Lake Superior is the largest lake in the world. When you're out on it. and the water streches forever around you. it feels more like an ocean. It's about about 350 miles long, 160 miles wide, 483 feet deep, with an average temperature of 43 degrees. The Ojibwe call it "Gichigami" (big-freaking-cold-shining-water). It's breathtakingly beautiful and one of our favorite places to kayak. We've enjoyed kayaking trips on Superior for a number of years, mostly along sections of the Lake Superior Water Trail. The big lake can be dangerous. We never take that for granted. It demands your full attention and respect, but it has also rewarded us with some wonderful experiences. Here are some photos of our most recent paddling trip on Superior's north shore. For more information about our kayaks, see our Folbot Greenland II or Folding Kayak Resources pages. |
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Our Folbot Greenland II resting on the rocks by Bob's Cabins, just south of Two Harbors. It's a quiet little resort where we put in right by our cabin. |
We took a little evening paddle down the shore just to check out the area. Most of these little cabins were built by Norwegian fishermen back in the '20s. |
Here's one of the old fish houses that's still (kinda) standing. |
Some of the shore wasn't the most inviting place to land. |
Following part of the Lake Superior Water Trail, we paddled from the bay at Split Rock State Park and up to Gold Rock Point. |
 Headed towards the Split Rock Lighthouse. It was the 4th of July and just a gorgeous day to be on the water. |
 Gelina in her stylin' hat with the lighthouse in the background. The light was built in 1910 after a single storm damaged 29 ore ships in the area. |
The light and the island just off of Little Two Harbors. |
A small sea cave at the base of the lighthouse. |
 The light sits on a block of anothosite, a kind of feldspar formed by cooling magma.This hunk had fallen away and wedged itself on the way down. |
 Pretty much the same shot done in visible light. The infrared really lightens the foliage and brings out the tones in the rocks. |
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 A closer view of the light from the north. You can see the huge fog horns that can be heard 5 miles out from shore. |
More cliffs to the north of the light. |
The Gold Point cliffs where the Madeira sank in the 1905 storm that led to the building of the light. |
On our way back we swung by this island that forms part of Two Harbors Bay. |
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We then moved north to Bluefin Bay Resort and stayed there for the rest of our trip. |
At the north end of the resort is the bay where the fishermen who settled here launched their boats. We put in here and paddled south to the Temperance River. |
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The trees grow right out of the cliffs along the river. |
 The water was calm so we could get right up to the rock walls. It was about 15 degrees cooler alongside the river and all kids of moss and ferns grow there. |
We paddled all the way up to where the last falls empty into the river. |
 There was pretty much just room at the bottom of the falls for our boat, so when it came time to leave we just pushed the nose into the falls and the current did the rest. |
An infrared image of the lighthouse. 