Sea Kayak Trip Refport: Upper Peninsula Michigan

PICTURED ROCKS NATIONAL LAKESHORE/ GRAND ISLAND/Munising

SE Upper Peninsula Straits State Park

Friday September 11, 2020 to Sunday September 20, 2020

Trip Sponsor:                                Linda  Decker  
Technical Leads/Support:         Nate Strong and Angela Henley

We had 19 paddlers participate in part or all of this trip. We had paddlers from Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Our two Technical Leads, Nate and Angela came up with great destinations and selected areas that had manageable conditions. Upper Michigan was unusually cold with most of our 6 days on the water in the low 50s and some overnight lows in the high 30s. We all were reminded why it is so important to be prepared to dress for the air and water temperatures. Sunshine and hot soup for lunch really helped warm us up.

Our paddle days offered a wide variation of terrain and features and we paddled in 3 of the Great Lakes! Our paddles included:

Munising Area

• ·       Grand Island in Munising – A wooden lighthouse, cliff faces and some intense wind!
• ·       Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – a 16 mile day with incredible, colorful cliff faces, rock formations and sea caves
• ·       Beaver Lake to Spray Falls- a journey from an inland lake, down a small stream to Lake Superior and magnificent Spray Falls

Mackinac Area

• ·       Les Cheneaux Islands- a pretty paddle around the islands
• ·       Dolomite Area- very different terrain with huge porous rocks and rock gardens to paddle through. The highlight was Narnia, a forested area with moss covered boulders and narrow passageways (expected to see gnomes and elves living there)
• ·       Mackinac Bridge – paddled from the beach at our campsite in Straits SP to the main arch of the Mackinac Bridge (amazing structure) and to St. Ignace

Some participants took days off or used our travel day to hike or visit places of interest.

The trip wrapped up with a group Pizza dinner and bonfire.