Tuesday, 6/24/2014

Campground at Sandy Bay

Rained and stormed last night and it is very foggy this morning.  We called the  excursion company and ask whether they will still go and get an affirmative.  They do say that if the fog doesn’t lift in the first hour, they will return to port and refund the fares.   So we head back to Bayfield.

We arrive a bit early, so we find a nice parking place and make coffee and tea, warm those donuts and enjoy breakfast in the Trek as it is pretty chilly outside – 45!  Quite a few people are arriving, so we go ahead and get tickets and hope for the best!

Town of Bayfield

Bayfield Harbor

Our ride for the day

We board the Island Princess, operated by Apostle Island Cruises, at 9:30 or so and leave the harbor at 10:00 for a three hour cruise,  a three hour cruise!  (Shades of Gilligan’s Island!).   No tropical islands here, though, and we have read that you have about 10 minutes to save yourself or be saved in this water, after which hypothermia sets in and you are dead within an hour!  Yikes!  The captain announces that the water temp today is 48 degrees.

Island Princess is a pretty big boat and the captain and narrator is very experienced.  He starts out by saying we are heading first to Basswood Island “You can’t see it, but I know it’s out there!" As he starts the safety instructions he says," and for those on the top deck….oh nevermind, there is no one on the top deck today.”  There were about 80 of us on the lower deck.

We pass by Basswood, Hermit, Stockton and Manitou Island, each of which has its associated stories.  By the time we reach Manitou the fog has lifted enough that we can see the old fish camp there with the net reels. 

Several of the islands were logged and several had quarries.  Now all but Madeleine Island are part of the National Lakeshore Park.

When we head for Devil’s Island, the furtherest one,  we get into a bit of Lake Superior and the ride is definitely more rough, with occasional big waves which we rode up and then dropped into the trough!  

After about 20 minutes of that we get into the lee of the island and it calmed down so that we could enjoy the lighthouse there and the many sea caves. 

The island is made mostly of sandstone and the waves have carved many caves and arches.  Hard to capture with a camera, but most impressive when you are there!

We head back toward Bayfield, going by Bear Island and then the lighthouse on Raspberry Island. 

Now that the fog has lifted a good bit, you can see many of the islands and realize how close together they are.  This fishing boat doubles as a cruise ship for sea gulls!

Back on dry land again, we climb in the trek, turn on the heat and warm up while I make some hot soup for  a late lunch.  This concludes our circle tour of Lake Superior, as we decide to skip the final 50 miles to Superior and Duluth, where we began.  Close enough for us!

We spend most of the afternoon driving south and a little east toward Wausau.  Passed by the Wisconsin Concrete Park – another of those “folk art” things, this one done by a retired lumberjack.

We gradually get back a bit more to farmland and dairies, some very large. See a beautiful but camera-shy bald eagle.  Beth enjoys a break with a root beer float at a tiny A&W!  Yum!  (The temperature is almost 70 by then!)  The barn quilts are back.

Our friends in Wausau are still on the road, (They are Roadtrekkers returning from Cape Cod) unfortunately, so we visit our local WallyWorld and had a good night there.

 Monday, June  23, 2014

7:00 AM we drive a few miles and cross into Wisconsin again and the Central Time Zone.   We want to visit the Northern Great Lakes Visitor’s Center,  but it doesn’t open till 9:00, so we go back to Ironwood and McDonalds for breakfast and some wi-fi. 

Took this shot of a lone fisherman on Chequamegon Bay.  He noticed me taking photos and we exchanged waves.  It is still foggy this morning but close to 60.

Saw this snapping turtle on the approach to the Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center – they tell us it is a female and that they are moving around looking for places to lay eggs.  Positively prehistoric looking!

The Visitors Center is nicely done, with a short film and lots of displays. 

They identify the purple/pink/white flowers we’ve been seeing as lupines – a relative of our Texas bluebonnet.  As with bluebonnets, many are growing wild and it seems that people have planted and encouraged them in other areas.  We are told they are a welcome sign of Spring here, as the Bluebonnets are in Texas a few months earlier.

Next stop is Houghton Falls Nature Preserve and Echo Dells.  A beautiful place!  The trail goes through the Dells canyon area, past a waterfalls and then to a lovely point on Lake Superior.  The air temperature is almost 60 and at the point we find two young women swimming!!  Brrrrr…. They are obviously locals – or Canadians!

Stop at a Fish Hatchery with a neat old building but not much happening. 

We decide we would like to take the Boat excursion to the Apostle Islands tomorrow (missed today’s departure), so we will camp nearby tonight.  We stop at the Apostle Island National Lakeshore Info Center in Bayfield and learn a little about this group of 21 islands. 

Also near Bayfield are  a lot of orchards and we read of a place that sells apple cider donuts, which were recommended by someone in Wisconsin at the pancake breakfast we went to on Memorial Day.  So we head out to Erickson’s Orchard and Market and they had me at the smell. 

Definite scratch ‘n’ sniff winner as we enter the market to heavenly smell of baked goods.  The apple cider donuts are the most wonderful donuts (warm even) ever!!

We try one, then end up buying half a dozen, saving 4 for tomorrow’s breakfast at the boat.    The apple trees had just dropped their blossoms and had the beginnings of fruit forming.

Stopped at another Orchard called Hauser’s. 

Both places were expecting strawberries to be “in” any day, but they are a few weeks later than normal.  Hauser’s had a few interesting items, like the self-kicker and John’s Hat collection, as well as local wines, preserves, and goo-gaws.

We head to the Little Sand Bay campground which is popular with kayakers.  It is run by a town but is adjacent to the National Lakeshore. We watch a film at their Hdq and look around an old Fish Camp that was run by three brothers for 40 years beginning in1927. Spend a little time talking with a couple from Thunder Bay, Ontario, ( Wendy and Joe), who are about our age and are kayakers.  They have a bigger motor home and are interested in touring the Trek as they are considering down-sizing.  We join them at their campfire a little later.

Nice sunset. 

 Beth made chicken fajitas for dinner, complete with avocado.  Tasty!

 Sunday, June 22, 2014

First day of summer and we wake to 49 degrees and fog.  People tell us this is an unusually wet and cold year.  Yeah.

Greg points out  two lovely cranes wondering through the campgrounds.  They mate for life and most times we have seen them in pairs. They are beautiful and stand over 4' tall.

Spent some time planning the next few days and having breakfast.  It looks like the sun is trying to break through when we leave around 9:30.   We have heard good things about Porcupine Wilderness State Park and the Lake of the Clouds, so that is on our agenda for today.

We stop at the Visitor’s Center about 11:00 and learn that to the natives, these mountains resembled porcupines, which is where the name came from.  There are several displays about the area and the Northern Goshawk which is rare but found in the park.  Opened in 1945 to save an area of forest that hadn’t been logged, about half of its 60,000 acres is virgin forest.

It is a beautiful wilderness with only one campground but many trails.  We go first to Lake of the Clouds, which is over a mile long and today is not shrouded in clouds, as it often is.  

There is a ski jump on Cooper Peak 20 miles away!  This is quite a popular area for skiing, snowmobiling and other winter sports.

Next we take the trail to Summit Peak, which we decide should be called Chipmunk Mountain instead as we see and hear lots of them along the trail, chirping, clicking squeaking  and scampering over fallen trees.

  Nice view from the tower at the top – no wonder it is popular in the fall as the view is 95% trees.

  Some interesting fungus along the trail too.

We next stop at a waterfalls called Overlooked Falls,  which is down a little dirt road. Pretty but kind of buggy and boggy.

Overlooked Falls

Presque Isle River and Manido Falls ( meaning  “spirit” or “ghost” in Ojibwa).  We also do a short trail to two other Falls, Nawadaha and Manabezho. 

While Summit Peak was hot and very humid, here at the Falls it is cool – almost cold!

We see this Hiawatha carving in Wakefield, just outside the park, and continue on to Ironwood. Lots of beautiful lupine in fields and along the road.

Greg asks someone where we might watch the US Soccer Match and we are directed to the Maplewood Steakhouse, which also has a Sports Bar attached.  

Greg checks and they tell us to come on in,  can use their wi-fi  and watch the earlier game till US Game starts.  Nice friendly folks. There are a few people there to see the game and by gametime quite a nice crowd.  Greg tries a few local brews and we enjoy some soup, and ribs while watching.  Disappointing finish when Portugal ties the US 2-2 in extra time, but…at least it wasn’t a loss!

We’ll sleep at Walmart tonight but it was surprisingly buggy so we didn’t have a very restful night.