» st. joseph
The lighthouse at St. Joseph is one of a few that sits at the end of a long pier where it is thereby subjected to the full fury of Lake Michigan. In the winter, this produces some interesting effects.

Note that it is not possible to safely walk past the inner lighthouse to reach the lighthouse at the end of the pier without crampons. There is only about a foot or two of clearance along the edge of the peir which was ice coated and slanted a bit towards the water. There was one photographer wearing crampons who had made it past the inner lighthouse.

St. Joseph lighthouse.

Ice on Lake Michigan from the bluffs south of St. Joseph.

Two people who get as emotional as I do about ice.

St. Joseph lighthouse from afar.

South pier light, St. Joseph.

Couldn't get any closer than this (and this is zoomed) without risking an unwanted splash into Lake Michigan.

According to the internet, this light is 30 feet tall.

Looking down the walkway.

Ice shards.

From the north.

The edge of the ice.

Iced railing.

Ice on Lake Michigan from the bluffs south of St. Joseph.

Look closely and you can see a photographer under the walkway.

Icy balcony.

» south haven
The South Haven lighthouse is also at the end of a pier and you can safely walk all the way to the end as long as you watch your step (I did see one guy take a spill). It was a nice sunny day so there were many people around. Luckily when I first arrived there was some photography group who had the end of the pier all blocked off with their tripods so I was able to get some photos of the light with no people in them.

South Haven.

Walkway.

The side of the lighthouse that faces the lake.

Edge of the pier.

Broken ice in the harbor and the north pier light.

Ice on the walkway.

Ice from here to the horizon.

Another angle.

Probably not the safest place to let your kids play because the ice beyond the shelf was not solid, but I'm sure they were having fun.

On the edge.

Looking like the arctic.

» warren dunes state park
I've tried to visit Warren Dunes in the summer but was scared away by the long line of cars backed up at the park entrance. There was no such backup on this day, but there were a few people around who were searching for snow-covered hills to sled or snowboard on. In my experience, dune areas along the lake often tend to be windblown so the snow, besides getting mixed with sand, tends to disappear. I was surprised to see so much ice on the lake but it has been a fairly cold and stormy winter.

Ice shelf at Warren Dunes.

Warren Dunes.

Left: The view from the top of a dune. Right: The beach.

Emerging from the sand.

Left: An ice pile on the beach. Right: View to the northwest from the top.

Left: From the end of the South Haven pier. Right: Pressure ridge.