It reminds me of when we visited Sue’s sister
in Greece. One of Sue’s cousins offered
to take us to the Acropolis in Athens.
As we were walking down the street on our tour I asked if he had ever
been to the Acropolis. No... I guess that’s the way it is, you don’t go
because it’s too convenient, besides that’s where all the tourists go.
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| Devil's Island |
The Apostle Islands interested me because of the kayaking
possibilities. Several years ago I did a
kayaking trip and had a great time (see postings from Aug and Sept of
2009). I have considered a trip even
this time but could not make it work so I decided to see the area for a day and
decide if I want to return. While
driving in the area I must have seen over 50 privately owned kayaks being
transported to and from this area of the state.
The Apostle Islands are part of the National Parks Service
as a National Lakeshore, http://www.nps.gov/apis/index.htm. There are over
twenty islands that make up the park with only a handful of them inhabited by
people, however most of the do have bears. I took an afternoon boat tour
that wound its way around about half of the islands.
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| Sea caves on Devil's Island |
The islands are primarily forested outcroppings of
sandstone, the smallest 1 mile by ½ mile, the largest about 2 by 7 miles. If you are a lighthouse buff this area has
seven lighthouses within the park area.
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| Lighthouse on Raspberry Island |
I looked a bit strange getting on the boat. It is the middle of summer and I wore my
fleece jacket and carried my windbreaker/rain jacket. Lots of others were wearing shorts and
T-shirts with a few jackets thrown in for good measure. While in the port and for the first 30
minutes of the trip I didn’t really need either jacket. Once we got out into the open water it cooled
off a bit. One by one people were leaving
the open top level of the boat for the lower enclosed section of the boat. I was happy with my foresight and planning.
On Devil’s Island, the farthest island out, you can
really see how the wind and waves pound on the sandstone. Where the edges of the island are vertical
the lower edges of the sandstone are carved out forming caves in some areas and
arches in others. I have seen photos of
the sea caves in winter with icicles hanging from the tops, but I am not
certain I am interested enough to want to come back in winter.
The sunset was spectacular, which was part of my plan.
Thank you for stopping by,
Mark
beautiful! I've always wanted to check it out during the winter; a friend of mine had pics from a winter trip there and it was stunning. Unfortunately that means being cold.
ReplyDeleteI can't do cold any more.
ReplyDelete