Day Eight: continued

We really enjoyed our time with the Sherk family, especially hearing granddaughter Sarah talk about her chickens.  (We've always said, put some owners of chickens together for whatever reason, and within five minutes the conversation will be entirely about chickens.)  We watched the waves out the window with Evan monitoring three different weather sources until about 2:30pm when we decided it was time to go.

Back to Cat Harbor we trooped, and as we packed up we were pleasantly surprised when our friends Dave Bach and Allison Slavick drove up in their pickup, on their way to meet us at Silver Island!  I turned my camera over to Dave who got the following shots of our stream-lined launching techniques:

The wind was still strong, but once we were out of Cat Harbor, we found that it had gone from a northwest wind to a straight west wind.  This was perfect for us!  The waves pushed us along and even a bit of sunlight started to peek through.

Dave and Allison beat us to Eagle Harbor and took this shot of us off-shore, and.....

This shot which shows Silver Island in the far-off distance.  It's the third bump.

The sun broke through gloriously as we pulled into the shelter of Silver Island, and were greeted first by Bill Rose, and then Nanno Rose, owners of the island, and then the others who celebrated with us our Bon Fini!  They had prepared not only another fabulous dinner--beet salad, pork loin, keilbasa, orzo salad, quiche and salad with chocolate for dessert--but the saua was hot!  Naked folks were running from the sauna to the jump-off cliff, one of Terry's favorite activities.

Evan's arrival on the island.

Doin' the Silver Island Shuffle.

 Terry and Libby heading to the north shore,

Terry and I checking out the north shore,

Evan and Libby with a freighter between them on the horizon--can you see it?

The party leaves in the sunset, Brockway in the distance still lit up.

Dave and Allison stayed on the island with us.  We sat at the campfire, telling Lake Superior stories.  Turns out several years ago Dave had made nearly the same trip we had made, only he was alone and the experience was different, of course.  It inspired some poetry and I'm going to be leaning of Dave to share his story, or at least some poetry.

At last we bedded down to the sound of gentle waves lapping the shore.  The stars were bright, Polaris hanging low over the island.

We had one more final leg of the journey for the next day, on to Copper Harbor.

I added some pictures to Day Seven....

Day Eight: OMG, What were we thinking?

It's only 11 am, and I'm thanking sweet Jesus to be alive.  Okay, you know by now that I can exaggerate and Terry would say, that was fun!  And Ray Sharp would say--Those waves were pretty sporty, eh? But good grief, going around the point at the end of Great Sand Bay was really scary!  But we have been rescued by Doug and Nancy Sherk who have a clothes drier AND wifi!

Here we are with their son Ben, in their lovely home between Great Sand Bay and Cat Harbor, with Evan taking the photo.

Now back to yesterday:  we left the Fitzgerald around 5 pm in intense sunshine, coasting along the sand, hailed by the Campbell-Olsiewskis (forgive me for that spelling) who were basking on the beach

on to our friends Craig and Jeannie Kurtz's cottage where we were made welcome by the whole family including their daughter and friends and their dogs.

This is their dog Teddy, pretending to be a cat.

We were made comfortable for the night, after watching the sunset and sitting just a while in their sun-warmed sauna there on the beach.

We had a great breakfast of waffles made by Daughter Leah,

Yum!

Visited the neighbors Marianne and Al Brokaw in the sweet addition they've built.

It was grey and windy when we cast off, but the wind was heading mostly in the same direction we were and the waves weren't all that big, so we said well, if they get too big, we can always stop, plenty of take-out places.  HA!  Things were good until about opposite the monks' basilica and I yelled at Evan to try taking a photo of the dome with my waterproof camera, and he yelled back, are you kidding?  I'm fighting to stay afloat here!

Yes the waves were huge and we were riding them with stability in our big flat- bottomed boat, but Evan, in his little speedy kayak, without a rudder, was just bouncing all over the place.  We managed to fly right on past the sand beach, but when we had to get around the point with big breakers slamming over our hull, I was worried, and kept telling myself what Libby had said, you gotta relax into the wave.

Evan said later that he realized that neither of us would be able to do much to help the other if something bad happened here, but at the same time he wished he had one of those helmet cameras because it was thrilling to watch us bouncing and wallowing.  Terry just kept saying he was having fun!

And here I need to give some credit to my husband; he really is an expert kayaker and kept the kayak steady even in those huge rollers--were they over four feet tall?  I'm exaggerating again.  But Terry is the best!

Cat Harbor!  Yeay!  We surfed in, and only then realized that it was raining and we were soaked to the bone, we'd seen Doug Sherk's house and we just walked here.

The waves haven't decreased yet but we're still hoping they might and we'll get to Silver Island this evening.  Once launched again we think it should only take an hour and a half or so..

Onward!

Day Seven: Calumet waterworks to Eagle River

Red sky at night......last night's sunset was nice and red, a good portent that has been born out.

As our friend Curt would say, Thank you sweet Jesus for this day!  

I'm going to have to make it short because the connection here at the Fitzgerald in Eagle River is a little funky, and I'm sitting out in the hallway, so I'm going to have to flesh this out later with pics and all.  The pulled pork sandwich was excellent, so this is not to dis the Fitz, you understand.

Anyhow the seas were smooth and calm this morning as we embarked, just the way I love it.  Even the fog didn't really detract from the lovely coastline, most of it very familiar to me from walking on the beach close to home, and also close to my home when we lived on Tamarack Waterworks road many years ago.  eagles again, and some mergansers, a sand hill crane at the mouth of the Gratiot.

The wind and sun finally overcame the fog, and we cruised along with a very pleasant headwind,on to the east.  We passed Calumet Waterworks, Tamarack Waterworks, Sedar Bay, Black Creek, mouth of the Gratiot, Seven Mile Point, and finally Five mile Point and Eagle river.

We will stay at a friend's cottage tonight, hope to make it to Silver Island tomorrow.  I will post pictures as soon as I can, also I think our escort Evan has some good ones, especially of a phenomenon we'd never seen before, a fog bow, like a rainbow, only white.

Onward!

Okay now that we're safe with wifi connection I'll post some pics from yesterday what a beautiful day it was!

First we had to say good-bye to Pete and Carol Ekstrom who had taken such good care of us the day before when we were overcome by the head-wind.

This is a fog- bow!  The ends near the water had an other-worldly glow that doesn't show up here, but made us marvel at the mystery of it all.

Evan cruising by the shore, so calm and peaceful, and the bottom of the sea was just fascinating--smooth sandstone rounded like old mountains with canyons filled with pebbles of all colors, and the sun lighting it up, oh it was beautiful!

Basalt outcrops around Seven Mile Point.  Later, after Five Mile Point, we passed bluffs of what Terry thought was Copper Harbor Conglomerate, and his cousins came out to wave us on as we neared Eagle River.

Paddling through the fog near Sedar Bay.

Still misty at the Gratiot, and there's a sand hill crane in there somewhere.

At the mouth of the Gratiot, a day late.

Some friends, hoping to meet us here to paddle with us, didn't find us of course, and took off paddling ahead of us.  Unfortunately we didn't figure it out until much later so we missed paddling with Jeff Flam and Viki Weglarz.  Dang!  We woulda loved that!  Next time, okay?

Passing the Sand Hills Lighthouse at Five Mile Point.  

Terry wanted to stay here but they were full up.

This day was truly one of the most beautiful days ever!  Lots of fog and sunshine, fascinating lake bottom easily visible, familiar and new shorelines.

Onward!

Day Six: the truth. From Terry.

Actually Sue Ellen's version is pretty accurate in all but one fact. When we turned out into the big lake into the big waves, I was was not stunned, I was exhilarated! It was true that the waves were pretty big - sometimes Libby disappeared when she was in a trough, but the trickiest part was that for the first half mile or so we had to paddle in a direction such that the waves and wind were coming pretty much at us from the side. After that we were able to turn so that they were coming more directly at us. This was much safer, but continued to take a lot of work to make any progress.

This brings up the touchy subject of having a minder with us. I don't really like someone watching over me and telling me what is or is not safe for me. But in my heart of hearts I know it's for the best and really appreciate everybody's efforts and concern - especially Evan & Libby. Which brings me to another realization, being on the down slope of our 60s Sue Ellen's and my bodies don't move quite like they used to. Sue Ellen and I are still paddling pretty well (if a bit slower), but embarking and disembarking in a surf presents a bit of a problem. 

In my memory (perhaps manufactured) when I first started kayaking in my 30s landing in a surf, the moment the bow touched the beach I would grab the spray skirt, gracefully pirouette out of the kayak and lift it above the surf, all in one fluid motion. This is what happens now: We approach the beach. The executive portion of my brain picks out the right spot and time. But then the reptilian portion starts screaming "NO WAY!" By time the executive portion reasserts control, we've already taken on one wave. Then, of course, at my age it takes a few moments for the message to get to the muscles and sinews and then another for them to really believe this is being asked of them and finally even more for them to limp into action. By this time we are thoroughly soaked. Fortunately given the beaches we're landing on this is more a matter of humiliation than safety.

Weather looks great today. Hope to get to Eagle River.

Day Six: just the morning. Oops! Another change of plans....

Good grief!  Three to four foot waves!  From the wrong direction!

We were up by 6:30 this morning, and I think we didn't even consider not going, although the hardest part was leaving Chester who caught on right away that we were leaving again, and quietly moped in his gentlemanly way.

On the water by 9 am, we cruised right on down the canal with only a mild headwind.  The waves started getting mixed up as we neared the breakwater and there on the west beach were our friends, Kate Alvord and Stephanie Mills.  

We stopped and had a lovely reunion before bundling up and pushing off again into the surf.  The day was grey, grey and gloomy but we stayed on course right toward the McLain lighthouse.  

I was not quite prepared for the size of the seas beyond the breakwater.  I didn't freeze--Terry always has feared that I'd freeze in fear like the first time we kayaked together--but I gotta say, I was scared.  Libby and Terry kept encouraging me, but I secretly think they were a little stunned themselves.  Anyhow, what could we do?  Bouncing and rolling we very slowly made some headway along the McLain shoreline, with my cold hands frozen on the paddle.

Fiinally we could see a point way off in the distance through the mist.  McGunns Creek!  The Ekstroms!  lunch!  Yeay,  

More later.....

Yup, Pete and Carol Ekstrom fed us a number one premium lunch of hot homemade vegetable chili and egg salad sandwiches.  Carol laid out our beverage choices and I foolishly chose a beer, thinking I needed the nutrition.  By the end of lunch, when I anticipated looking out the window to calm and smooth seas, maybe a bit of sunshine, I was tired, but game.  Then I saw that if anything, the wind and waves had picked up, still against us,  and the day was still grey and gloomy.   The beer kicked in, and I put my foot down--I was not going back out there.

The Ekstroms, bless their hearts, brought us home, where we are now with Chester again, with a fire in the wood stove and our wet suits hung to dry.   We went only eight miles today, but it felt like twenty.  Tomorrow we plan to get back in the kayaks just west of the Calumet Waterworks Park by 8am, hoping to get to Eagle River by evening.  Let us know if you plan to join us.  482 6827

Here are some photos taken by Pete Ekstrom as we approached from McLains, off in the distance.

  
I know, those don't look like three-foot waves.  But they sure looked bigger from inside the boat!  

Onward!

Change of Plans (Day 6 – Saturday)

(Post from Sue Ellen via phone message)

Saturday: Left from Churning Rapids at 9 am with Libby Meyer and hoping to make it to Sunset Bay Resort and Campground this evening, weather permitting.  The campground is about 8 miles down Five Mile Point Rd from Ahmeek, if anyone wants to join us to camp or rendezvous for paddling on Sunday.  If the weather is bad we may have to camp at the Mouth of the Gratiot or somewhere else.
 
Sunday:  We plan to depart early and press on to reach Silver Island by evening, stopping for lunch at Fitzgerald's restaurant.  Evan McDonald plans to join us for this stretch of the trip.

Some Thank Yous

Thanks to Joe Kirkish for putting us up the night before we left.

Thanks to Sam and Shelby and Jeff at the Keweenaw Adventure Company for getting us all properly outfitted and helping keep track of us out on the sea.

Thanks to Erica Vye and Steve Brimm for accompanying us around the point and informing us of geology and history and taking photos, etc etc.

Thanks to Gina Nicholas and Nick and Bonnie and Jim Hay for lifting our boat and our spirits and putting us up and feeding us.

Thanks to Doug and Lisa McKenzie for letting us use their lake house and internet.

Thanks to Evan McDonald and Libby Meyer for tag-team accompanying us.

Thanks to Jane and Dave Pallin for the use of Jane's brother's cabin and for feeding us that lake trout! 

Thanks to Don Arkin and Sharon Emley for coming to hang out with us and feed us that fantastic lasagna.

Thanks to Belotes for coming to greet and paddle with us and feed one helluva lunch!

Thanks to Larry and Connie Julien for accommodating us and feeding us (blueberries and oatmeal for breakfast!) and cheering us on our way.

Thanks to Susan Hooker for bringing pasties (ate 'em last night, Susan) and treats and for staying in touch with us and relaying our whereabouts to others, and coming for lunch with us.

Thanks to Carol Geiger and Joe Freed for watching and waving from the shore (dang! we missed seeing them!) and coming to greet us as we beached.  Made us feel special.

Thanks to Nathan Miller for running down to the bridge to catch some shots.

Thanks to everyone who has donated photos to the blog.

Thanks to everyone who has posted comments to this blog.  Just kidding.  Are you out there?