Adventure Tours Documents Apostle Island Itinerary
| Apostle Island Itinerary |
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Day 1 Our plan will be to meet at the store Thursday morning, and car pool to Apostle Island National Lakeshore. We will leave the store around 7:30 a.m. The drive is 6.5 hours long so bring a book or audio device with headphones. We arrive that afternoon and will get situated in Port Superior Condos. We will get together, for supper and discuss the weather, then plan for the following morning. Day 2 We will be leaving early to catch the calm early morning waves of Lake Superior. We will meet for breakfast around 7 am. After breakfast we will drive up to Little Sand Bay for the first leg of our Adventure. We will make every effort to be on the water by 9 am. The first leg is a 2.8 mile paddle to Sand Island. Once we arrive at the island we will paddle a short distance, along the shore, to Swallow Point Sea Caves. These are considered, by some, the best sea caves in all the Apostles. We will spend the rest of the morning or the early afternoon here. If the water is calm we will be able to paddle into the caves and view deep into the interiors. After a short while we will paddle a little further to Justice Bay where we will break for lunch. Lunch is provided This is a beautiful beach where can relax and enjoy the view of Lake Superior. At Justice Bay you can hike a mile to the Sand Island Lighthouse. The lighthouse is a brown stone building made from rock quarried locally and transported out to the island. If the weather is permitting, and we are not too tired, we will paddle the rest of the way to Sand Island lighthouse and view this beautiful lighthouse from the comfort of our kayak. After the lighthouse visit we will spend some more time at the sea caves, and then head back to Little Sand Bay. Our goal is to be at the beach near 4:30 pm. We can pack up our gear and head back to our rooms. We will get cleaned up and have supper at a local restaurant. During supper we will discuss the next day’s itinerary. From here people will be free to tour the quaint harbor town of Bayfield or head back and take a break at the condo. Day 3 Rise and shine at 7 am for breakfast. Today we will do the mainland sea caves. These are very beautiful formations just north of Squaw Bay, on the Northwest end of the peninsula. Once again our plan is to be on the water, paddling, by 9 am. We will paddle about 1 mile to the sea caves. These are a much larger set of caves. Hopefully the weather will be cooperative and we will be able to paddle the full length of the caves. It will be likely we will not be alone, so we will need to stay together. We should be able paddle in and out of the caves for the rest of the day. Around lunch time we will paddle north to what kayakers call the lunch beach. Once again lunch will be provided. After passing back through the sea caves, we will head back to Meyers Beach. There you will be able to hike 2 miles of the Lakeshore Trail and see the sea caves from the top of the bluff. Apostle Island National Lakeshore has a series of hiking trails that take you out the edge of the bluffs and give an almost tropical view of Lake Superior. The water is a greenish blue with the sound of waves slapping the cliffs. It reminds me of a tropical paradise. This is one of the better places to watch the sun go down on the lake. Once we are done here, we will head back to the condos for a relaxing meal. Afterwards people can check out the local night life or check out the beds after this long two days of paddling. We will discuss the next day’s itinerary at supper and decide if people would like to check out the town some more, do another paddle, or head back to Illinois. There are some very nice granite cliffs on the east side of the peninsula that have Eagle’s nest at the top. This is a worth while shorter paddle. At the end of the cliffs, near Buffalo Bay, there are 2 ship wrecks visible from the surface. We will be able to paddle over and see the remains just below the surface. Our goal is to be back at the shop by 7 pm, Sunday evening. We can do this if we leave just after lunch. Of course we have to stop at the Petro truck stop, on the way home, for the Dairy Queen. It has become somewhat of a tradition for trips to the Apostle Islands. We should be back at the store near 7 pm on Sunday. Early enough to clean up the gear and say our good byes. |
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