Day Two: Bete Gris to Brunette Park

The beginning of day two was the hardest;  We parted from Erika and Steve in the morning, and Evan already had his kayak down at the Bete Gris beach.  Why, is another long story, saved for when you ask for it.

So Terry and I were on our own starting out from Gina's house with the dicey landing/launching spot, not a beach really, just a cut in the bluff.  The wind was substantial from the west, the way we were headed, and we wanted to stay fairly close to the shore which was all cliff face at this point, so that meant that the waves were all messed up, coming at us from everywhere and big.  I was getting great facefuls of water and couldn't stop paddling to complain.  So we just put our heads down and soldiered on, cause we could see sunny Bete Gris beach ahead of us.  

Oh how sweet it was to finally push up on that beach and run to the outhouse there.  We were in the lea of the land and the sea was smooth and clear and all was well.  We found Evan who said we could go ahead while he dried out some things and worked on his tan.  So on around that lovely bay we paddled, so thankful that this land has been preserved for the public, this being the Bete Gris Preserve which extends down to Oliver Bay and includes the precious wetlands behind the beach.   KLT was one of the partners who contributed to this work, and Gina Nicholas was the person who spearheaded the effort.

We made a stop for lunch at Dr. Doug McKenzie's summer cottage.  He wasn't home but he had given us permission to use his internet connection so that I could work on this blog.  Doug and Lisa are major donors to the CIKC!!  Yeay!! 

Here I am working on my blog on my mini ipad.  I didn't change anything on the puzzle, Doug and Lisa, honest.

Here's a picture of their house.

We knew conditions would change when we rounded Point Isabel, so it's not as though we weren't prepared, but the next seven miles were hard work into another headwind.  

But the sun was out and we enjoyed the sandstone bluffs (see above, at Point Isabel) that can't be seen from the road.  

We picked blueberries and billberries every time we took a break--what an island we live on, eh?

Brunette Park at last!  There is a Keweenaw Water Trail http://kwta.org/ camping spot there and we set up camp, hung out our wet stuff, made supper--Evan made supper, actually.  Seems he wanted to use up his heavy canned beans and didn't particularly like the idea of our instant pea soup.  He said it would only take ten minutes, but a half hour later, I had already pretty much demolished all our sesame stix  and cheese snacks and was getting a little tipsy on wine while waiting.  All right, to his credit, he threw in some really special franks and supper was delicious.  

We turned in, exhausted.

On the water – Day 2 & 3

Brief notes from Sue Ellen via phone (trying to conserve the battery):

Day 2 - Georgeous. Paddled with Evan McDonald from Isabel to Brunette Park with a fierce headwind.  Camped at Brunette Park. 

Day 3 - Heading toward the Gay stack, intending to spend the night at Jane Pallin's brother's cabin on Point Louis.  

First day: all the way around the point!

The Bon Voyage party at the Harbor Haus was wonderful--I think heart-warming might be the word--with so many encouraging friends.  We stayed overnight with Joe Kirkish, and there was a crashing thunderstorm in the night and it was still raining when we got up and took off for Copper Harbor where we met Erika Vye and Steve Brimm at the Pines so Terry could have his pre-trip pancakes.

Inside Joe's house, sorry it's so dark.

Evan McDonald joined us as we got to packing our boats and we finally got a late start, but it wasn't raining!

A passerby took this picture of us as we headed out, across Copper Harbort and straight into a dense fog bank that hid the entire east end of the harbor, including the light house..  We followed Evan's compass reading.  We were three kayaks:  Erika and Steve iin a tandem so that Steve could take photos, Evan in his single, and we in our tandem.

The fog was intense for most of the way to Horseshoe Harbor where the sun burst through.

(An aside here:  I'm not a very good photographer and getting pics from my little waterproof camera to the ipad has proven not easy.   Moreover we had a world-class photographer along with us.  Steve has some shots that I think he'll share and so do others.  I'll get them on here later.)

Our next stop was right before turning the corner at the point, near a cabin belonging to a friend of Steve's.  There we had lunch.  

One thing about the tip of the Keweenaw is that it isn't really a tip.  It's more like a very blunt finger; meaning that the confused waves that happen at the end of the peninsula lasted for about a mile.  They weren't too bad although mostly from the east, the exact opposite that we were expecting, having tuned in to NOAA.  

So then we headed back west, past High Rock, looking for Keystone Bay, our next stop, rolling along on some glassy swells.  That's Keystone, below.

Erika was telling us about the Keweenaw Fault and we could see places where the basalt met the sandstone.  Once we reached the lovely Keystone Beach we had to decide whether to camp or go on.  It was 4:00pm and we had seven or eight miles to go to Gina's and we were tired.  BUT conditions looked good, we figured we had plenty of sunlight.  Back into the boats we climbed.

Now is where things started to get dicey.  I found that I had phone signal with my little tracfone so I called Gina Nicholas to tell her we were on our way to her place but realizing that the landing might be sketchy there.  Gina was sitting on the tarmac at Chicago O''hare trying to get home, and so we were having a time of it trying to figure out where we were gonna take out,, when the wind hit us suddenly out of the west--a good stiff headwind.   Moreover the setting sun was right in our eyes and we didn't know exacttly where Giina's landing was. 

We passed under Bare Bluff, another artifact of the Keweenaw Fault, and were paddling to beat the band, peering along the shore where finally we spotted her, a figure standing in the water among the boulders beckoning us in.  What a relief!

Well it was 9pm before we enjoyed the delicious supper that Bonnie Hay had prepared for us  including a killer quinoa/millet tabouli, fresh green beans and roasted chicken.  And wine!  And fresh soft beds!  Yeay!

Here's the thimbleberries in front of Gina's house.

Having breakfast--and great coffee--in the sunlight.

 Gina and her son Nick helping us launch this morning, again into a west  wind.

Sorry this blog is too long.  I'll try to keep it shorter next time.  It's just such an adventure that I just can't help but think that you all  want to know about EVERY single moment.

The first day was the longest at around 22 miles.  We're hoping for shorter days from now on.

Onward! 

Our itinerary

ITINERARY FOR COPPER ISLAND KAYAK CHALLENGE

Terry and I got out the maps this morning to measure some of the distances between various points on Copper Island and reconcile our fantasies with our 65-and-67-year-old bodies.  We’ve come up with an itinerary that is based on good weather conditions, so of course not only are the distances estimated, the entire itinerary is subject to change and chance.

  

MONDAY August 25th:  leave Copper Harbor, arrive at Gina Nicholas’ house, Smith Fisheries Rd, accompanied by Evan McDonald, Erika Vye and Steve Brimm.    22 miles

Geoheritage sites:  

Green Rock  

Hunter’s Pt 

Horseshoe Harbor

High Rock Bay

Keystone Bay

Fish Cove

Montreal River Mouth

Bare Bluff  Below Bare Bluff

TUESDAY August 26th:  from Gina’s house around Bete Gris, may stop at South Point McKenzie cottage for internet access if needed, on to camp at Brunette Park.   12 miles

Geoheritage sites: 

Mt Houghton

Bete Grise

Pte Isabelle

WEDNESDAY August 27th:  Brunette Park to Louis Point, stay at Jane Pallin’s brother’s cabin, Jane and friends to accompany us part way.       18 miles

Geoheritage sites:  

Tobacco R & Gay Sands

Big Traverse

Pt Louis

THURSDAY August 28th:  Louis Point to South Entry.  Lunch with Belotes at Sunrise Beach, they accompany us to South Entry.  Camp at White City?  Island in the canal? mouth of the Snake?  Princess Point?  Libby Meyer should be with us by this time.   16.5--20 miles

Geoheritage sites:  

Rabbit Bay

Rabbit Island

Jacobsville

Man Made Channels

Sturgeon R Delta

FRIDAY August 29th:  through Portage Lake, under the bridge to stay overnight at Churning Rapids.  We are hoping that various friends and neighbors will be joining us as we go through the Houghton/Hancock area, maybe stopping somewhere for lunch together.    16--20 miles

Geoheritage sites:  

Isle Royale Sands

Keweenaw Fault

Waterfront/Canal Houghton

SATURDAY August 30th:  from Churning Rapids to Ekstroms’ cottage for lunch, on to camp at the mouth of the Gratiot, joined by Ekstrom family members.    15.5 miles

Geoheritage sites: 

North Entry

Hills Creek Sands

Gratiot R Mouth

SUNDAY August 31st:  from mouth of the Gratiot to Kurtzs’ at Eagle River    10.5 miles

Geoheritage sites: 

 7 Mile Pt

Eagle River Sandbars/Ice Volcanoes

Great Sand Bay

Eagle Harbor Light

MONDAY September 1st:  Kurtz’s cottage to Rose’s Silver Island.  Bill and Nanno have agreed to let us have friends join us for sauna and feasting.  We’re hoping they can make it too!   10.5 miles

Geoheritage site:  Silver Island

TUESDAY September 2nd:  Silver Island to Copper Harbor to return the tandem kayak to Sam’s Adventure Company.         10 miles

Terry studies the map issued by the Keweenaw Water Trail

  

Hey, we made it into the paper!  Embarrassingly big, but thanks for the publicity, Dan Roblee!

Getting ready: Janet's story

Okay, one of the ways we're preparing for this excursion is learning how to blog using my mini ipad.  This may be the hardest part.  

Yesterday I received this story from Janet Dalquist, adventurer extraordinaire, who is about as fearless as they come, about an expedition at a time before the kayak craze, before cell phones and emails, free-standing tents and jet boils. Here's a challenge for you:  what all can you think of that we take for granted now that didn't exist in 1988? which really, seems like just yesterday.

Note to Sue Ellen Kingsley and Terry Kinzel prior to their kayaking around Copper Island, August 2014

8/14/14

Hi -- A comparable note.  In 1988 August 14-15 Don Yerg and I canoed from the Copper Harbor marina to the Lac LaBelle marina.  We had flat water all the way to Keystone Bay and camped overnight.  On the 15th there was a major storm which blew through the Baraga area, almost a tornado in power.  As I recall, the Gazette reported trees down, and the same storm hit the Iron Mountain and Norway area.  Sons David and Dan were really ticked off at me.

That morning there were high rolling waves, not breaking, from the East pushing into Bete Gris.  Yerg, whose PhD was in meteorology, was reluctant to start out.  I had no qualms having canoed in much worse conditions (choppy heavy waves in Green Bay) and believed we could actually surf most of the way back.  We did and it was glorious.

We took time to take a welcome dip at Bete Gris and then headed around the breakwater into Lac LaBelle and the resort area where we had parked our cars.  Just as we entered the old river area heavy rain and wind hit us--a surprise, because the day had been sunny and windy.  We hugged the shoreline in the midst of rough chop and paddled like hell to get to the resort.  And we did, safely.

My impressions:  Few safe places to get to quickly if the weather requires it.  Looking into clear flat water I swear you can see almost to the middle of the earth!  Huge huge boulders.  No fish.  No boats, canoes, kayaks.

I am glad we did it!

Good luck.

Jan Dalquist

Thank you so much for this story, Jan.  You put us to shame.  We should have it relatively easy, although I won't say any more for fear of jinxing our trip.

Janet is planning to be at the Harbor Haus on Sunday the 24th and we're looking forward to hearing more of her adventures.

You all come, too.

SEK

Sent from my iPad

Please Join Us at the Bon Voyage Gathering!

Date: Sunday, August 24
Time: 5pm
Place: Harbor Haus in Copper Harbor


Appetizers provided by Harbor Haus • Cash Bar • Dine Together (Dutch / Pay your way)