Day hikers can explore a lighthouse that has stood sentinel over Lake Michigan for more than 150 years.
The 0.5-mile round trip Cana Island Lighthouse Walk heads to the Cana Island Light on Wisconsin’s scenic Door County. It is among the most photographed of Door County’s lighthouses.
To reach the trailhead, from Baileys Harbor take Wis. Hwy. 57 north. Turn right/east onto County Road Q. After passing Moonlight Bay, go right/south on W. Cana Island Light Road then left/northeast onto E. Cana Island Light Road. Park in the lot just past the Cana Cover Road intersection. Walk the E. Cana Island Light Road – which after the parking lot vehicles cannot use – southeast toward Lake Michigan.
Causeway
After passing through a grove of mixed hardwoods, the road reaches a small beach and a rocky causeway, about 300 feet from the lot. Thanks to high Lake Michigan levels, about 18 inches of water flows over the rocky causeway connecting the peninsula to the island. At times, the cold water can be up to three feet deep. You’ll want to wear boots or appropriate footwear as you cross.
The causeway runs a little more than 300 feet long before reaching Cana Island. Once there, the trail enters another small forest of mixed hardwoods.
In about 450 feet from the causeway, the trail opens onto the lighthouse grounds.
The Cana Island lighthouse stands 89 feet high. It was erected in 1869 to replace the Baileys Harbor Lighthouse and lit the following spring. Built of Milwaukee Cream City brick, lake storms and icy winters soon caused the thick stone to deteriorate, so steel cladding was placed around the tower’s exterior in 1902.
The lighthouse is positioned in a particularly dangerous stretch of the lake. On Oct. 15, 1880, even with the lighthouse in operation, the Alpena Gale storm destroyed seven ships nearby.
Lighthouse tours
Atop the lighthouse is a Fresnel lens made in France. When the lighthouse first opened, every day the keeper carried lard up the tower to fuel the light. Later kerosene and acetylene were used. Since 1945, electricity keeps the line shining. It can be seen up to 19.5 miles away.
The lighthouse still is used as an active navigational aide while also serving as a museum. Tourists can climb the lighthouse’s 97 steps up a spiral staircase to the gallery level. Fantastic views of Lake Michigan and the Door Peninsula await, especially in autumn when leaves change color.
Also at the light station is the keeper’s residence, a hexagon-shaped oil house where fuel for the light was stored, a privy, and a storage building.
The lighthouse is open May through October daily from 10 am-5 pm, though sometimes bad weather closes it. Tours are operated by the Door County Maritime Museum. There is a fee to enter the lighthouse.
After taking in the lighthouse and its grounds, retrace your steps across the island and causeway to the parking lot.
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