Mother Nature is a fantastic artist

These past few weeks have given visitors to Point Pelee National Park a unique glimpse of the artistic talent of Mother Nature.

On the heels of a record breaking year for attendance, Point Pelee became a popular destination for photographers and spectators wanting to take in the fantastic sight of a winter wonderland.

During the Canada 150 celebrations, the national parks were open to the public for free, and Point Pelee saw more than 500, 000 visitors — up 70 per cent from recent years, according to Maria Papoulias, superintendent of Point Pelee National Park.

As the rough waters of Lake Erie crashed against the eastern shores of the point, magnificent ice formations were created using trees and rocks as canvas.

“It is better than I expected, I didn’t expect the ice to be so colourful out there,” said Tanya Divkovic, visiting for the first time with her parents.

Her father, Damir Divkovic moved his family to Canada 19 years ago and has held a park pass for the past 13 years.

“We come at least 20 times a year. Point Pelee is my favorite,” said Divkovic. “Five, six years ago, we have banks maybe 20 ft., 25 ft. We have to climb up to go on the other side, it was so nice.”

Although there is always some ice at the point in the freezing weather, a perfect combination of conditions made it possible these past few weeks for a kingdom of ice to emerge.

“The ice is more extensive this year than it was in previous years that were warmer. We had a cold snap in December and we had some cold at a time when the lake was still not frozen,” said Papoulias.

“So what happens is the waves crashing up from the lake will splash the trees and form those incredible ice formations. So the combination of the cold weather coming in quickly and the lake not being frozen yet resulted in some particularly spectacular ice formations at the tip this year.”

Damir Divkovic is impressed with the ice this year however has fond memories of the long point.

“I loved old Point Pelee, when we use to have two, two and a half miles of it,” he said.

“The tip is constantly changing. This year we didn’t have much of a tip for most of the year. The lake levels were high this year and the tip just kind of disappeared under the water,” said Papoulias.

“It’s just part of the natural dynamics of a sandbar. It is normal and it is healthy for sandbars to be dynamic, and it is normal for lake levels to be dynamic and that’s part of the story you see when you go down to the tip … it’s different every time you see it.”

These past few weeks the tip has definitely been different. Hundreds passed through the gates and made their way down to the point. The point may not have been the longest in history but certainly one of the more beautiful.