Exploring a Lake Erie beach at Pennsylvania’s Erie Bluffs State Park

LAKE CITY, Pa. – It is a bit surreal to experience a wild Lake Erie beach alone.

Welcome to Pennsylvania’s no-frills Erie Bluffs State Park.

Yes, there are patches of sand. But the 1.4-mile-long beach is narrow with lots of rocks, cobbles, mussel shells and smooth pebbles. There is also plenty of driftwood that has ended up at the edge of the water.

Waves crash on ledges of gray rock. Bluffs rise 90 feet from the edge of the beach. You are hiking on a narrow ribbon of beach between the waves and the base of the forested bluffs.

It’s not easy hiking. You will be walking on sand, hopping rock to rock and over ledges, scrambling over the driftwood. It can be done without getting your feet wet — unless you want to wade into the Lake Erie surf.

At dusk, you can enjoy the sun sinking to the west over the lake.

On a summer visit, no one else was on the beach. I was joined briefly by a young bald eagle that was searching for dead fish.

Erie Bluffs offers a look at what the Lake Erie shoreline looked like before human development.

With its wild beach and forested plateau, Erie Bluffs became Pennsylvania’s 117th state park in mid-2004. It is a natural park with minimal human impacts and facilities are intentionally limited. It is envisioned to be an eco-tourism destination.

The 587-acre park sits off state Route 5 about 12 miles west of Erie and just east of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line in western Erie County.

It features the largest tract of undeveloped land on Lake Erie along Pennsylvania’s 60 miles of shoreline. It is pretty cool, but the park is not as pristine as supporters once thought.

The hiking is rugged with few trails. It’s hard to get lost. You are between Lake Erie to the north and state Route 5 to the south.

The park is home to its own pair of nesting bald eagles. That’s likely where the juvenile I saw came from.

Erie Bluffs was once envisioned to be the home of a coal-fired power plant by Reliant Energy. It was acquired in late 2003 by the Pittsburgh-based Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The conservancy turned the land over to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and it became the first new state park in Pennsylvania in 20 years.

About 60 percent of the park is forested and some has been farmed in the past. It is home to the largest undisturbed forest on Lake Erie in Pennsylvania, but there are really no old-growth trees.

There are threatened plant species, an unusual black oak-savannah-sand barren ecosystem, wetlands and significant archaeological sites.

The park is home to a colony of 3,000 bank swallows, one of the largest of its kind in Pennsylvania, that nest on the bluffs. It includes a very popular steelhead fishery on Elk Creek that empties into Lake Erie.

Park visitors can easily access the beach at Elk Creek at the park’s eastern end. There is a large parking lot for boat launching and fishing. It is a short hike along the stream through the woods to reach the beach. There are no steep slopes to negotiate.

You can also access the beach at Duck Run on the west, but there are really no trails to the beach in between. I simply turned around and returned to Elk Creek. Visitors are encouraged not to exit via the steep gullies that drain down to the beach, said Ryan Rager, the assistant park manager.

The park also has a major parking lot on the north side of state Route 5 west of Elk Creek near a railroad bridge. It is centrally located. Visitors can park here and hike old farm lanes to a bluff overlook.

The bluffs are heavy with loose sand, at risk of eroding and slipping. They are slowly moving inland at the rate of 1 to 7 feet per year.

There is also significant gray clay that gets slippery with water from the seeps or springs in the bluffs. The water is cold and pristine. Many of the park’s at-risk plants are found in the bluffs’ seep areas and that’s why visitors are discouraged from stomping around them.

Erie Bluffs is a hiking, fishing and nature-watching park, Rager said. Officials are starting to improve the trails, a task that will take several years, he said. That will include adding new trails to create a 10-mile system.

That also calls for eliminating numerous unofficial trails that have been established over the years, he said. That includes some used by all-terrain vehicles.

Group and primitive camping will also be added. The park is also planning to restore grassland vegetation on 150 acres that has been farmed in the past, he said. The state is seeking grants to help fund the restoration of those seven parcels.

A new picnic pavilion has been added at Elk Creek, which is known for its steelhead and trout fishery. There was talk in the past of building a small overnight lodge, but those plans have been scrapped, Rager said.

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Nearby Presque Isle State Park oversees Erie Bluffs. For information, call 814-833-7424 or go to http://dcnr.state.pa.us.

Presque Isle is one of Pennsylvania’s most popular state parks with 4 million visitors a year. It is a swimming-and-beach park.

The 3,200-acre peninsula is covered with sand dunes and sticks seven miles into Lake Erie at Erie. Its name comes from the French for “almost an island.”

It offers 13 beaches that together stretch seven miles. Most of the beaches are on the north side and face windy Lake Erie. There are 58 stone breakwaters to limit waves.

The beaches have been called among the very best on the Great Lakes. They get crowded on summer weekends. Sixteen trails cover 21 miles for walkers, hikers and bicyclists.

The park features the Tom Ridge Environmental Center looking at Lake Erie and the park’s seven shoreline habitats. Admission is free. It opens at 10 a.m. daily.

There is a 101-foot limestone monument to Oliver Hazard Perry from the War of 1812 and the Battle of Lake Erie. Six of the nine ships used by Perry to defeat the British at Put-in-Bay were built in Presque Isle Bay. Perry and his men also wintered at Presque Isle in 1813-14.

Erie is also home to Perry's rebuilt brig Niagara, a 198-foot-long, two-masted brig that is owned by the state of Pennsylvania. It is housed at the Erie Maritime Museum and offers tours of the brig plus sailing schools. For information, call 814-452-2744 or go to www.flagshipniagara.org.

Presque Isle, a National Natural Landmark, is one of the best birding spots in the United States.

It has its own active lighthouse that dates to 1873. It is 74 feet tall with a red brick house at the base, on the peninsula’s north shore. Its light is visible from 13 miles away. The light and house are not open to the public.

The park offers boat cruises, and you can rent boats and bicycles.