Let's Go Places: Point Pelee National Park

Let's pick it up where we left off from last time.  My first stop on The Great Island Bender of 2023 was the mainland in Leamington, Ontario.

My reason for going to Leamington is that it's where the Pelee Island ferry departs from.  Here's a quick refresh on the geography - we're about an hour southeast of Detroit/Windsor.  As with the US side of Lake Erie, we've got a lot of little beach towns and beach cottages.

Normally on these trips I act like it's a contest to see how much stuff I can get done from dawn to dusk.  I didn't do that for Leamington, because at this stage of the trip I just wanted to relax.  The only item on my agenda was Point Pelee National Park.  Point Pelee's claim to fame is that it's the southernmost point of mainland Canada.  And when they say point they mean point.

On Sunday I packed up everything that I needed for the week, quintuple checked that I had my passport, and hit the road.  The border was backed up more than I was expecting for a Sunday and I noticed too late that I was in the slow line.  It really only took a few minutes, but I was cross examined over every little detail and by the time I got through even I was convinced that I was up to no good.  From there it was just another hour to get to Leamington.

I walked in the door of my Airbnb and found a season pass to Point Pelee waiting for me in the house goodie basket.  Admission is something like $8, which is fine, but free is better.

I wasn't planning to go to the park until Monday, but curiosity got the better of me, so on Sunday evening I headed out.  Once I was in the park, there was a long road with a slow speed limit so it felt like it took hours to drive down it.  I finally pulled in to the visitor's center parking lot and then changed horses.  Car off, bike on.

Cars aren't allowed past the visitor's center, and from there it's about a mile and a half to the point.  During the day they have a shuttle and of course it's a walkable distance.  On a bike it's no time at all.

This is Tip Tower, which unfortunately is closed due to a safety issue.  I'm happy to take their word for it but if it had been open, I would have been all up in its business.

In a flash I was at the point.  Or rather, the part of the point that was still above water in the tide.

I'd heard that the point can get crowded, and sure enough it was.

Doin' it for the 'gram.

I spent quite a bit of time soaking in the views and taking pictures of birds before heading back.  I explored another short trail and beach near the visitor's center, and then called it for my first day.  The gorgeous sky is partly due to the wildfires which were at their height that week [edit: it was the height of the EARLY June 2023 wildfires, which seem like nothing compared to what we've had the last few days in the LATE June 2023 wildfires.]

The next morning I was back.  I drove to the visitor's center again and this time I pedaled in the opposite direction.  What has Pelee got besides a point?  A ton of beaches [all of them except this one had non-buried picnic benches], a camp site, an early settler's cabin, and a nature preserve.  I saw them all.

The nature preserve was a big hit.  With great discipline I forced myself to pare down a collection of 100 barn swallow pix to just one for the blog.

Many hours later I went back to the point.  The tide was out now.

The southernmost point of Canada's mainland.

I called it a day in the mid afternoon and headed back to my crib and closed out the day with some lakeside book reading and a movie.

The next morning the full moon was still large and in charge.

Let's Wrap it Up

• Visiting Point Pelee: 10/10.  I had no expectations and it was a lovely experience.
• Bonus points for visiting the point at different times of the day - I loved the contrast between the afternoon and the evening.
• YES YES YES YES bring your bike!!!!  The park is huge.  I felt safe biking on the main road and there is also a trail that runs alongside the road, so there's a lot of ground to cover.
  
• Cell service was spotty.
• My vote is that if you like national parks and you're within a few hours of Point Pelee that you have to go.
  

Someone please make my day and tell me that you've been to Point Pelee.

Until next time...we're going to take a ferry ride.