Spring Rendezvous 2023

It really doesn’t get better…

We had a dozen or so campers gathered at Little Sand Bay on Friday, including two friends from the Eau Claire area club Pure Water Paddlers.

With a good night of tent sleeping behind us, paddlers set out Saturday morning to see what Superior had in store for us. The main group of 8 kayakers launched from Red Cliff and paddled up the east side of Basswood, crossed the channel and circumnavigated Hermit, then retraced our strokes to Red Cliff. We enjoyed seeing the seastack at the top of Basswood and found a good lunch spot, despite limited landing opportunities. The winds picked up on our way back, making the paddle more tiring at the end of the day, but nothing a little nap on a dock didn’t fix. All rested up for the final crossing, we found the wind had shifted again while we rested and our final stretch went easily.

On Sunday, another group of 8 set out to circumnavigate Sand. The sea caves were especially stunning this year, though I’m not sure if they were somehow different or if it was me. We landed on the rock shelf at the point under the lighthouse and discovered the stairs have finally been repaired. So up we went for lunch at a picnic table and stroll around the grounds. The lighthouse wasn’t open, but it was nice to get off the rocks and watch for early season birds and butterflies while we dined.

Wind again picked up in the afternoon, making our third stretch of paddling more effort, but there’s a sandy beach right before the crossing back home, and we got our break, no nap, but a little rest did us good. Once again, things shifted and our crossing was amazingly easy. Some of us joked we weren’t even paddling; it was like we were being carried home. Thank you, Superior!

We had another great weekend camping at Little Sand Bay, two 14 mile paddles, two circumnavigations, and the Lake, she was with us. Seriously, what more can you ask for?

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