Oil Spill in West Michigan Heading Toward Lake Michigan

The overpowering smell of oil on the river is a much stronger warning than the signs which are posted for miles along the Kalamazoo River. I stopped at three points along the river for maybe 15 minutes total, and came away with a fierce headache.















This river flows through the center of Battle Creek (where I live), then through the towns of Galesburg, Kalamazoo, Plainwell, and Allegan. Then, finally, between the cities of Douglas and Saugatuck before joining LAKE MICHIGAN. There are many wetlands along the way and the river harbors much wildlife. I've kayaked stretches of this river and have seen deer, turtles, blue heron, trout, and muskrat.

Estimates of the amount of oil have been raised to one million gallons. Why was the oil allowed to gush for hours before the flow in the pipeline was shut off? We're still waiting for an answer from Enbridge Energy.

The last photo here is of the Ceresco Dam in Marshall. The EPA is using a Coast Guard helicopter to survey the extent of the spill. This is just a mile or two from origin of the spill. The second photo shows how the crude oil is gathering in the vegetation.

Watch the video below for a closer look at the spill.

Segment 3, Day 2 Douglas->Holland 12 miles

High of 41 degrees. Winds 20mph.

We hiked inland from the lake the morning of the second day. The Kalamazoo River snakes between the cities of Douglas and Saugatuck. We had to walk through the lovely city of Saugatuck in order to get past the river.

We stopped in at the Singapore Bank Bookstore and met the owner, Judy. (Singapore was a small town that was abandoned near Saugatuck in 1875. The building that houses the bookstore was moved to Saugatuck.)

We saw a couple of flurries while walking through the town, but we walked on to the state park just north of town and back to the lake.

We made good time on the lakeshore and covered 12 miles this day. We met up with Mark Copier (who took photos for the Grand Rapids Press article) at the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. Then we connected with Rick Wilson (reporter from the Grand Rapids Press) for an interview over a hot cup of coffee in Holland.

My brother, Phil (LakeTrek Transporter) met up with us in Holland. He drove us from the hotel to the north side of Lake Macatawa (the large, inland lake in Holland) for the start of day 3.