A Grand Fourth

If anyone is interested, I think I could compete with just about anyone for the best Fourth of July ever. Janet, my wonderful host, offered to let me tag along while her, her daughter, and her daughter's boyfriend kayaked to Grand Island and camped overnight. It was the chance of a lifetime and I had little choice but to accept and wait anxiously. 

Grand Island is located just off the shore of Munising where the Pictured Rock National Lakeshore has its western starting point. There is a small-ish bay called Munising that separates Grand Island from the rest of the Picture Rocks. Grand Island itself used to be used as a resort getaway, complete with a boarding house. However, a while ago, the National Park Service bought it out and has torn down nearly all the buildings since and turned the area back to how it originally was. There are still some lucky individuals that have family homes on the island and those are the only people allowed to bring vehicles over. The island is primarily used for hiking, camping, mountain biking, and fishing. It is also home to many black bears. We were unfortunate/fortunate (depending on your perspective) not to see any, but we missed a mother bear and 2 cubs by only about 5 minutes. I hope to go back soon and hike up to the northern most part of the island, and kayak up there.

The trip began early in the morning heading about an hour north from Gladstone to Munising. We had loaded and packed the majority of the things the night before so we were able to set off nice and early. The drive up to Munising is a trip in itself. You pass through tree covered hills and by beautiful peaceful lakes. Upon arriving at the spot we were going to put in, we had to unload the kayaks, put all the equipment into the watertight hatches and prepare ourselves. Lake Superior is very cold so a full spray skirt is necessary to cover your legs. It is also necessary you wear a life jacket the whole time. The conditions could not have been more perfect. The sky was bright blue with not a cloud in sight and the water was still. Lake Superior is incredibly clear, to the point that we could see straight to the bottom as we paddled out. This also included when the depth of the water went from 50 feet, where we could still see the individual rocks, to 800 feet in one big dropoff. The change in water color was tremendous going from a Caribbean blue-green, to an inky navy.

Initially we crossed diagonally from Munising's shore to Grand Island. The western shore of Grand Island has incredible cliffs that get hammered by the water in the lake. This creates a lot of sea caves above and below the water. Throughout the entire paddle, there was this ever present sucking sound of the changing water levels in these caves.  

I honestly cannot describe how gorgeous this trip was, so I will let my photos do it for me. I did not need to edit a single one. 

My guides.

We paddled our way into Trout Bay which separates the two largest portion of the island. Along both sides of the bay were the cliffs. On the side we came in on was a sea cave easy to paddle into and through. The first photo shows the view from inside the sea cave, looking across the bay to the other side.

While somewhat blurry, I was in a kayak, this is the view looking up in the sea cave. The cave itself had two openings and a large opening above that seemed to put you right in the middle of the forest.

The final photo shows the wall I was careful not to run into, but the general look of the cave as you paddled in. 

Once we arrived at the campsite, right on the beach overlooking Turtle Bay, we set up camp and went for a hike to retrieve some clean water. Our campsite was Little Dune 2 and had a pretty nice view.

Along the way we spotted the flower pictured below. I was walking along, trailing the group a little and had seen several. All of a sudden, someone else spots one and gets all excited about their find. I walk up and realized that they were rare in variety and especially in color. They are commonly referred to as a Lady's Slipper.

After the excitement over the flower died down, we continued on to a campsite further down the beach. Its view was also quite nice and you could see out to Miners Castle which I previously visited on my trip to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

A wild Orchid seen alongside Duck Pond. Duck Pond only had a couple of ducks, but had thousands of tadpoles that would get scared anytime someone shifted positions and they were in the sunlight.

After leaving Duck Pond, we were inundated with Mosquitoes. They were enormous and swarmed us like crazy. Because of that we walked much faster then we would have liked and likely ended up missing a mam Black Bear and her cubs.

Wild Rose

Our end destination was Murray Bay on the far side of the island, where there was a clean water pump. We stopped for awhile and enjoyed the beautiful view. The water was bright blue and a few giant puffy clouds floated aimlessly by.

We trekked back from Murray Bay, survived the mosquitoes, and began to explore our little stretch of beach.

It being the 4th of July, we did sacrifice the fireworks for our trip, though we could hear them in Munising, but we were treated to a spectacular sunset.

Soon after this sunset, the mosquitoes found us. Up until then we had been sitting in direct sun (and I have the sunburn to prove it) but with the light gone and the wind dying down, they came out in force. We dealt with them for as long as possible, but due to their persistence and our fatigue we were OK with going to bed early.

The next morning we woke up with the sun and heard a subtle but constant buzzing. Looking at the wall of the tent, the mosquitoes were sitting there waiting for us to leave. We all had to venture out eventually, so we proceeded to break camp in record time and get on the water. The water in the bay was once again like glass, but a front was moving in and clouds were obscuring the sun.

As we turned the corner of the bluff to head back in to Munisng Bay, the wind picked up tremendously. We started having white caps all around the boats and were trying to make our way back into a head wind. This was much tougher paddle then the day before was. There were a couple of dicey moments where my ill-balanced boat was being pushed around and I couldn't maintain a heading. I eventually switched course and went straight across the bay to the nearest cliff to get some sort of wind break. In doing so, however, I had to set myself into the troughs of the waves, which can be a precarious position.

Before this change in heading, and the wind really had picked up, we were able to witness an incredible sight. We were paddling along the cliff side of Grand Island and two bald eagles flew right overhead, only about 15 feet above us. One was an adolescent and still had spots on his wings, while the other was fully grown, and most likely a parent. They were both huge. Soon after they flew back, with the younger carrying a fish in his mouth. He perched right along the water and started eating, while the parent perched a little bit away observing him the entire time. They were both beautiful and it was incredibly neat to see bald eagles in that type of environment.

Despite the treacherous journey back, and the mosquitoes, this was an amazing experience. My guides, Janet and Brit, made sure I was comfortable and safe in the boat, even when it was rough. It was truly a special weekend, and I certainly hope its not my last time out in a kayak in Lake Superior!