Sep 15 Meyers Beach

 

Meyers Beach is a popular beach and sea cave location within the Apostle Island National Lakeshore. Kayaking to the sea caves along the cliffs is one of the most popular destinations in the park.We spoke with a couple at the bed and breakfast who kayaked here. They told us they had to wear wet suits to take the cave tour. It is one of the kayak tours I had wanted to do but my back was preventing it. I had helped a couple of the tandems ashore the day before and tweaked my back.

Instead we are hiking out along the cliff to view the area from above. 

We hiked out to a popular overlook about 2 miles out. Although dry today, this is often a wet area as evidenced by the timber planking and puncheons along the trail. We crossed several fiberglass bridges as well. 

Timber planking in a wet area

At the overlook we had nice views of the cliffs from above. The lakeshore here is exposed to the open lake, not sheltered by any islands. The waves have carved up this area pretty well. There are numerous sea caves, a few arches and lots of carved up cliffs. 

Natural bridge

These caves can become ice caves in the winter. Although, ice caves were a regular feature, warmer climate has not allowed ice caves to form during recent winters. The last ice caves that the park service allowed folks to climb in, occurred during a brief 2 week period in 2015. The previous winter had 60 days below zero degrees and the ice caves appeared after a multi year absence. Social media for that year enticed a lot of people to head out there. I was told that 250,000 people crowded Bayfield that year to have the ice cave experience. 

That dark spot is a deep crack in the rock. There is water at the bottom but not visible in the photo. You could hear the waves splash in the cave. It sounded rather violent. I'm not sure that is a cave I want to explore via kayak.

Some sea caves which may open into a larger chamber

We only had glances like this of the lakeshore. We did see some kayaks exploring but they were keeping their distance from the cliffs since the wind was picking up before a storm.