Sea Kayak HCKC Trip Report

Apostle Islands August 28- September 4, 2021

Submitted by: Linda Decker Trip Sponsor

Twelve paddlers participated in the Apostles trip this year. Our group was made up of 3 teams with 4 paddlers in each team.

Initially, we camped at Little Sand Bay Campground for the weekend. On Saturday, 8 paddlers launched from Meyers Beach to explore the mainland sea caves.  We had to watch the time and conditions closely as, conditions were expected to change later in the day. It was foggy with low visibility and the caves and shoreline had an eerie feel. Timing was good……the torrential rain didn’t start until we were off the water!

On Sunday, there were 3-4’ waves and extremely windy conditions. A few paddlers couldn’t resist the surf conditions in the bay and the others hiked. That evening we enjoyed a group dinner in town while each of the 3 teams planned departure time for the next day, travel routes and safety equipment to be taken.

Monday morning all teams had launched for the islands by 10:00, each headed for different campsites for the first of the next 5 nights. When our team landed on Oak Island, we found bear tracks in the sand in front of our site and bear warning flyers on the picnic table. Glad to have that bear box!!

Tuesday, all 3 teams paddled to Rocky Island where we planned to stay for 3 nights. Two of the sites (2&3) were not very accessible and had damage from storms but, a helpful ranger volunteer helped us move to better sites. On Wednesday and Thursday, the teams explored islands around Rocky and each team explored the caves on Devil’s Island. It doesn’t matter if you have seen them before…….it is always exciting to weave in and out of the caves and listen to the sounds of the waves echoing in the caves. Two evenings we gathered for a campfire at the dock of Rocky and shared stories of prior kayak adventures.

On Friday morning, the teams headed for islands closer to Little Sand, two teams on York and one on Sand. The team on Sand got up early on Saturday and explored the sea caves there before heading back to Little Sand Bay.

Overall, we had good weather conditions and a great adventure in the Lake Superior Apostle Islands . We would not be able to do a club trip like this without the experience and leadership of our team leads; Martha Gitt, Andy Thieneman, Carol Anderson & Nate Strong.