Kayak Journey Update: 8/12/17

August 5

The lake is finally calm again and we are back on the water. It was a short day, planned for it to be so we can meet with Jeff and Marcia Rohr with a supply drop. We only paddled 14 miles, making our destination of Ontonagon Township Park. The park is very clean and no reservations are needed, or taken. Whoever gets there first gets the site. We got the last available spot. Our site with electronic was only $18.00. The bathroom and showers were clean.

The downtown area is within walking distance, the bakery is very good!
We had a great visit with Jeff and Marcia, they brought ice cream! So good and hard to find along the shore.
Other campers were noticing the website on our boats and talking to us about it. One guy brought us baked potatoes and butter, another paid for our campsite. People are good!

August 6

We were up and out of the campground and conditions we looking good. We had a great day and the area is so pretty. The rocks have changed yet again. Joe was fascinated by the rocks that stand at an angle as if stacked along the shore. I was out a bit farther and the rocks I saw were just as cool. The water was about 20 feet deep, I would see a bit of red and then it would just grow under the boat until I only had a foot of water under me, then it would drop off again. It was like whales swimming under the boat then diving down again.

Landing spots were few and far between but Joe saw a flat spot we headed in, we literally dragged our boats over rocks to stash them on rocks. Surprise, up on the hill was a hiking trail with campsites. It was perfect! We even had campers at the next site but it was so well put together that we weren’t able to see them. This was the Porcupine park hiking trail.

We made 30 miles.

August 7

The alarm rang and it started to rain, then it thundered so we slept in, sorta. We were on the water by 8. By time we made our crossing it was starting to get rough and things just continued to worsen. We pulled off to rest and wait it out at Black River Harbor…Ottawa National Forest. We figured it would be a 3 hour wait at least. Shore time is never wasted, we always find folks to chat about our trip with. We visited with Don Ledwidge and his family and friends. Lots of questions and tons of laughs and we have new followers, they were a lot of fun.

We also met John Patterson and Linda Mast, we talked about an hour and they invited us to leave with them. They lived near our ending spot for the day and even if it’s cheating, we tied our boats down and went. They have a beautiful and welcoming cabin and we were treated to lunch, showers, laundry and the best hospitality to be found. After much talking about our cause, our trip and a lot of talk of rocks, they delivered us to Saxon Harbor. It was only 20 miles lost and very well worth it, my belief in humanity has been restored.

It was a 12 mile day.

August 8

We were up and out early, good paddling conditions most of the way. As we got close to Bayfield things changed. Wind and boat traffic made for confused water and huge waves. All in all we had about 8 miles of nasty water. One of my least favorite paddles but I made it so Joe says I should be smiling. Maybe later.

We stopped at Living Waters, a Kayak guide service owned by Gayle Green. We paddled back out and ended our day at Legendary Waters Resort and Casino. Camped right on the water and got another hot shower.

We had a 31 mile day.

August 9

Got up at 6 but had a glitch with our stove so we ate at the casino and took the 8:00 shuttle to the hardware store. Got what we needed and were on the water by 9:15. The scenery was beautiful, it was the Apostle Islands so that is a given. We saw so many sailboats and they always impress me. Lots of groups of kayaks and and one solo kayaker that was pretty impressive to watch.

At lunch we check the weather because the sky was iffy. We were right on the water trail and had a very remote spot but considering we would most likely be stuck for 2 days we decided to head for Cornucopia. We made it to Meyers beach and the sky got black and we saw lightning in the distance so we made for shore. We had a crowd of onlookers wondering how fast we were going…6.3 fully loaded. We were asked if we were rescue people, it was one of those funny moments. We waited for the storm to pass and made the last 3 1/2 miles to Cornucopia and booked 2 nights. We got set up just before it started to rain, we had showers and headed to town for a burger and a beer, both were good!

We made 26 miles.

August 10

The forecast was correct, we are not paddling today. We spent the day wandering the shops. Visited the museum, it’s not huge but it’s nice. We stopped at Halvorsons Fisheries and got Sugar cured trout and Whitefish and it was amazing! Make sure you stop and shop with them if ever in the area. It is the best!
My daughter Vanessa and granddaughters Paige and Layla came to visit. The girls loved all the boats and couldn’t get enough of dock walking. We had dinner with them and then Marilyn Blake showed up also to visit. Everyone is staying. It has been a great day!

August 11

The little girls shared the tent with Joe and I, they slept well. We didn’t but I loved it, it was just what I needed! We all went for breakfast and after everyone left, we paddled out.

On the water at 12:00 and headed to Port Wing with friendly water. We made a quick 16 miles and landed at the Port Wing Marina and Holiday Pines Resort. The place is adorable, lawn furniture with umbrellas, coffee tables with citronella candles picnic tables with umbrellas. They have it all! The place is owned by Gregg and Stacy Jardine and they are great. We visited a bit, looked around the gift shop that has very nice stuff including Schwan’s ice cream bars…yummy! They even gave us their 85 Ford truck so we could have a WI fish fry. Please stop and stay with them if you have the chance, it’s perfect and we plan to go back.

Click Here for more pictures from this week!