Patrick Hugener, the man behind the camera at Head in the Clouds Photography, is taking us on a road trip along M-28 from Christmas to Munising and then north on M-123 to Whitefish Point. An interesting site along the way is the Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light, which you can see in the bottom left of the top photo and then a better look at it in the second photo. Patrick said it also goes by the following names: Bay Furnace Rear Range Light, Christmas Rear Range Light, and End of the Road Light. This is near Christmas, MI, overlooking Lake Superior. The Range light was built in 1868 and remained active until 1969. It is now owned by the National Forest Service and Patrick added that they offer tours in the summer months. Range lights are used to help boats and ships with a line of travel through dangerous water, so their purpose is different from the traditional lighthouses along the Lake Superior shores.

The third photo is a “birds eye view” of Whitefish Point, with the shoreline and the lighthouse. I didn’t realize it was such a big campus there with so many buildings. Photos like this from the air, give you such a different perspective of what you’re used to seeing from ground level.

We end up today on the north end of Grand Island, with a look at the Old North Light and some insight into why the owner purchased this abandoned lighthouse and fixed it up to live there in the summers

Beautiful pics and interesting/beautiful video!

What a great post, thank you Mary!

It was refreshing to see the Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light identified correctly since so many call it a lighthouse! We didn't realize it was now open for tours either. The pictures answer the question many have of "why is there a lighthouse in the forest?"!

The video was great too - thought i knew all about that lighthouse but learned something there too. The video of the light is beautiful - and if you stay there you better not be a sleepwalker!!

Outstanding!!