A Trilogy
Part 3: Apostle Islands 2009
This is part three of a three part story. My wife and I went on a three week trip covering Georgian Bay, Pictured Rocks and the Apostle Islands. We planned to kayak extensively in each area. I decided to write a story about each place. Part One covered Georgian Bay and Part Two covered the Pictured Rocks.

We had originally planned on kayaking Isle Royale as our third kayaking destination. We changed our minds after hearing about the great sea caves in the Apostle Islands. So, I did my typical research, plotted courses on the GPS and made reservations. We planned on camping on several of the islands. The campsites in the Apostles are deluxe compared with Georgian Bay (where you camp on a rock). Most even have toilets. But, you must make reservations and they go fast in the summer months. We arrived and set up camp at our launch site at Sand Bay. The weather forecast was grim, with heavy rain and 45 knot winds forecasted. We had planned to launch the following morning, but the forecast scared us away. The Apostles are about 3-4 miles apart and there is little protection from the strong Lake Superior winds, so watching the weather is critical. So we headed for Bayfield, WI (where the Ranger Station is) to change our camping reservations. Since it was midweek, we still had some options.

Our decision was a good one. The weather came in with a vengeance, pouring rain down all night and blowing limbs off trees. We were in a motorhome, and it felt good to be protected. Several tents collapsed overnight, and there were many wet campers in the morning. I went for a walk in the morning and found a group of girls that had kayaked in from one of the islands. The winds were still up, but they had run out of food and needed to come in. They were exhausted. That same day, a group of Boy Scouts were rescued in open water between the islands. The waves knocked them over (about 18 of them) and the guides could not get back to the group to rescue them. It was a miracle no one was seriously hurt or died. The water is not warm (this is Lake Superior, after all).

We went "tourist" and took a tour boat out among the islands that day. It was so windy and the waves were so big that the tour boat didn't go to the outer islands. I was very happy to not be in my kayak in those waves.

The next day, the high winds continued. Due to the wind, we decided to launch from the protected east side of the mainland peninsula, and kayak the protected waters out of the waves.  The east side of the peninsula (north of Bayfield) is a nice paddle and there are some shipwrecks in very shallow water.

We paddled out around the point into the open waves of the channel, and quickly turned back as we congratulated ourselves on the good decision we had made. But this wasn't what we had come to see. 

At this point our grand camping plan was falling apart. The good news was we were camping right at the launch site. Sand Island was very close (a couple miles away) and has some very good sea caves. We headed back to Bayfield to make yet another camping plan. This time our options were very limited. They did have a campsite that was just opened the day before. When I asked why it was closed, they said "bear problem". Not being interested in testing whether the "bear problem"  was resolved, we decided to abandon our island camping plan and day paddle using our Sand Point campsite as home base.

There are bears in the Apostles. Lots of them. We had one coming though our campsite at the launch area with her cub in tow. She was a 300 pounder, and sloppy campers left food out - a sure bear attraction. So they set a trap and caught momma bear. This was about 100 feet from where we were camping. They also caught the cub. I asked what they do with the bears, and the Ranger said they transport them to another county (more remote) and let them go. I was OK with that. The next day we were driving over to paddle along the shoreline (more sea caves) and saw a large bear crossing the road. They are everywhere there.

We stopped at a nice sandy beach on Sand Island between the caves. There were fresh bear tracks on Sand Island. Bears inhabit most of the islands at one time or another. They are excellent swimmers. We paddled around to the north side of the island to see the lighthouse, than re-traced our steps along the west shoreline of Sand Island.

 In this picture momma bear is in the can, and baby bear is in the wire cage.

The weather finally calmed down, and we were able to paddle out to Sand Island to see some sea caves. These are quite spectacular. On a calm day (we had one) you can go into the caves. Very, very cool.

This shoreline is completely exposed to Mother Superior, and the waves hitting the steep shoreline cause clapotis wave action. It can cause a capsize and capsizing next to a sheer cliff could get very interesting. As luck would have it, the waves reduced to almost nothing as we paddled, allowing us to go into the caves.

The next (and final) day in the Apostles we decided to kayak the shoreline along the mainland west of Sand Point off of Myers Road. There are good sea caves there as well. At the launch point, there was a Ranger talking to people about the dangers of the water and waves, and attempting to turn back paddlers that were clearly not prepared for Lake Superior water. Once again, there were people in shorts and t-shirt paddling off into a calm (for now) Lake Superior. These are crazy people and this is how natural selection occurs.
We stopped for lunch at the beach to the east of the caves. The Apostles have great sand beaches, unlike Georgian Bay with it's fiberglass eating rocks. On the return trip, the wind came up and the waves returned, so we were lucky.

The following day the bad weather returned, bringing in more rain and wind. Welcome to the summer of 2009, I guess. We decide to pack it in and head for home.

And so our great kayak adventure came to a close. We accomplished most of our objectives, although the camping part of the Apostles was a bust. To be honest, day paddling worked if the goal is to see the sea caves. There is a lot of open water between the islands, and many people get stranded for days on an island before they can make it back in.

Our weather was not normal. It is typically calmer (in July), but Lake Superior can change on a moments notice and you must therefore be prepared. Planning and good equipment is the key to these types of adventures. I do not take the water for granted. Be prepared and enjoy the beautiful kayaking areas that the Great Lakes has to offer.