Today was the day of our 13 mile kayaking of Pictured Rocks, for this I was totally excited as I couldn't wait for Rob to see these rocks and Lake Superior!
All of the little black dots on the kayak above are black flies.......
We put on our long selves and started out....we went with a group, we didn't know what kayaking Lake Superior would be like so we went the safe route.
These friends did no have long selves, they are trying to out kayak the flies. They were from Hudsonville (not to far from where I grew up.)
We were in a tandem sea kayak, wonderful! We thought we would have our own but as it turned out it was nice for me to be able to take pictures and Rob to paddle. I had a wonderful day!! By the way, so did Rob, he loved every minute!
My view!
Our guide Grant. He became a great friend, more on him later.
The colors in the rocks are different minerals coming from the rocks. As they react with air and water they leave lines on the rocks, otherwise known as "Painted Rocks."
BIG!
BEAUTIFUL!
HUGE
White: calcium, Red/Orange: Iron Ore, Black: Magnesium
Kissing Rock
A Virginia Rail, that's the bird.
My paddler! xox
WOW! Rob couldn't get over the color of the water, Caribbean looking!
Lovers Leap- Legend has it that Indian lovers were not allowed to marry because they were from different tribes. The girl came here to get away and ended up jumping, days later her bow came and jumped in to "be with her."
Inside a cave! Really cool but a little scary!
Look at the rock in the left of the picture, do you see the Indian head at the end. The trees are his mohawk, nose is sticking out....the rock is called Indian Head.
Another look at Indian Head
This arch fell in just 4 years ago.
My dear enjoying the day!
With our long selves on we only had flies biting our hands, not too bad =0)
Look at how clear the water is.
Lake Superior is the deepest of the Great Lakes and the largest fresh water lakes in the world by surface area. The surface of Lake Superior is greater than the combined surface area of Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The average visibility of the Lake is 27 feet. The sunset in the summer is 35 minutes later on the western shore of the Lake then on the southeastern edge. From my experience it is by far the coldest of all the Great Lakes!
Love
We will be going to that waterfall. About 1 & 1/2 miles ahead.
Spray Falls
Rob and I kayaked right under it, felt WONDERFUL and we had no flies for 30 seconds!
Looking back, to go to the falls we had gone past our end point. Grant wanted to take us here because he knew we were strong enough to make it back! (Thanks to Rob!) The other part of the group had gone half way and then turned by with the other guide. It was just Grant, Rob, and I to finish the trip.
Castle Rock
Our end point. One of 300 streams and rivers that empty into Lake Superior.
There's Rob
Looking out at Lake Superior
On our 3 mile walk out to our "awaiting" ride back to the truck.
We didn't get back to the truck until around 8pm......but all in all it was a wonderful day and a highlight of the trip. When we walked the 3 miles out to our pick up location there was no one for us. After a nice man and some boy scouts gave us a ride to the main road, a trip to a general store, a couple of phone calls and the nice man returning we saw Truckie again. We were soooo tired and hungry but had a WONDERFUL day.
Grant, our guide. We learned that he knows the same God we do. He is a born again believer and looking for the hope we are. What a wonderful blessing to be with Grant for the day. Him and his wife Kari live in Marquette, are originally from Grand Rapids and were expecting their first child in August. Stay turned....we meet Grant again this trip!
