York Island Basecamp, Apostle Islands National LakeShore, August 10-15, 2008
My family has been seeking the solitude, remoteness and pristine natural state of this wonderful national park for the past 8 years now. Two years ago we swapped the camper ferry (which takes campers to Stockton and Oak Islands) for a double kayak and began reaching the sandy beaches under our own power. This time we added a single to the fleet consisting of our trusty carrier Folbot Greenland II. We also invited some friends along for good measure. One of the friends was a former competitive K-1 racer. The other one has not been in a kayak before. They opted for a battleship double by the name Necky Nootka Plus as their vessel. The rental at a local outfitter—the Living Adventure—included a 4-hour lesson.
Late Sunday afternoon we loaded our boats at Little Sand Bay and paddled into the relatively calm waters of Lake Superior. The friends in their hardshell double and I pulling the load-carrier in tow with my wife and my 6-year-old powering the latter. The little one did a great job and showed unprecedented enthusiasm for paddling until he bruised his fingers and quit grimacing in pain. It’s not a simple matter for a 4’-tall body to paddle using a 230cm paddle in a 34”-beam boat that is also 16” high at the cockpit.
The water of Lake Superior was nearly 70° due to North and North-East winds that dominated these latitudes for the past couple of months. This used to be unheard off here but is becoming the norm with the changing climate. Wind was about 5 knots directly into our faces from the North and it took just about 1 hour to cover the 4 miles to the sandy beach on the North side of York where three campsites are located. Each campsite has its own bear box and some of them are bigger than others. There is a clean outhouse on the island stocked with several extra rolls of toilet paper. APIS rangers really do a good job of keeping their house! The outhouse is between sites #2 and #3. The campsites are located pretty far from each other so you get privacy in any of them. First and second sites are more exposed to the N, NE winds while #3 is located on the very West end of the beach where it curves North and provides more shielding. This site is also more wooded with less space for tents but two of ours fit easily. All three sites have fire rings and makeshift log benches. The north side of York has nearly a full mile of clean brownstone sand covered beach and the water in the bay is pretty shallow by Lake Superior standards. In the afternoon the Northerly wind brings enough warmed surface water and one could comfortably swim in it without a wet suit.
Using York as home base, Raspberry Island and Sand Islands are about equidistant to the East and to the West. We chose to paddle against the NE wind to the East toward the newly restored Raspberry Island Lighthouse on the South-West side of the island. Three mile trip took almost two hours in moderate NE wind and 1-2’ chop. Having left all the camping stuff on York, my family could all fit into a double—a bit tight but efficient. Paddling with two boats proved to be entertaining as the ‘captain’ of our boat turned the outing into half-race-half-pirate-adventure.
Too bad we arrived at the Raspberry Island lighthouse 15 minutes after their closing time of 4PM. The tour lead by a park ranger was very entertaining and informative when I was there just one month earlier. Hearing the “Lighthouse Keeper’s Blues” performed in style by the tour guide illustrated the impact that the loss of these jobs to automated switchboards had on the real people very emphatically. The entire profession went out of existence overnight and was replaced by a simple light bulb… How tragic for those whose entire way of solitary and dedicated life was keeping that fire going and guiding ships to safety.
Otherwise, the name Raspberry is misleading—we found very few actual berries there even though the season was right. A mile walk on the trail to the beach on the South-West side of Raspberry—on the other hand—was very nice. Once there, the beach itself was as clean and pristine as should be expected in the Apostles. The bay was crowded with sail and power boats, though. With so many boats, dingies and people there, we turned around and headed back quickly.
The next day our companions had to return home so I accompanied them to see the Sand Island caves in the single. On the way, I was reminded how much more efficient a double is as compared to a single. I had to carefully match the leisurely dips of paddles in the huge and fully loaded double and there was no time to slack off. I am no champion racer but I am definitely a stronger paddler than either of the drivers in the Nootka—22.5’ long, 27” beam, 99lbs body and fully loaded. Yet, it was I who was working a bit harder to keep up in a Nordkapp HS which is a much faster cruiser than any single kayak I’ve paddled before.
While not quite as spectacular as the ones on Devils Island, Sand Island sea caves are a truly marvelous sight! The only thing that can take away from it would be seeing the Devils Island’s caves first. At Sand you get big and small openings, low and high ceilings, multiple arches of various sizes and columns etched into the brownstone cliffs by wind and waves. All of this bounty, a mere three miles away from Little Sand Bay! We were fortunate to have the site all to ourselves as multiple groups come here during the day and it could get crowded—especially when the weather and the water are nearly perfect. One foot swells form NE added significantly to the experience by providing a rhythmic low-frequency drumming accompaniment to the visual experience. A little less wave and the sound effects would be gone. A little more and weaving in and out of the caves would be far more risky. It’s a full show! Even raspberries were plentiful on the secluded beach immediately to the North of the caves.
After delivering my companions safely to LSB uneventfully I followed the shore to the East and then cut straight North to the South-East corner of York. This is the shortest possible open water crossing between mainland and the island. The north shore of the Bayfield peninsula is not nearly as scenic as the West walls of Sand Island but the shoreline consists of high and relatively steep cliffs. This being very different from Lake Michigan shoreline around the home paddling base provided a very enjoyable ride. Huge brownstone boulders that break off the cliffs cover the seabed. The word is that many buildings right here in Chicago were furnished with materials from here. The water is very clear and the show under the boat is just as good as the one on shore. Too bad there was no fish to be seen. I’ve met some 2’ lake trout in these waters before.
The winds have shifted more to the East in the meantime and the horizontal East banks of York were being hit by 1-2’ waves on this beautiful early afternoon. Paddling in the rebounding waves was very entertaining and the heart only stopped a few times when I landed on the submerged rocks and felt the scrapping on the bottom go through the entire body. East and West shores of York consist of 4-10’ brownstone formations. No real caves here but occasional reminders of the treasure of the Apostles can be gleaned and heard in those same low-freq drumming sounds when waves hit orifices in the rock. The complete loop from York to sea caves on Sand to LSB and back around the Eastern side of York is about 10 nautical miles. Circumnavigation of York is under five.
The following day I tried to take my family to see the caves on Sand. The waves have picked up and were steady 2’ by noon when we tried to launch. The forecast was for the winds to shift from NE to E which meant we would be in the lee of York for the entire trip. Greenland II is an open-cockpit boat with a spray deck that can be velcroed to the cockpit rim. Spray skirts, then, attach to the spray deck. We only had to clear the waves on the bay on the North side of York and then paddle the relatively sheltered waters in between the two islands. The decks are easily deployed en route so I did not attach them prior to launch. The biggest and steepest waves were in the bay and, if we got swamped, it only meant a short swim downwind back to sandy shore. That was the thinking and that ruined the trip! Back to shore we got very swiftly but there was no swimming to speak off.
Having seated my wife in the front seat and the boy in the middle I started to push the kayak into the waves. The waves were almost dumping as the depth just off shore was immediately about waist high. The boat got hit by a couple of those waves and turned away from the 90 degree angle. The stern being still on the steep sand bank sent the bow under water and the following two waves put quite a few gallons of water in through the open cockpit. Wife and kid were not happy with that turn of events. We had a mutiny and I did not push my luck any further that day—just went surfing instead. The wind continued from the NE the whole afternoon and an occasional wave would be above eye level. Very decent rides in a beautiful site for surfing all afternoon long; warm water, beautiful day, nice beach to land on and my own private audience—what else can a kayaker ask for.
The winds did shift late in the afternoon and died down overnight. The Lake was kind and let us paddle the three miles to that same sandy beach just to the North of the sea caves on Sand Island. New raspberries had a couple of days to ripen and we enjoyed the feast for a good hour. With Folbot in tow we hit the caves next. The little one was scared as we entered the first couple of rooms but his emotion is governed more by looking at the parents’ reactions than by assessing the situation itself—in other words, fear let curiosity take over in no time. Soon the screams represented no fear but joy and the search for best echo.
From the caves it was a good hour of hard towing and we were on the sand of Little Sand Bay again. “If I can tow 500lbs in a 34” beam boat for 3 miles, I might as well do the Chicago Shoreline Marathon—what’s another 20 miles…” were thoughts running in my head.
I highly recommend this destination for anyone who enjoys nature and remote camping.
Haris Subačius