Matt's Lake Superior Kayak Circumnavigation Journal

Muskrat Point, Grand Island, MI to Shelter Bay, MI: Daily miles 17.1, Total miles 1045.1

A pretty uneventful day.  The lake was calm and the shore was generic and heavily developed.  We stopped in Au Train bay for lunch and cooked ourselves a good, hot meal.  I have been worried about this bay since we began planning this trip.  During our travels around the U.P we have seen it have some of the the biggest surf and it is regularly pretty nasty as we drive by. On our trip to our parents houses downstate Michigan right before we launched this bay had waves breaking almost to the road in places and I was certain that we would never be able to make it through this trip. The bay was pretty calm today, with an easy 3 foot surf and a fun landing on the beach.  We paddled into the evening but weren’t in any rush because we have to pull out again tomorrow in Marquette so Hannah can start class at Michigan Tech on Monday.  No point in pushing hard with so few miles to go.  We set up on a nice stretch of sand but we are awfully close to a small resort and I think this might be there beach so we are going to wait until after sunset to put up the tent.  It is an amazing sunset.

Matt | Uncategorized | 08 26th, 2009 | No Comments »

Muskrat Point, MI  to Muskrat Point, Grand Island, MI: Daily miles 0.0, Total miles 1028.0

I really didn’t want to spend another zero day out here.  Such is life though.  The wind is howling and it rained on and off all day. Hannah’s shoulder is still sore and the lake shore is really developed over the upcoming miles. All this combined to leave us sitting in the tent all day listening to the stupid glass bottom tour boat come in and out of the harbor.

Matt | Uncategorized | 08 25th, 2009 | No Comments »

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.

Matt | Uncategorized | 08 24th, 2009 | No Comments »

Grand Marais, MI to Twelve Mile Beach, MI: Daily miles 15.1, Total miles 1000.1

Left home around 9AM and met my brother at his house in Negaunee so he could come down to Grand Marais with us and take our truck back to his place.  It was a long three hours down and I had a lot on my mind.  As driven as I am to finish this trip I don’t feel like getting back on the lake. It was so nice being home with all it’s comforts and I hate to leave Rainy again.  But such is life and I knew this would happen if we had to get off the lake during the course of the trip.  When we got down to Grand Marais we were hesitant to get started so we ate lunch at the brewery and walked the dogs around on the beach.  Eventually we ran out of excuses and started hauling gear down to the water and suiting up.  We said goodbye to my brother and Rainy and paddled away from the beach at about 4PM.  The sun burst through the clouds with our first paddle strokes and the weather turned amazing.  The massive dunes that rose up to our left were some of the coolest things we have seen on this trip.  Hundreds of vertical feet of untouched, golden sand with faint lines showing the patterns of flowing water and an occasional tree tucked into the beach where a seep runs. It was awesome.  We paddled until near dark and made better miles than I expected.  I am happy to be out here now. It is a nice change from the weariness I felt before our break. I miss the dog and am still anxious to finish but I feel like this is where I want to be.  I am really excited to see the cliff of Pictured Rocks tomorrow.

Matt | Uncategorized | 08 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »

We woke up after one of the best nights sleep of the whole trip. We watched a serious meteor shower as we fell asleep and woke up early to a beautiful sunrise over the bay.  We called Hannah’s parents and found out they would be here in the evening so we had a whole day to relax. This seemed like a great idea until after lunch and then we just started getting bored.  I even went for a short paddle to relieve the boredom.  After 2 months in my boat and I went for paddle.  I showered at the local campground and waited to head back home. Hannah’s folks showed up with Rainy just as the sun was starting to set.  It was so good to see them and Rainy could not have been happier to be back with us.  We headed home to Houghton in the dark after loading the boats. It was the first time I had really been in the car since we left home over two months ago. After the 4 hour drive I was exhausted and could barely enjoy the fact that I was home. The house was still the dump we left but it was nice to fall asleep in a real bed with our dog snuggled in between us.

On Friday morning we got up early and I started in on making the presentation we were supposed to give that evening.  I spent most of the day hanging around at Ladies of the Lake working on the slideshow. Our friends and Jon and Kendra, who paddled with us in Wisconsin, came up to see us and it was great to have a few faces we new in the audience. Hannah presented to about 100 women and it was fun to relive the trip while it was still so fresh and unprocessed in my mind.  The presentation went great and was really well received. It was a load off to be done with it and we went home to relax.

The rest of the weekend we just hung around Calumet and relaxed. It was nice to have Hannah’s parents around.  We saw the other presentation at Ladies of the Lake and I felt like it validated our trip and made me feel like a real kayaker.

When the weekend was over we made plans to head back to Grand Marais and get back on the water. Our friend Dan Graham offered to ride down with us and drive the truck home when we hit the water.  The weather forecast wasn’t great but we were antsy to get out again and didn’t want to get to comfortable at home.  When we got there we found 10 foot waves crashing on the beach so we decided to camp for a night and see if it improved. It didn’t and the weather forecast said it wouldn’t for 3 days. So we decided to go home. On the way we dropped our boats off at my brother’s house in Negaunee and bought a refrigerator at Lowe’s in Marquette.  We needed one and couldn’t imagine getting through 3 days at home without some good food.  We also bought a deep fryer because after 2 months deep fried food is good food.

We spent the next 3 days gorging ourselves and playing with Rainy.  We made plans with my brother to pick up our boats and drive back to Grand Marais again. He was going ot take the truck back to his house while we paddled.  We only had a few days until Hannah started school so we knew we couldn’t the remaining miles in one go and we were going to have to split it into two 100 mile chunks.

Matt | Uncategorized | 08 13th, 2009 | No Comments »