We are kayaking on the lakeshore of Lake Superior, Gitche Gumee as the Ojibwe natives called it. Just north of Bayfield WI is tribal land of the Red Cliff Ojibwe. How this became tribal land is an interesting story I'll cover in another post.
We launched in a secluded area near the Legendary Waters Casino. The drive to the launch is a bumpy sand road through a campground to a dead end. Here, Gabby, our guide greets us. There are 5 tandems, one triple and Gabby in our group.
The lake has some slight swells but it is probably as calm as the lake ever gets. Our first wildlife sighting is a group of young Common loons.
About 15 minutes into our paddle, Gabby guides us to the site of a shipwreck. In 1901 the Fedora, a 282' ship carrying iron ore, sunk here. The wreck is clearly visible in the very shallow water. We are told the entire crew safely made it to shore in the shallow water.
Continuing, we paddle alongside the reddish/brown sandstone cliffs which line the lakeshore. The water has sculpted the rock in all sorts of ways creating ledges, arches and caves.
We take turns paddling into several caves. Some were wide enough to turn around in, others required backing out. Paddling in is fairly simple. Heading out backwards takes more skill especially when there are waves.
Ceilings in the caves were covered in a white lichen with a few Rock cap ferns poking out here and there.
One cave was large enough for 3 tandems to maneuver about,
Tricky cave exit
Gabby had us paddling under a couple docks and later through an arch.
Look closely to see the arch
The arch was the turn around spot. Then we got to paddle back by all the cool features we had seen on the paddle.
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