[Rhodes22-list] Apostle Island Trip

[Roger Pihlaja Home]

Jessie,

The best hiking trails are on Stockton Island, although Sand Island also has some nice  trails.  There are trails on the cliffs above the sea caves at Squaw Bay and Sand Island.  But, you can’t see much of the cave systems from the cliffs.  You won’t be able to use your outboard once you get into the sea caves, too many barely submerged rocks and ledges.  Many sea caves will probably be too narrow for you to use your oars either.  Consider taking canoe paddles.  Choose canoe paddles a couple of inches longer vs. your usual size for canoeing because your dingy sits higher in the water vs. a canoe.  The crystal clear water will take some getting used to.  Rocks that look like you are about to hit them will actually be 10 ft underwater!

On this trip, I was using a new high tech water purifying device called a Steripen.  This handheld, battery powered, device emits a timed burst of UV radiation that kills all pathogens in a 1 liter water bottle in less than a minute.  Since the UV source is dangerous to look at directly, the Steripen has a built-in safety feature that won’t allow the light to come on unless a conductivity sensor detects that the source is immersed.  The 1st time I tried to purify some Lake Superior water, it wouldn’t turn on.  But, when I immersed the Steripen in a water bottle full of water from home, it worked fine.  It turned out, the Lake Superior water was so pure; that, the conductivity was too low to satisfy the conductivity sensor.  For the rest of the trip, I solved the problem by adding a few crystals of table salt to each water bottle prior to sterilization.  Imagine, billions of gallons of water pure to essentially deionized water standard.  Lake Superior is a remarkable resource, unique in the world!

Have fun!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

Sent from my iPad

> On May 31, 2020, at 5:51 PM, Jesse Shumaker <jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Roger, thanks for the tips!  It is good to know which islands may be best
> to visit in this 4 day trip.  We plan to do some hiking while we are
> there.
> 
> I'm currently reading a book about the Apostle Islands that is told from a
> kayakers perspective.  Doing this on a kayak must be an adventure indeed!
> My kayaking has been limited to inland lakes and gentle rivers.
> 
> We will have a dinghy with an outboard so that should make the islands and
> hopefully some of the caves accessible for exploring.
> 
> One day I may make it back up there with my Rhodes.
> 
> Jesse
> S/V Zephyr
> 
> On Sun, May 31, 2020, 1:22 PM Roger Pihlaja Home <roger_pihlaja at msn.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Jessie,
>> 
>> My two sons and I did the Apostle Islands in sea kayaks several years ago
>> as a family High Adventure Trip.  Hopefully, your mother ship will have a
>> dingy or inflatable or something that will let you explore the sea caves.
>> The best are on Sand Island and on Squaw Bay just south of the Sand Pt
>> visitor center on the mainland.  The Squaw Bay sea caves are especially
>> spectacular!  Both of these sea cave sites are best seen from a small
>> boat.  You need a dead calm sea state to explore the caves.  A sea kayak is
>> best because many of the cave entrances are narrow.  If you go, bring along
>> a headlight.    A rock climbing helmet is also not a bad idea because the
>> occasional powerboat wake can enter the caves and bounce you off the
>> ceiling even on a dead calm day!  There are interesting lighthouses and
>> associated out buildings to tour on Sand Island and Raspberry Island.  The
>> outer islands in the archipelago are pretty exposed to Lake Superior and
>> you need to be careful where you anchor if you are staying overnight.  The
>> whole area is a world class cruising ground and spectacularly beautiful!
>> Once you leave Bayfield, WI and Madeline Island behind, you need to be
>> pretty self sufficient.
>> 
>> Roger Pihlaja
>> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On May 30, 2020, at 4:56 PM, Jesse Shumaker <
>> jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Chris, thanks for the tips on Kansas lakes.  I'll definitely let you
>> know
>>> if whenever I head that direction since it would be fun to go sailing
>>> together.  Since I don't have a tow vehicle, my road trip plans
>> coordinating
>>> with one my friends with a truck that wants to go as well.  I suppose I
>>> could rent a truck but that's a last resort.  Eventually I may get a tow
>>> vehicle but I'm not in a hurry for that.
>>> 
>>> The first road trip with my boat will be to Lake Rathbun in Iowa, which
>> is
>>> just a few hours away.  Several boats from my club will be traveling
>>> together (our little trailer sailor caravan) in early July for that trip.
>>> 
>>> Regarding South Dakota, I had a trip planned with a couple of friends to
>>> Lake Francis Case, which is one dam downstream of Oahe on the Missouri.
>> My
>>> friend's family has a cabin on the lake.  That trip got postponed due to
>>> COVID-19, but we may go around Labor Day this year or sometime next year
>>> instead.  I'll report back whenever we go.  I'd be up for taking my boat
>> on
>>> a trip down Oahe if you ever wanted to meet up for that.  It would be a
>> fun
>>> adventure!
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Sent from: http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/
>>