IF I HAD A BOAT

We woke up Friday morning without a plan. Our original intent had been to drive north, to Copper Harbor, and then catch a ferry out to Isle Royale National Park. However, we’d cancelled that part of the trip due to Christy’s knee injury. We’d also shortened the trip, so we really only had 4 more days to spend around Lake Superior.

We had contemplated our options the previous evening, and decided to spend a couple of days in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin. I had really enjoyed my hike the previous day in Porcupine Mountains State Park though, and I was inclined to spend more time in the park. My initial thought was to head over to the Presque Isle area, on the far (southwest) side of the Porcupine Mountains. We could spend Friday night there, and I could do a hike or two in that area. Then we could head up to the Apostle Islands on Saturday.

That plan had one serious flaw. The Apostle Islands are popular, and we didn’t have campground reservations. Would we be able to find a campsite on a Saturday? Ultimately we decided to head straight up there. We would camp up there Friday and Saturday, before heading back down to the Presque Isle area on Sunday. That would require a little bit of backtracking, but we’d avoid having to worry about finding a place to camp. On Monday we’d drive down to the Wisconsin Dells, where we had a hotel reservation. On Tuesday Christy would head back to Ian and Marsha’s in St. Joseph, MI, and I would catch a train out to Glacier National Park in Montana.

I thought about squeezing in a couple of waterfalls on the way to the Apostle Islands, but we’d overslept a bit, and it was a sunny morning. Conditions would be poor for waterfall photography, so I decided to save the waterfalls for Sunday or Monday.

We drove to Ashland, WI, finally entering the Central Time Zone on the way. Beyond Ashland we headed north, towards Washburn, Bayfield, and the Apostle Islands. While Christy drove, I researched possible campgrounds. The National Lakeshore doesn’t have a typical car campground. One of the islands, Madeline Island, has a state park that includes a car campground. However, getting there requires a ferry ride. We decided to skip that expense. Other campsites in the Apostle Islands are on the islands themselves. Reaching them requires paddling, or taking a water taxi. That was intriguing, but either option would’ve added some expense and logistical challenges. Instead, we decided to try for a private campground on the mainland.

Our first stop was at Memorial Park in Washburn. The campground there is quite lovely. It’s fairly open, but it has beautiful trees. It’s situated right on Lake Superior, which is nice even if the advertised beach doesn’t really exist. We took a quick tour of the campground, and grabbed the last available spot. The site was nice, and the price was reasonable ($25 / night). We were lucky to get it, too. Another couple pulled in a few minutes after us and circled the campground a couple of times before realizing that it was full.

We set up camp and had lunch before driving on to Bayfield. We stopped at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Visitor’s Center to research our recreational options for the weekend. We wanted to try sea kayaking, but weren’t real comfortable with the idea of going out on Lake Superior by ourselves. We were particularly interested in checking out the sea caves on the northwest side of the Bayfield Peninsula. The guided tours of the caves that we found advertised were expensive – most would’ve cost $100 each for a few hours of kayaking. We found one outfit with better rates, but they were booked solid for the whole weekend.

We decided to go with plan B. We bought tickets for an evening cruise among the islands. The cruise was scheduled to depart at 5:30, so we had several hours to kill. We stumbled upon a local recreation center with a pool, and Christy decided to swim some laps. While she did that, I relaxed on a nearby beach with a book.

Christy was bubbling with excitement after she finished swimming. Apparently there was a big open water swim race the next morning. The race was a little over 2 miles, across Lake Superior from Bayfield to La Pointe on Madeline Island. The race was a big deal (with over 400 competitors), but it wasn’t sold out. She had signed up, even though she didn’t have a wetsuit with her. The race director warned her that the water temperature would have to be at least 60.8 degrees or she wouldn’t be allowed to swim without a wet suit. If she was allowed to participate, she would be one of only a handful of swimmers without wetsuits.

We took our boat cruise at 5:30. The boat took us out of Bayfield and around most of the islands. We passed Madeline Island early on, before heading up between Oak Island and Stockton Island. At Manitou Island, we passed a restored fish camp. From there, we continued on towards Rocky Island and Devils Island. Devils Island was one of the highlights of the cruise. The north end of the island features a lighthouse and some impressive sea caves. We arrived at the caves just as the setting sun painted them red and gold.

Other highlights included impressive cliffs on Rocky Island, old-growth forest on North Twin Island, and another lighthouse on Raspberry Island. For me though, the best part of the cruise was a lovely sunset enhanced by a high layer of broken clouds. That was great for photos, even from a moving boat.

We got back to Bayfield at 9pm. We drove back to the campground and made a quick dinner before heading to bed. We would be up early the next morning so that Christy could do the swim race.

HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS

We got up at 6 on Saturday morning and drove back to Bayfield. I dropped Christy off at the race site, wished her luck, and went searching for breakfast. I ended up at Big Water Coffee Roasters, where I got a pretty good blueberry scone and fantastic coffee. From there, I headed over to the west side of the Bayfield Peninsula for a hike. My plan was to hike the Lakeshore Trail from Meyers Beach out towards Sand Point. The trail follows a bluff above Lake Superior, and passes directly above a number of sea caves.

I was on my way out of Bayfield when I noticed a small group of people along the side of the road. They were on top of a hill, looking down on the starting line for the swim race. It was a great view of the race, which is rather unusual. Typically open water swim races are not spectator-friendly. Usually all you can see is a thrashing mass of limbs and water. The view from the hillside was another thing altogether. It was a distant view, but it encompassed Bayfield, Madeline Island, and the entire swim course. I made a quick U-turn, found a place to park, and joined the small throng of spectators.

I watched the beginning of the race and took a few photos before resuming my journey. An easy drive brought me to a huge, empty parking lot at Meyers Beach. I paid the $3 parking fee and walked down to the beach. It’s quite nice, with soft sand, clear water, and a lovely forested lakeshore stretching off in both directions.

The trailhead kiosk indicated that the hike would be 4.6 miles one-way to a campsite at the end of the maintained trail. It sounded like a primitive trail continues from there out to Sand Point, which is directly across from Sand Island.

I began my hike before 9am. I started down the trail into the woods, and walked about 30 seconds before stopping to slather on the DEET. Mosquitoes weren’t a big problem during most of our trip, but they were pretty vicious here. The first two miles of trail featured a number of boardwalks and a lot of mud. There was one creek crossing, but the water level was so low it was barely noticeable.

After 45 minutes or so I reached the first of many overlooks of the sea caves. This part of the trail follows the bluff, and the caves were 60’ directly below. Although the caves were underneath me, there were still quite a few good views of them and Lake Superior. The area also features a neat natural bridge. The caves continue on for a half mile or more, and I took my time on this part of the trail to enjoy the scenery. I saw several groups of sea kayakers, who were exploring the caves from water level. That’s definitely the best way to experience the caves, although there is one other option that is intriguing. In late winter, after the lake freezes, it’s possible to walk to them.

The caves eventually ended, and a long, peaceful hike through the woods ensued. Most of the hiking was easy, though there were a few steep ravines along the way. I eventually reached a spur trail, which I followed out to another sandy beach. It was a lovely spot, with a great view out over Lake Superior to Eagle Island – the smallest in the archipelago. I made a seat out of driftwood and ate lunch while relaxing in the sun. The peace and quiet lasted for a few minutes, before a large group of sea kayakers arrived. I packed up quickly, as the moment had lost its magic. It was also getting late. I’d made surprisingly poor time on the hike out. I still had almost a mile to go to get to the campsite at the end of the trail. That meant that I’d hiked just under 4 miles in a little less than 3 hours. Even accounting for the excessive sightseeing and picture taking at the sea caves, this seemed wildly unlikely. My guess is that the trail distance is significantly understated.

I set a brisk pace on the hike back. The only challenge was dodging all of the hikers heading in the other direction. This was a bit startling, as I hadn’t seen any other hikers all morning. The biggest concentration of people was around the sea caves. Most of them were fine representatives of the human race, too. Quite a few of them had ignored numerous signs and fences to wander around on exposed bluffs of crumbly sandstone. Most of them were drinking, too. Two Darwin Award nominees were walking back and forth across the natural bridge – a crumbly, narrow span over a deep, dark chasm.

For a minute there I thought I was back in North Carolina. I guess we all have our share of idiots.

There was a “lifesaver” ring tied up near the natural bridge. Its presence had confused me earlier, but now I was beginning to see the light. If one of these yahoos fell, they’d have no chance at climbing back up the sheer, crumbly sandstone bluff. The lifesaver ring was designed to keep the “victim” afloat until the Coast Guard or a Park Ranger arrived. Sadly, there are no sharks in Lake Superior.

I decided to get out of there before I witnessed something unpleasant. If the trail had been busy earlier, it was now like walking the wrong way through a parade. I kept a fast pace despite the obstacles, and returned to the now-overflowing parking lot at 1:30. I thought about auctioning off my parking spot, as there were cars lining both sides of the road leading out to the main highway.

I headed back to Bayfield to pick up Christy. We got ice cream and she filled me on her day. The race had gone pretty well. The water had been just warm enough (about 62 degrees) that she was able to compete. Her time wasn’t great, as she’d gone off course a few times due to a lack of buoys. She was also at a competitive disadvantage without a wetsuit, because wetsuits provide buoyancy. Despite those difficulties, the race had gone pretty well, and she’d had fun. This was a relief to me, as she hadn’t been able to do much during our vacation because of her knee injury.

After the race she’d eaten breakfast before heading over to a beach at Big Bay State Park. She’d relaxed there for a while before catching a ferry back to Bayfield.

We drove back to the campground and took showers. The shower was a reasonable 25 cents for 3 minutes, except that the first 2 minutes provided only ice water. It eventually warmed up, but my hair was full of soap when my second quarter ran out. So I ended up spending a full 75 cents.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in our hammock at our campsite. It was heavenly, with temperatures in the low 70’s and a gentle breeze. We were both extremely relaxed right up until the moment that Christy realized her wallet was missing. A thorough search of the car and our campsite ensued, but it didn’t turn up. The last time she remembered having it was on Madeline Island, after the race. She made a few phone calls to the race officials, but couldn’t reach anyone. Eventually she drove back to Bayfield to try to track it down. Unfortunately, she returned empty handed. At that point we hit an ATM to get some cash before calling to block our credit and debit cards. We weren’t sure if it was lost or stolen, but we didn’t want to take any chances.

The missing wallet was frustrating, but we tried to keep it from ruining our evening. We had a nice campfire that evening, and grilled fish and corn on the cob for dinner. We had a few adult beverages, too. Appropriately, the cap to my last Moose Drool of the evening said, “Hold my beer and watch this”. That gave me flashbacks to earlier that afternoon, but at least I was able to laugh about it.

Continue reading about our trip as we return to Michigan to visit the Presque Isle section of Porcupine Mountains State Park.

Back to Wisconsin

Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports

Home

Please remember to Leave No Trace!