I started this post a few days ago because people were asking to see pics from our trip, and just now got around to adding a little bit more about our trip. If you have already read this, there is a little more info below:
Here are some pictures from our 6th anniversary trip paddling around the Manitou Islands. Every year we go on a trip to celebrate the day we said "I do," but it seems to be turning into a chance to prove that we are still the hard-core, outdoorsy people we imagine ourselves to be. Last year we climbed Mount Washington during our trip out east, and this year was even more ambitious: a 5-day kayaking trip around the North and South Manitou Islands, in northern Lake Michigan.
The islands both offer rustic (read: peeing in the woods and filtering your own water) camping and North Manitou is actually managed as a wilderness, where you pick your own campsite and just set up camp wherever you want, as long as it is 300 feet from the high water mark. We had some debate as to where the high water mark was, but luckily, no rangers came to check. We found out later it could have been a $125 ticket.
We started out Wednesday afternoon going north, counterclockwise around North Manitou. We had wanted to spend time on South Manitou as well, but weren't really planning on it because the weather was supposed to turn rough, and we didn't want to be stranded on South Manitou with no way to get back to civilization but an 8-mile paddle across open water. Plus North Manitou was more than 20 miles around, and we figured that would take a few days. Well, our first day was gorgeous, sunny and calm, and we made it about halfway around the island. We hiked in, found a sweet campsite with a view of the water, and cooked our dinner down on the beach.
I got all excited about making our meals for our trip, and thanks to
Freezerbagcooking.com I had all these great recipes where you basically mix boiling water in a freezer bag with dry ingredients, put it in an insulated pouch (which I sewed myself!) and 10-15 minutes later, you have food. It was cool. No dishes to do and no real cooking, and all the mess is left in a sealable bag which packs down really small. If you ever do a backpacking trip, check out this site. Everything was super yummy. But then again, anything would have been yummy after all the paddling we did! We hiked around, saw a deer which didn't even seem to care that we were around, and watched an awesome sunset. The next morning the wind was up a little, and the waves a little rougher, and I was a little nervous, considering my limited kayak experience.
Somehow I paddled for my life, riding up and down 5-6 foot waves and maneuvering around underwater rocks. I didn't realize the rocks would be dangerous in a plastic boat (which you can't really break, even if you try) but Aaron said if a wave drops you onto one, you can flip over—not something I wanted to do, even though the water was surprisingly warm for Lake Michigan in September. Eventually we made it around another point, the waves calmed down, and somehow I was still in one piece. Exhausted, but in one piece. We rested for a while, then continued paddling in some calmer water. I started feeling confident enough that when Aaron and I talked about how we had several more days before the ferry came back to get us, we started talking seriously about making the 3-mile crossing to South Manitou, spending a night there and then coming back. We paddled away from shore a bit, and Aaron totally thought I would wimp out, but I said, "let's just go for it," and away we went, paddling into a stiff headwind towards a shore that looked really far away.
Now you see me....
Now you don't!
I did all right, until we were about halfway across, then I started fading fast. My back was killing me, my wrist was killing me, and my energy level was tanking. You couldn't stop paddling because the wind would blow you backwards. It sucked. I made Aaron feed me a Clif bar from our snack stash while we drifted backwards on 3-5 foot swells, and somehow managed to push through to the shore, with only a little bit of whining. (Aaron might argue with me on that one!)
Once we got to South, we had to locate one of the 3 campgrounds on the island, which required more paddling (argh), and a stop to get out and search the shoreline because we couldn't see anything from the boats. We finally stumbled upon a campground in the middle of the bay on the east side of the island (see the map above) and it turned out to be a fabulous campsite, with a view of the water, and a fire pit nearby. It also turned out that we were the only people on the island, with the exception of a maintenance guy, which was pretty cool.
The next day we woke to overcast and drizzle, and couldn't even see North Manitou, which we were supposed to be paddling back to that day.
So while waiting for it to clear up, we went on a little hike, which started out short, but turned into a nine mile trip to see this shipwreck on the south side of the island, the
Francisco Morazan, which ran aground in 1960, just 300 feet offshore. It's cool because you can still see a lot of the ship above the water. After hiking all that way, we realized it would have been much cooler to paddle to it so we could see it up close. Ah well, next time, right?
We got back and packed up, then started the crossing back to North Manitou. The wind was calm, and the water was almost like glass. It was the same distance, but felt about half as far as the day before! When we reached North, the sun came out, and we took the opportunity to wash up in the lake.
We paddled a few more miles, then picked another sweet campsite with a view of the water. This one even had the plus of soft mossy ground to pitch our tent on, which made for a really nice night's sleep! When we made camp that night, we could already see our objective for the next day, the dock where the ferry dropped us off, just a few miles up the coast. We paddled up there the next day, and set up camp in the only camping area near the dock just in time for the rain to start. We napped, fidgeted, then decided to go for a hike in the rain. The island has only 2 private residents now, but once was home to a bunch of homesteaders and farmers, and there are ruins of their houses and orchards along the trail. It was cool to see that people had once tried to make this wilderness their home, but the landmarks were sorely lacking in information about the previous residents. For someone who didn't know much about the history of the island, I really wanted to know more. It kept raining, (Thanks Hurricane Ike!) and that night, we sat around a campfire in our rain gear, drinking wine out of a cardboard carton and chatting with a guy from Chicago who was hiking solo on the island. I actually took off my soggy rain-soaked socks and laid them on a grate near the fire to dry them out. It worked, but my shoes were still wet, so it didn't really make a difference. The next day, Sunday, they were forecasting gale-force winds, and there was talk among the campers that the ferry might not come. If not, we would be stuck on the island until Friday, when the ferry made its next trip. If that had happened, there would have been about 40 very disgruntled campers on Norh Manitou Island! Considering we were down to 2 protein bars and less than half a bag of dried cranberries, I was really happy to see the ferry. We would have been foraging in the old orchards for apples and picking berries along the trail!
The trip was cool for many reasons. Aaron and I got to spend time together without all the annoying details of day-today life which always get in the way. I got to go on my first "backcountry" camping trip. I found that kayaking is really the way to see this area—one thing we have a lot of is water. I really enjoyed paddling our borrowed boats ( Thanks Derek and Kami!), and have realized we need to get our own. And probably the best reason is that Aaron and I got to prove to ourselves that we are still young and cool and outdoorsy, even if it it months or years between trips!
Below is a slideshow of all our trip pics, if you haven't gotten enough. ;)
