porch... Pasta was
more than welcome on their porch (and got lots of petting from everyone
that went past as he is a cute little rascal and he knows it) and we
had a great lunch... I had an outstanding grilled Portobello mushroom
and veggies sandwich on freshly baked french bread buns...

Welke airport is the commuter air taxi terminal... Used to be a private
gravel strip for the air taxi's, but with paving (and I suspect with
some tax dollars) it has become a public airport... Trees are close in
on the wind favored 9-27 and a pilot needs to have some minimal skills
at short fields... Otherwise he can go to the big, empty, airport out
in the middle of the island... A tired, refugee from a junk heap, 150
horse Apache, at very close to gross weight got in and out of Welke
just fine...

There is a bicycle rental and gift shop on main street that has three
(count em) tandem airplanes (Cub, etc.) on floats at the back door that
hop tourists on flights around the island...

denny

No wrecked freighter I noticed, Ryan... Probably somewhere else...

denny

wrote in message
ups.com...
Is Beaver Island the one with the wreck of the "Francisco Morazon"
freighter that ran aground in the 60's, or is it one of the Manitou's?

I flew up to Superior this weekend from Madison to run Grandma's
Marathon and toured the "William Irvin" ore boat and the USCGC Sundew,
and the whaleback freighter S.S. Meteor. Fascinating stuff, this Great
Lakes maritime history. Flying home I flew across the SW corner of Lake
Superior. It was calm, beautiful, a freighter or two at anchor outside
the Duluth breakwaters, hard to imagine the fury of the lakes in a
storm!!!

Ryan W.
Madison, WI


That wreck is on the south shore of South Manitou as I remember

Death's Door survivor

yep, I googled the name and an aerial shot came up:
http://www.airphotona.com/stock/imag...36&catnum=5000

Thanks for that trip down 'memory lane'. I grew up in the area, nice to
know Welke is now paved. May have to drop in on the way to OSH this
year, though I usually spend the weekend prior and following at CVX...