Twelve Mile Beach, MI to Muskrat Point, Grand Island, MI: Daily miles 27.9, Total miles 1028.0
Excitement woke me up at 6AM but I managed to convince myself that few more minutes couldn’t hurt and got up promptly at 8AM. We started the day on gorgeous flat water, paddling the remaining miles of beach and getting more and more excited for the cliffs. We stopped on the last bit of sand beach before the cliffs rose up and we met two paddlers who were in for a day paddle. It was really nice to talk to other paddlers and I enjoyed talking to them and paddling with them for a bit. The cliffs were amazing. We paddled up under Spray Falls, which falls a hundred feet or so from the cliffs right into the lake. The base of the 200 ft sheer sandstone walls were full of small caves and indentations we could explore. Chapel rock and beach were crawling with people but it was still cool to see such a unique rock formation. The next mile was amazing with huge amphitheaters, deep sea caves and the legendary Grand Portal. The cliffs kept going with huge views, streaked with many hued mineral stains. I have hiked here many times and love the view from the top but nothing compares to seeing it from a kayak. As we neared Miner’s Castle we were nearly swamped by a tour boat who veered closer to give the people on board a better view of the weird people in the tiny boats. The cliffs began to deminish after Miner’s Castle and so did our energy. Unfortunatley this was the time of the day when the wind began to pick up. We battled our way to Sand Point where we rested, snacked and ate some wild blueberries. The crossing out to Grand Island was a little dicey. It is a narrow channel with a reasonable current and the wind was funneling down the channel bring some medium sized chop and reflection with it. I was having fun playing in the surf and was really enjoying it but Hannah was really tired and her shoulder was still bothering her despite our rest break so she had a lot less fun. We snuck into Murray Bay and found a nice campsite and respite from the wind. The Hiawatha Water Trail runs from Grand Marais to Big Bay and we are crashing at their Muskrat Point Campsite. It is pretty nice and really sheltered. Some boater’s showed up and gave us their left over pizza and chatted for a while. It was really nice. After the pizza we cooked up some tortellini and settled down into the tent to escape the mosquitoes. Today was the best day of the trip. The scenery was far above anything else we have seen on the lake. The weather was perfect for once and everything just seemed to fall in line. We took our sweet time, explored and played and still got in nearly 30 miles. I was just a perfect day.
