Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOURS AND DO-IT-YOURSELF TRANSPORTATION
Kayak and equipment rental is available in Bayfield, but head a mere two miles north
to Red Cliff and the very progressive and welcoming
Living Adventure
(866/779-9503,
www.livingadventure.com
)
. All the equipment you need is here and it offers great tours.
Youcouldpaddletheentire
Lake Superior Water Trail,
whichstretches91milesalong
the coast between Port Wing and Ashland; this is part of an ambitious 3,000-mile-long trail
taking in three U.S. states, Ontario, and many sovereign tribes. The Wisconsin section is a
tough
paddle, so make sure you're up to it.
Rent sailboats and find instruction—you'll be seaworthy in three days of lessons—from
Sailboats Inc.
(800/826-7010,
www.sailboats-inc.com
)
.
Apostle Islands Cruise Service
(800/323-7619,
www.apostleisland.com
)
also offers a
half-dozen tours from Bayfield. The main trip for sightseers, the Grand Tour, leaves Bay-
field at 10am daily and spins around all 22 of the islands. You'll see every sight possible
without actually getting off the boat. The cost is worth it at $40 adults. During peak season,
there is a lovely sunset cruise from Bayfield at 5:30pm Tuesday-Saturday.
Twenty-two wrecks lie in the shallow waters in and around the Apostles. No real dive
tours are organized in the archipelago. Divers must register with the park's headquarters.
Warnings:
Open canoes are not permitted on Lake Superior, and you'd be nuts to think
you could use one. Even kayakers had better know what they're doing before they venture
out. When Lake Superior looks placid, it still can hold lots of dangerous surprises—lake
levels do change with barometric pressure and wind direction. In combination, a wind-set
(caused by winds pushing water to one side of the lake) and extremely low-pressure area
will create a “saiche,” a three- or four-foot drop in water level, followed by a sudden back-
flow. Rare, but it could be a killer. Storms are severe and can crop up suddenly. Most occur
in November, when the water is still warm and mixes with arctic air, but they can occur at
any time.
Settled around 1490 by Ojibwa as their permanent tribal home and center of their creation-
based religion, Madeline Island later became the most crucial island link in New France.
The post would ship such a wealth of beaver pelts that the market in Paris dipped.
The treacherously multisyllabic Moningwunakauning, or “Home of the Golden Shafted
Woodpecker,” was removed in 1830; a British trader married the daughter of a local chief-
tain and the church christened her Madeleine.
