Sprucing Up Plum Island

Photo by Ida Whitney.

At 7 am on May 17, thirteen people from Friends of Plum and Pilot Island (FOPPI) boarded the ferry bound for Washington Island. But they had a different final destination in mind; their journey was to Plum Island. This is an island right in-between the mainland and Washington Island and is now managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. If any of you have ridden the Washington Island Ferry before, then you have seen and gone right past Plum. These thirteen people were going there to help clean up the buildings and clear a trail through and around the island.

We unloaded at the Washington Island Ferry dock, with empty stomachs. So the only reasonable answer we could come up with was to have breakfast at Cap’s Marina. The coffee was hot and the pancakes, eggs, toast, and hash browns definitely hit the spot. We were now ready to begin the second part of our quest.

Photo by Ida Whitney.

Another boat ride was up next. The Shoreline Charters run by Jim Robinson, and his first mate (granddaughter) were to take us over to Plum. We all were running a little late from our breakfast, so we ended up leaving around 9:30 am and reached our destination at around 10 am.

We unloaded our gear on the dock and then the cleaning began. We cleaned from the boathouse to the range light and a whole trail in-between. Also we mowed a trail around the island for summer visitors looking for a hike.

In the afternoon we had the chance to explore the island a little bit on our own. Most people went hiking and some went for a walk on the beach.

Photo by Ida Whitney.

I obviously spent my time taking photos and listening to former Coast Guard member Scott Nelson, a Door County native who fondly remembers many a summer stationed at Plum.

We left Plum with The Shoreline Charters at 3 pm that afternoon, taking the 4 pm ferry back to the mainland.

This was an amazing trip led by Tim Windingstad. If anyone is interested in becoming a part of these trips there is more information on the FOPPI facebook page and their website, plumandpilot.org.

All of these photos were taken with an iPhone 5s and manipulated through the phone with the apps Afterlight, VSCOcam, and AFilter.