The Apostle Islands

As I mentioned in the previous post, the Apostle Islands are just off the northernmost tip of Wisconsin in Lake Superior. All but one of the 22 islands (Madeline being the exception) have been set aside as a National Lakeshore, along with 12 miles of shoreline on the mainland. Why 'Apostle?' you ask when there are 22 of them? The answer is nobody knows. They were probably named by the early French trappers and who knows what they were thinking.

Neither of us had ever been there before, so we wanted the whole experience. At 9:30 on Monday morning we arrived in Bayfield and picked up our tickets for the Grand Tour around the islands. Although the tour didn't leave until 10, the good seats were already taken, and by that I mean the ones by the open windows. I'm sure I annoyed people by sticking my camera out their windows, but I do have a responsibility. This map shows our route with the yellow dotted line.


Unfortunately, we didn't have perfect blue sky like the day before, but plenty of sun anyway. The islands range in area from 3 to 10,054 acres and in height from 10 to 479 feet above lake level. They are heavily forested with some of the remote islands never having been logged.

Here is Honeymoon Rock on the northeast side of Basswood Island. Not the place I would pick for a honeymoon.


Some of the islands and the lakeshore are riddled with sandstone seacaves. Since Lake Superior is known for violent storms, you can imagine the wear on the cliffs. Devils Island, the most northern island, has the most interesting cliffs.


And this is the Raspberry Island lighthouse. The light here first operated in 1864 and the dwelling was built later.

The captain had a lot of good information and stories, but I'm afraid I can't remember enough details to repeat any of it. However here are my tips if you decide to take this cruise. If you want the upper deck, reserve days ahead. The upper deck didn't have a cover and we didn't really want to sit in the sun and 20 mph wind (that's how fast the boat goes) for 3 hours anyway. However we were told the wind wasn't bad and most people don't try to avoid the sun like we do. Lastly, board just as early as you can for optimum seating and we thought the port side of the boat was the better side (we lucked out on that one.)

We stopped at the National Lakeshore visitor center where I checked out how I would look as a ranger. Wow! Those exercises really seem to be working. Look at that build!


The town of Bayfield had some really gorgeous houses. Like this one, most have probably been converted to B&Bs.


After the cruise, we hiked two miles through the woods to see seacaves along the mainland shoreline. We were told the best way to see them is to come in February and hike on the ice along the shoreline. Ron and I agreed that's not going to happen.


Here are some seacaves if you look hard enough. Although the water appears calm in this picture, there was a lot of slapping and crashing going on down there.


Ah, there's a cave.


Although I had expected the hike to be more along the lake, you can see why that wasn't the case. It's amazing how the waves formed these deep ravines that we had to hike around.

While we were admiring the view, we realized it was getting late and we were meeting some good friends for dinner. Practically running, we did the two mile return hike in 33 minutes. Peggy and Marvin (the expert WIN hikers) would be proud.

Yes, indeed, even in the tiny town of Bayfield, Ron managed to run into people he knows. How does he do it? We had a terrific dinner (fine food, great company) at a marina just south of town.