Mari paddling through a sea cave on the east side of Grand Island…
So, this post really doesn’t have anything to do with recent activities. But, earlier this summer Mari and I did make it over to Pictured Rocks for one last trip before our move out to Maine. I just came across a folder of images from the trip and thought they should be shared.
The Pictured Rocks area is a place that we found ourselves returning to each summer. Most of the time we would circumnavigate Grand Island because we were usually short on time and we didn’t have to set up a shuttle. This past summer however we had the opportunity to paddle the entire length of the Pictured Rocks shoreline and since Mari had never had the opportunity to experience this stretch we arranged to start our trip a few days before a symposium in Grand Marais. This enabled us to leave our car in Munising and have friends pick it up and bring it to the even site for us.
We spent 3 nights and 4 days paddling the ~45 miles to Grand Marais. During our trip we experienced thunder storms, thick fog, beautiful bluebird skies, strong winds and waves to 5-6 ft… sometimes all in the same day. This is something that everyone has been told, but a lot of people really don’t think about. The weather on Lake Superior really can – and does – change very quickly. On our second day of paddling we left Miner’s Beach in 80 degree, windless, blue sky conditions only to run into a small system where the temp dropped 15-20 degrees, the fog was so thick that we couldn’t see the 100 ft sandstone cliffs only a few hundred feet away, and 2-4 ft waves that were reflecting off the steep sandstone walls. If we were less prepared this could have been a very difficult situation. But we were good and after a short stop at Mosquito Beach we got back on the water and had nothing but blue skis, warm weather and calm water on our way to Chapel Beach.
Overall it was a great trip and I would definitely recommend putting the Pictured Rocks on your paddling bucket list.
Enjoy the rest of the pics… there’s a more complete gallery at the bottom. Some of the images are out of order because my slr and p&s aren’t sync’d up correctly.
Later… paddle safe!
Making the crossing from Trout Point on Grand Island over to Miner’s Castle…
And here comes the fog…
Approaching a large arch just north of Mosquito Beach…
Some of the amazing cliffs along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore…
Mari paddling through one of the many small openings in the sandstone…
The other day I was in the book store looking through the magazines. I like to do this from time to time to check out the images in the ski, bike, and outdoor magazines that are getting published. It’s not that I’m hoping to have all of my images published, but I like knowing what the editors are looking for just in case an opportunity presents itself.
Anyway, I saw that the book store had the most recent issue of Superior Outdoorsso I grabbed a copy. Initially I only looked at the last page. I knew that an image of mine was supposed to run there in the winter issue, it was there and that’s all I needed to purchase a copy. However, imagine my surprise when I sat down to lunch and saw another of my photos in the table of contents! Apparently, another series of images I submitted were published along with an article by Conor Mihell on the Gales of November kayak confluence. And that wasn’t the end… in the reflections portion of the magazine appeared one of my surfing images of Sam Gardner.
It’s really cool seeing my stuff in print. I would say it’s because I’m so awesome, but the truth is that I really owe most of these images to Conor. He’s the one with the magic pen and without his words there would be no need for my images.
Friday after work we met up with some people at the KBC. While there we hatched a plan to paddle out to Manitou Island. The next day I arranged for someone to take my shift on Monday and on Sunday morning we met Danimal a little before 11:00 at Bete Gris, packed our boats and got our paddle on. This is a great paddle if you don’t have a ton of time or a ton of money and are looking to get away. The south side from Bete Gris out to Keweenaw Point is generally quite protected and even if the weather isn’t good enough to make the crossing out to Manitou, you can still get in a good 10-12 miles of paddling, camp, and then return to your car.
However, if the weather cooperates, you get to make the 3-5 mile crossing over to Manitou (depends on where you leave from) and can then camp in this beautiful little cove on the east side called Fisherman’s Cove. From there you can paddle back to your vehicle at Bete Gris, or you can continue around the Keweenaw to Copper Harbor where you can grab a bite to eat at the Mariner and then get one of the nice guys from The Keweenaw Adventure Company to give you a ride back to your car. Or maybe you already stashed a bike up in Copper Harbor and now all you have to do is ride back to your car… Lots of options.
Our route…
Mari paddling along the Keweenaw…
Taking a break at Montreal Falls…
Making the crossing to Gull Rock on our way to Manitou Island…
Our campsite for the evening…
The Danimal hunting for agates…
Out our front door…
Hunting for the path to Perch Lake…
Still hunting…
Dragging the row boat we found out to Perch Lake…
When you gotta go… you gotta go…
Some evening frisbee action with Dan’s LED powered toy…
Mari and I spent the afternoon paddling around Houghton. Nothing special, just needed to do something outside and because of the heat decided to do that something on the water. Here are some quick snaps from the journey.
[UPDATE: The full gallery of images is done uploading and is available for your viewing pleasure --> You can view it here. You can download the small digital copy for free by "right clicking" and using "save as"... high-res digital copies and prints are available for purchase.]
Wow!
I just got back from the Grand Marais, MI and the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium and while it was a lot of work… it was also a lot of fun. Bill Thompson from our Marquette store and paddling super hero Kelly Blades were the masterminds behind this years event… the first GLSKS event under the Down Wind Sports regime. Now, I’ll try and keep this short. The GLSKS event was more or less your typical kayak symposium and fortunately some of the participants are also bloggers and have done a great job of providing some different perspectives on the event. For some great reports check out:
Here on my site, I would just like to share some images and some highlights from this years event. One of the things that makes an event like this so worthwhile is the ability to work with world class instructors and take your skillz to the next level, and this year the GLSKS was fortunate enough to host some of the best instructors in the industry.
Kelly Blades… now I haven’t yet witnessed this gentleman moving automobiles with his mind, but when it comes to getting things done this guy is definitely a superhero.
Danny Mongno… after a session with Danny not only with you be paddling faster and more efficiently than ever before, but your face will hurt from all of the laughing you’ve done. This guys a wizard with a paddle and does an amazing job communicating with his students.
Freya Hoffmeister… do I need to say more? Freya’s last adventure saw her paddling around the continent of Australia in less than a year. She weathered a storm… at night… in 12ft seas… in the rain. She had a shark take a bite out of her boat! On top of it she’s a great instructor and will soon have you thinking 20 mile days are “no big deal”.
Ben Lawry… now I can’t say I knew much about Ben before this event. However, while watching him work with our participants it is apparent that he knows what he’s talking about and wants nothing less than to help you become a better paddler. If you could watch Ben in action it would be very apparent why he is considered one of the best paddling instructors in the world.
David Johnston… Truth is I know even less about David than I do about Ben. However, Canoe & Kayak thought this guy was super awesome enough to do a piece on him in their Beginner’s Guide. So, it was cool to have him at our event. David is what makes this event so good… even the instructors that aren’t obviously stars are stars.
Ben addressing students ready to take their forward stroke to the next level…
Freya helping a student solve the mystery that is rolling a kayak…
Danny working with a student, explaining how important the legs are when paddling and working through some exercises that help illustrate these principals…
And they’re off!
Danny Mongno out in front…
Ben coming around the “buoy of death”. Down Wind Sports provided squirt guns and water cannons to the kids and were then let loose on the racers as they came down the front stretch…
One of the instructors coming in hot…
Patty just getting blasted, the kids showed no mercy…
The winning team were awarded the coveted paisley vests…
Anyway, it was a great event. I had a really great time and I think that most of the participants enjoyed themselves too. A big thanks goes out to all of the sponsors and people that helped make this event possible. I can’t wait to see what happens next year.
I finally found a wordpress plugin that will allow me to change the header image on this website and gives me some amount of control. So, the other day I took a bit of time and made up some new headers, put them in the proper folder, and ta-dah… rotating header!
Anyway, I just ran through some of the images I’ve shot over the last couple of months and these are what I came up with… Well, these are the ones that seemed to fit into the long aspect ratio. What I’m wondering is what you guys think of these different images, what they say about the site, etc… Do you like them all? What’s your favorite? Should I get rid of any of them?
Right now the header is set to change on every refresh. However, the program isn’t all that great about randomly cycling through all of the images. In a couple of days I will probably change it so that it rotates every couple of minutes.
Until then, don’t hold back… leave your suggestions/critiques in the comments area below.
The other night Mac, Lynn, Mari and I made it out on the water. Originally we had planned to head out on the previous evening, but certain events transpired and in the end things just didn’t come together. Anyway, the truth is, it probably worked out for the best. The previous evening it was cool and windy, but this evening things were fairly calm and it was warm enough that Mac was tempted into paddling in just a t-shirt.
Usually, paddling in the portage isn’t exactly on the top of my list. However, tonight it wasn’t so bad. It was nice to see the trees lining the portage in the various stages of leafing out. Lynn and Mac are always fun to talk to, and it didn’t hurt that is was just a beautiful evening to be out.
Well, I haven’t posted in a handful of days and felt this was as good as anything that’s happened recently. I’m working on putting together a backpack mounted camera contraption so stay tuned.
On Wednesday evening myself and a couple other members of the Keweenaw Paddling Club got together to paddle the shoreline south from Breakers. I feel this is one of the nicer paddles in the area. It’s relatively close to town, it’s on the Big Lake, there are numerous sandstone bluffs, and it faces west so you get some great sunsets. There are also many small waterfalls visible throughout this stretch, with the one in the image above serving as our typical turnaround point.
Now, the waterfall in the above image is nothing special. It’s not exceptionally large, or in any way spectacularly scenic, but it is pretty cool. The water that poured out of it was actually quite warm and when the water levels on the lake are high enough you can paddle under it. Paddling under waterfalls is just one of those fun things to do… sort of like paddling through sea caves, or through narrow channels. Something about features like this just call out to you begging you to paddle through, under or around them.
Anyway, on Wednesday as we approached the point where the waterfall should be we came upon this scene.
On the paddle out I had noticed a lot more erosion this year than I even have in the past. At the time I knew things had changed, but it was difficult to determine just how different things were. The collapsed falls were the only spot where the amount of erosion was visible. It was a sad sight, and I’m sorry to that future paddlers won’t get to experience it. However, my hope is that after a few spring storms sweep through the area, that some of the debris will be crushed up and redistributed… we’ll see.
For now, please be careful while paddling out along the cliffs on the west side of the peninsula. Things are looking very sketchy and if a significant portion came down, even if you weren’t right under it, you could be in a bad spot.
Well… we made it. A couple of weeks ago when we first talked about going on this trip the weather was beautiful with temps in the 60′s and 70′s. At the time the thought of going on a paddling trip on Lake Superior sounded like a completely awesome idea. So, we scheduled the time off, did some research, and established some objectives. As our departure date got closer the weather went from crappy, to not so crappy, back to crappy, and in the end looked just slightly unpleasant to tolerable. Finally Thursday arrived and I woke up at 5:30 to pack the car, load the boat, eat breakfast, and drive up to Calumet to pick Matt up by 6:30. As we were leaving town it was looking like high’s around 40, 15-20 knot winds, with 2-4ft waves subsiding to 5-10 knot winds and calm to 2ft later in the afternoon. We figured we’d get down there, check things out, and wait for conditions to settle down. When we arrived in RedCliff around 10:30 we decided to wait for things to die down so we weren’t spending the entire first day paddling into a headwind. Around 1:30 we got on the water and things were looking pretty good. The wind had stopped gusting, the sky was starting to clear… it was actually quite nice.
On our way in we had stopped at the Park HQ in Bayfield to let them know we were going to be out and to pick up camping permits for two nights. The objective was to get out and explore the sea caves on Devil’s Island. We had planned 3 days of paddling with 1 weather day. At the Park HQ we told the ranger that we planned on spending two nights on the north end of Oak Island. The truth was, we knew that would be a fairly easy paddle, and the actual plan was to continue on to the campsite at the south end of Rocky Island. We figured that would put us in perfect striking distance from Devil’s and would make for a nice easy first day. Day two would mean having as much time as we needed to explore Devil’s without feeling rushed then camping on Oak, and day 3 was to be an easy paddle back to the car… easy, easy, easy. Little did we know that things wouldn’t quite work out the way we planned.
As we were approaching Oak Matt and I started commenting on how nicely things were turning out. The weather was looking up, the wind was down, there was no one out on the islands but us, and neither of us had anything to prove. One of us actually said something about how nice it was that neither of us were pushing to paddle all the way out the Devil’s Island that night.
Anyway, as we approached the north end of Oak island we decided to take a break, grab a snack, take a leak, and consult the map. When we got out of the boats we were reminded what time of the year it was, as it was not warm any longer. I don’t know if it was because we hadn’t eaten much or because we were freezing from having to strip down to pee, but when we left Oak Island we headed for Bear Island instead of Otter. I’m sure the problem resulted from us thinking that we were pointing North, when in actuality the beach we were on faced more to the west. We should have consulted a compass, but at the time we just wanted to be back in our boats and paddling so we could warm back up. So we’re paddling along anticipating another island around each point. It really didn’t set in that we were heading the wrong way until we checked the compass and were headed ever so slightly south of west. At that point we conceded that we had screwed up and got out the map. The funny thing is, we weren’t totally sure that the place we stopped to pee was really Oak Island. Fortunately, we could see the dock and the lighthouse on Devil’s island so, we turned around and paddled the last three miles over there.
Planned, and actual routes…
(click to see bigger – different colors indicate different days)
By the time we reached the dock on Devil’s island the sun was quite low on the horizon and there was a steady cool breeze. Stripping out of our paddling equipment was probably the most uncomfortable thing I’ve done in a while. When you are already freezing, the last thing you want to do is strip down to nothing… even if it’s just for a minute to two. Fortunately, I had packed my poofy pants, down booties, and down sweater. Once dressed in dry clothing it didn’t take long for feeling to start working it’s way back to my feet and hands. After 20 minutes of so I was actually feeling pretty good. We set up camp made some warm drinks, had some dinner, and went to bed.
Sun setting on our first day at the Apostles…
The next morning we were again reminded that there is typically still a lot of snow on the ground at this time of the year. There was a thin sheet of ice over all of our equipment and kayaks. It was actually pretty cool, until I realized that it meant our wetsuits would be frozen as well. In the end it wasn’t a problem. We laid everything out in the sun and pushed our departure time back a bit. By the time we decided to get dressed everything was dry and some of it was actually quite warm.
At this point we were ready to go, so we loaded everything up and struck out around the island. There was a bit of swell, but nothing horrible. It did keep us from getting through many of the medium and small sized openings. Regardless, it was a ton of fun and I will definitely have to make it out there again sometime. Maybe, we’ll have to go back this summer. I’m sure my wife Mari would love it. Anyway, it was only three miles around the island, but we took our time. There were all kinds of nooks and crannies, pedestals, arches, and the addition of all the hanging ice and snow made it really special. My little point and shoot doesn’t really do it justice. This is one of those times when my other camera would be nice to have out. I wish there was a better solution for bringing an SLR out on the water… at least something more cost effective than one of the housings used to shoot things like surfing. How cool would it be if Nikon revived the Nikonos line of cameras, but with D3s internals… that would be sweet! Until then, or until I have enough money that I could afford to sacrifice some equipment… my little POS P&S will have to do.
Matt putting his Aquapac waterproof case to good use…
Looking up at the sun I noticed this halo and the contrail almost splitting it down the center. Too bad my little P&S doesn’t have a wider lens.
The halo is indicative of the lack of warmth we were experiencing. That’s not water vapor up there… that’s ice!
Matt playing in one of the more extensive set of arches/caves…
This place is just too sweet. It make me kinda glad that it’s a little difficult for people to get to.
Eventually, we made it all the way around and took a moment to grab a little bit to eat and drink before we started the journey back towards the mainland. From here it was roughly 16 miles back to RedCliff. Fro the most part it was an easy cruise. It was pretty warm, very little wind, eerily calm… not horrible at all. We did eventually take another break on Oak Island, and afterwards ran into a pretty stiff east wind. We ended up plowing into it for about 3-3.5 miles until we could move into the lee of one of the other islands. At that point it was a pretty leisurely jaunt back to the marina.
Matt sipping on a warm drink before leaving Devil’s Island for the last time…
Working our way back towards RedCliff…
Ahhh… back at our starting point
Here’s a pretty crappy/short video clip just so you can get an idea of what it was like.
And here are some additional images if anyone happens to be interested.
Went paddling a handful of days ago and took a bunch of crappy pictures with my little waterproof P&S… or is that P.O.S. The original idea was to paddle the shoreline from Esry Park to Copper Harbor, however the wind was not cooperating so we just did a short out-and-back from Copper Harbor. I have to say, it’s pretty weird driving past a completely frozen Lake Medora only to put in at the Copper Harbor Marina while wearing shorts. The weather this year has been totally weird.
Anyway, while downloading these images I was thinking about how, even only a year ago, I would have been pretty happy with these images. However, now I wish they were so much more. I can see them for the snapshots that they are. This doesn’t necessarily make them bad, it just means that I’m starting to want more out of my photography than to capture and document.
I really enjoyed the series of ski sessions I had at the end of the season with Craig, Mark, Kurt, and others. There was so much more to the process. It wasn’t just about documenting and capturing a moment… it was also about creating the moment. It was so much more fulfilling when something cool popped up on the back of the camera.
However, I’m already wishing the ski/light painting images were more. Yeah, they’re pretty cool, but they images themselves are not very polished. We did identify some durable light sources to attach to the skiers. I did get the technique and timing dialed in (this was the easy part). We did do some experimentation with different camera placements and different tricks to attempt to find the best vantage point so that you get continuous lines with no breaks.
But, I would have like to experiment more with changing the viewing angle on some of the tricks. I would have like to experiment more with light placement on the skiers. I would have like to experiment more with strobe placement. I would have liked to shoot when the moon wasn’t full. Basically, there are a lot more ideas to work through… if there was more time left in the season.
I really like the idea of tracing these complex paths through the air with light. I’m sure this will translate into other sports as well. This could be a cool series of images.
Mari paddling through a sea cave on the east side of Grand Island…
Making the crossing from Trout Point on Grand Island over to Miner’s Castle…
Approaching a large arch just north of Mosquito Beach…
Some of the amazing cliffs along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore…
Mari paddling through one of the many small openings in the sandstone…
