Deb and Michelle led a trip to the Apostles over the Independence Day weekend. The plan was to base camp on Stockton on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, returning on Sunday.
After a team picture, thirteen of us launched from the Red Cliff marina beach shortly after 10 on Thursday morning. As we were paddling out towards the pier, we saw a couple of young critters swimming in the water, with Mom following along behind. Weasels? Otters? Jeff waited till they got out of the water and confirmed that they were weasels.
We paddled over to the Fedora before crossing over to Basswood. There was a group of folks happily ensconced on the preferred landing beach on the northwest corner of Basswood, so we kept going to a less desirable landing area. We had a quick break, though there was really no beach, then got some snacks and headed over to Hermit. Hermit is closed to all visitor use due to bear activity, so we paddled along the eastern edge, then over to Stockton, making it a long paddle without a break.
On Stockton we were able to get the 3 sites farthest from the visitor center, and we settled in. Very nice sites, though the nearest vault toilet was closed, as the low lake level was preventing the park service from being able to get a boat in to empty it out. That made for a long walk to the next available toilet.
Stockton is the largest of the islands in the park, at 10,000 acres. There are several hiking options and an abandoned quarry on the island, though I've never had a chance to explore them. There are a dock and visitor center and 19 campsites along the eastern shore of Presque Isle Bay. The long, spread out line of campsites has both advantages and disadvantages. Each site is nestled in the trees, separated from its neighbors, and has a great view of the water. From a kayaker's perspective, it's easy to land on the beach below your campsite and carry your gear up a short bank. The sites are in prime black bear habitat, though, and being so spread out, there's an increased risk of bear/human interactions. And when bears get habituated to humans, either the bears or the humans have to be removed. There are also concerns about bank erosion. The park service has proposed a plan to move the Stockton campsites to the tombolo between Presque Isle Bay and Julian Bay, likely making it a longer walk from landing to campsites. Another concern of the new location would be ensuring a safe landing option when there's a southwest wind. With the existing sites, the landing is a sand beach, so if you dump in the surf, you can wade your boat in to shore.
On Friday, the group decided to paddle over to Michigan Island. We looked at the lighthouses (two), had lunch, and talked to the park service volunteers who showed us around.
After lunch, part of the group headed back to Stockton, while Jeff, Tony, Dave and I paddled up the eastern shore of Michigan. On the northeast point, just off shore we could see Gull Island, the smallest of the Apostles. It looks like a sand bar, though it's actually rock. You can't approach it or land on it during the summer, so we simply paddled by.
After rounding Michigan, the wind and waves had picked up for our crossing back to Stockton. We wanted to visit the Noquebay wreck before returning to camp, so we headed for Julian Bay. In the bay, we searched the area of the GPS coordinates, but couldn't find anything in the rough water. The wreckage is 8 - 12 feet under water and scattered along the bottom. The group that had crossed straight back to Stockton did find it, but they had the eagle eyed Michelle along with them.
Rounding the tombolo back to Presque Isle Bay was a bit bouncy, and paddling back into the bay provided some good practice in a following sea. The waves weren't quite big enough to surf on, so we landed and moved on to dinner. Turns out that Stockton has good cell phone reception, and in one of the few moments of the trip that my phone was turned on and nearby, I got a happy birthday call from a friend.
Our site had pasta for dinner that night. Tony made fresh pasta with dehydrated red sauce and tortellini. Joan had brought pre-made pasta frozen in a bag that simply had to be re-heated. I made my dehydrated Sierra Spaghetti, and Fred had a couple of freeze dried entrees. We tried them all, and all were pronounced good.
The weather outlook for Sunday had been less than ideal all along, and the details were getting filled in as Sunday drew nearer. A low pressure system was heading our way from Montana. We agreed to gather at 8:00 on Saturday morning to decide what to do. If we were able to stick with our original plan, several folks wanted to hike on the island, and some wanted to paddle up the eastern shore of Stockton along the sea stacks and sea caves and then over to Outer Island for the day.
Come morning, though, it was an easy decision. A lot of rain was forecast on Sunday, as well as extensive thunderstorms. So we decided to cut the trip short, strike camp, and return a day early.
After a team picture, thirteen of us launched from the Red Cliff marina beach shortly after 10 on Thursday morning. As we were paddling out towards the pier, we saw a couple of young critters swimming in the water, with Mom following along behind. Weasels? Otters? Jeff waited till they got out of the water and confirmed that they were weasels.
We paddled over to the Fedora before crossing over to Basswood. There was a group of folks happily ensconced on the preferred landing beach on the northwest corner of Basswood, so we kept going to a less desirable landing area. We had a quick break, though there was really no beach, then got some snacks and headed over to Hermit. Hermit is closed to all visitor use due to bear activity, so we paddled along the eastern edge, then over to Stockton, making it a long paddle without a break.
On Stockton we were able to get the 3 sites farthest from the visitor center, and we settled in. Very nice sites, though the nearest vault toilet was closed, as the low lake level was preventing the park service from being able to get a boat in to empty it out. That made for a long walk to the next available toilet.
Stockton is the largest of the islands in the park, at 10,000 acres. There are several hiking options and an abandoned quarry on the island, though I've never had a chance to explore them. There are a dock and visitor center and 19 campsites along the eastern shore of Presque Isle Bay. The long, spread out line of campsites has both advantages and disadvantages. Each site is nestled in the trees, separated from its neighbors, and has a great view of the water. From a kayaker's perspective, it's easy to land on the beach below your campsite and carry your gear up a short bank. The sites are in prime black bear habitat, though, and being so spread out, there's an increased risk of bear/human interactions. And when bears get habituated to humans, either the bears or the humans have to be removed. There are also concerns about bank erosion. The park service has proposed a plan to move the Stockton campsites to the tombolo between Presque Isle Bay and Julian Bay, likely making it a longer walk from landing to campsites. Another concern of the new location would be ensuring a safe landing option when there's a southwest wind. With the existing sites, the landing is a sand beach, so if you dump in the surf, you can wade your boat in to shore.
On Friday, the group decided to paddle over to Michigan Island. We looked at the lighthouses (two), had lunch, and talked to the park service volunteers who showed us around.
After lunch, part of the group headed back to Stockton, while Jeff, Tony, Dave and I paddled up the eastern shore of Michigan. On the northeast point, just off shore we could see Gull Island, the smallest of the Apostles. It looks like a sand bar, though it's actually rock. You can't approach it or land on it during the summer, so we simply paddled by.
After rounding Michigan, the wind and waves had picked up for our crossing back to Stockton. We wanted to visit the Noquebay wreck before returning to camp, so we headed for Julian Bay. In the bay, we searched the area of the GPS coordinates, but couldn't find anything in the rough water. The wreckage is 8 - 12 feet under water and scattered along the bottom. The group that had crossed straight back to Stockton did find it, but they had the eagle eyed Michelle along with them.
Rounding the tombolo back to Presque Isle Bay was a bit bouncy, and paddling back into the bay provided some good practice in a following sea. The waves weren't quite big enough to surf on, so we landed and moved on to dinner. Turns out that Stockton has good cell phone reception, and in one of the few moments of the trip that my phone was turned on and nearby, I got a happy birthday call from a friend.
Our site had pasta for dinner that night. Tony made fresh pasta with dehydrated red sauce and tortellini. Joan had brought pre-made pasta frozen in a bag that simply had to be re-heated. I made my dehydrated Sierra Spaghetti, and Fred had a couple of freeze dried entrees. We tried them all, and all were pronounced good.
The weather outlook for Sunday had been less than ideal all along, and the details were getting filled in as Sunday drew nearer. A low pressure system was heading our way from Montana. We agreed to gather at 8:00 on Saturday morning to decide what to do. If we were able to stick with our original plan, several folks wanted to hike on the island, and some wanted to paddle up the eastern shore of Stockton along the sea stacks and sea caves and then over to Outer Island for the day.
Come morning, though, it was an easy decision. A lot of rain was forecast on Sunday, as well as extensive thunderstorms. So we decided to cut the trip short, strike camp, and return a day early.
On our way home, we wanted to take a break before leaving Stockton to avoid the long slog from our camp site to Basswood, especially since we were paddling into wind and waves.
Three of us were 90 percent sure there was a landing option on the southwest corner of Stockton (does that make it a 270 percent likelihood?) As we approached, I scouted ahead to make sure that the somewhat marginal beach we could see was in fact the best option available, and it was.
With the lake level lower and a southwest wind blowing up the North and West Channels, there were 1 foot plus waves coming in at an angle, and it was a trickier site to land on than it had been in calm water the previous year. The shore was rocky, and there were rocks on the way in to be avoided.
Jeff landed while the main group waited off shore. I scooted in as I returned from my scouting mission. We had several people on the trip who had never landed in this kind of conditions. Jeff guided the group in one at a time, avoiding the rocks in the water and making sure there was space on the shore to land on, and we got each person out of their boat. I hadn't initially picked up on the fact that the waves were coming in at an angle, and had to adjust my position to stay "up-wave" of the boats as they got bounced about at the water's edge. Michelle was watching the landing process from the water, and moved the group waiting to land farther over to improve the angle they were coming in on.
After lunch, we reversed the process and got everyone launched one at a time. We picked up each boat, turned it around, put it in the water, steadied it, got the paddler in and spray skirt on and pushed them off. As the person holding the sterns, I had two observations: first, that boats without solid decklines are a pain (bungy cords are useless for steadying a boat), and second, when you're straddling the deck behind the cockpit to steady it and then shoving the boat out in the waves, attentiveness to the pointy end of the stern (and rudder, for boats with rudders) is essential until you're clear of the boat.
Most of us had a good bit of water to be bailed out before continuing on to Hermit. Deb tried out her new automatic bilge pump. Works great, although it needs a mounting system. The rough water launch also provided a good lesson in why you don't want to store gear in your cockpit. Once the boat gets water in it, that gear starts sloshing around, getting in your way as you try to get back in.
We crossed to Hermit, then to Basswood, where we had an easy landing. After lunch, we headed to the Basswood dock, then crossed the channel back to Red Cliff. The Red Cliff Ojibwe band was hosting a Pow Wow over the 4th, so we could hear drums as we approached, and the beach that had been empty when we launched was packed.
We quickly got our boats and gear loaded up and headed for home. The "shower at the rec center" plan didn't work as the rec center was closed.
After I got home, I kept an eye on the Weather Channel on Sunday morning, and there was one good sized storm that crossed the Apostles (lots of dark green and some orange on the weather map), followed by an area of heavy rain. Good decision to leave early!
We crossed to Hermit, then to Basswood, where we had an easy landing. After lunch, we headed to the Basswood dock, then crossed the channel back to Red Cliff. The Red Cliff Ojibwe band was hosting a Pow Wow over the 4th, so we could hear drums as we approached, and the beach that had been empty when we launched was packed.
We quickly got our boats and gear loaded up and headed for home. The "shower at the rec center" plan didn't work as the rec center was closed.
After I got home, I kept an eye on the Weather Channel on Sunday morning, and there was one good sized storm that crossed the Apostles (lots of dark green and some orange on the weather map), followed by an area of heavy rain. Good decision to leave early!
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