Gay Beach
This post will be short because I don’t really have any inclination to recommend anything about the Gay Beach. The town of Gay is a very small community 12 miles NE of Lake Linden. Gay is famous for at least 3 things:
- The Gay Bar is a popular sight for tourists. A large sign out front affords memorable pictures.
- The Gay Parade is the most fun I’ve ever had at a 4th of July parade. Aside from having a hilarious parade, the town’s population triples for the event, everyone watches with a cooler of beer, it doesn’t drag on like most parades, and there are kids games and a fish toss afterward.
- A 265 foot tall smoke stack still stands at The Gay Stamp Mill.
The Gay Beach is entirely man-made. It is a byproduct of copper mining, and 100% stamp sand. I cannot remember specifically the volume of stamp sand dumped at gay, but it is on the order of cubic miles! The beach is huge, desolate, and not worth taking a trip for swimming or tanning. Perhaps if you are a photographer, historian, or an adventurer you may enjoy a trip to see, but most people will be better off heading elsewhere.
Gay Beach - Gay, MI
The water at the Gay Beach was very frigid. There was quite a breeze coming off the lake, which didn’t help. The dive into the lake was somewhat reluctant.
Gay Beach... 1/2 mile walk to get to the water.
There have been studies about the stamp sand and how it affects the lake. Here is one publication from 2002.
Hmmm....
There is probably one word that would perfectly sum up that last picture. And it’s not “footsteps”.
Are there other UP beaches that allow people to drive on them?
Not really. Sand Point in Baraga might be the closest you can come to driving on a beach.