• Wednesday-What'sUP June 26 - 10:09 am

On a recent trip to Isle Royale, Kevin Henriksen and his kayaking partner were lucky enough to paddle around parts of the Island in calm Lake Superior waters. Evidence of that is held in the first two photos, with his friend in the top shot, against a backdrop of some steep rock walls on the Island. That's Kevin in the second picture standing at the tip of the eastern end of the Island, known as Blake's Point. You can see Passage Island off in the distance behind him and to the right of the photo, the structure you see part of is the marker showing the boats where the point is. Check out the calm water, like Lake Superior is under some sort of spell.

Then we skip ahead a day or so and the Big Lake has built up a good head of steam, throwing waves around all the rocks along the shore. Kevin said these photos actually don't do the waves justice, as they were mostly 8 foot waves, with a few 10 and 12 footers thrown in for good measure, but they just don't look that big in the pictures. They had to spend two nights at Merritt Lane campground due to these rough waters, since kayaking in something like that would be crazy!

Take note of the different hues in these water pictures. It never ceases to amaze me how many different colors of green and blue (not to mention the whitecaps) Gitche Gumee can wear in a day.

WOW!!

These are much better pictures than yesterdays snake pics! The third picture is the best!

Those pictures are totally spectacular, and so much easier to look at than that snake yesterday. LOL The snake picture sure did grab people and get them to talking though.

In the rock, just above the end of the kayak, I see Ahti, god of the sea, lake, and storms, protecting the kayaker.

gotta love isle royale - 50th anniversary this summer of the wolf/moose research project, MTU having lots of stuff going on at rock harbor to commemorate it all ....

I recall canoeing down Tobin Harbor to Merritt Lane in hopes of paddling around Blake's Point the next day. In the morning I looked at that water and said, "No way." We ended up paddling all the way back Tobin Harbor to the portage over to Duncan Bay. Rough portage, but better than the roiled waters at the Point.

These are really great photos. Such a "shame" to have to spend a couple of nights in a campground waiting for GitcheeGummee to settle back down. I wish I had such luck.

Awesome pics!!

The lake is amazing, someday I will make it to Isle Royale.

We came round Blake's Point once in a 14 foot boat with the winds blowing from the southwest. The Coast Guard was reporting 14 foot waves we found out later but Tobin Harbor was relatively calm. As we rounded the point and hit the first open water wave head on the bow swung to the right as it cleared the wave and the wind caught it. In the trough we aimed slightly to the left to compensate and rode up the second wave. The wind swung us to the left that attempt. I yelled to Hank Holman who was running the outboard that if we caught the wind square we'd flip over and he throttled back and we made our way in a trough back to line up with Tobin Harbor. That particular trip was the only time I was nervous fishing with Hank. I have many fond memories of working and fishing with the man.

Henry made the front page of the Gazette with one of the fish he caught out at Isle Royal. Isn't that right Chris?

Good eye, Maija!

Wowzers, love the pics but you would never get me out there on a kayak lol As much as I love the pics of the waves crashing upon the rocks and the calm waters, I don't trust ol Lake Superior lol

And yes I saw that picture also in the Gazette! Wish I knew how to fish lol

The first picture is Dr. Gaden (aka Dr. G.) directly over the Monarch shipwreck. The Monarch crashed into the cliffs at full speed in December 1906. We were able to see some limited ship debris about 20' below the surface.

We rounded Blake Point in calm water and even had time to get out and bask in the sun. The following day the waves kicked up, making kayaking in unprotected waters impossible. It was fun to see the waves crashing into the shore along Blake Point from the safety of the shoreline.

Gorgeous pictures! I'm glad to have a mac with automatically changing desktop pictures, these are all added to my collection.