Note: This is an Earthcache. There is no physical cache to find. Logging this Earthcache requires that you undertake an educational task relating to the specific Earth Science at the site.
Prior to logging this cache, click on Message this owner, or send an email with answers to the following questions:
- What effect do you think the breakwall has on this sand beach?
- What year was the name changed from Sand Beach to Harbor Beach?
- How many ships sought shelter in the harbor from 1877 to 1899?
- Required to log this cache: Please provide a photo of yourself or a personal item in the picture to prove you visited the site. Upload the photo with your log.
Huron County, Michigan has three different types of shoreline. The differences are due to the slope and nature of the shore, and on its relation to the currents and waves. The three types of shoreline are mud flat, sand beach, and cliff & shingle type.
This cache brings you to an example of a sand beach. Typically, this type of shoreline occurs where the water deepens more rapidly, allowing the waves freer action so that they wash away the mud from the beach while the sand is piled up. The prevailing west winds catch the sand and throw it back above the reach of the waves. It is therefore particularly interesting that we find this beach on the west side of Lake Huron, which has a predominantly mud flat shoreline.
Harbor Beach was once called Sand Beach. In 1871, the Federal Government selected Sand Beach as the best location for a harbor to protect shipping interests from storms on their way past Saginaw Bay.
