Days 19 & 20: Rough Rider Reunion on Lake Ontario

Yesterday evening turned into Rough Riders Reunion 2014. In the wise (and paraphrased) words of Mike Peet: "Paddling like it's 2009!" The turn-out was fantastic (26 boats!), and the waves were apparently the largest of the summer. It was a perfect evening for rock gardening and practicing towed rescues. A bunch of the original Rough Riders were present, including Jeff H, Mike, Steven, Dan, Jeff B x 2, Rita & Garnetta, Sue, Ann-Marie, Nick, Dave, and I. It was also fun to meet some newer (i.e. in the last 3 years, so maybe not so new) members. Matt from Brooklyn was in the area for a couple weeks and recently bought a boat from BayCreek. I'll be in NYC on Monday to visit friends, and he provided some helpful tips for kayaking around the City. 

So many boats!

Dave explaining the plan for rock gardening and rescue/tow practice

The Rough Riders - a BayCreek Paddling Center group - has been around since 2008 and meets at Durand Beach on Lake Ontario every summer Thursday evening. Yesterday's excellent turnout resulted in a late (6:30pm) start, but everyone launched successfully into the breaking waves and we were soon on our way. We paddled 1.5 miles to the jetty at the mouth of Irondequoit Bay. We were paddling with a rear quarter wind/waves, which means that the waves and wind were at our back, but at an angle. This is one of the trickiest conditions to paddle in. With each stroke the boat turns very easily, making it difficult to maintain a straight course. Since we were in a large group, boats were swerving and bumping into each other all around. 

The launch site at Durand Beach

Dan, Matt, and Jeff bouncing around in the waves

When we arrived at the jetty, Dave managed to split us into two groups and explain the exercises over the sound of wind and waves. The first group practiced rock gardening by kayaking along the outside of the jetty. Here the waves crashed most intensely since they were coming from the NW. With each trip up and down the jetty we found ourselves daring to get closer to the rocks. I was immediately aware of the wave frequency. On the west coast, there is typically between 9 and 15 seconds between waves, providing lots of time to adjust and anticipate each wave motion. Here on Lake Ontario (which is a much smaller body of water than the Pacific Ocean), the wave period is shorter, so waves were arriving every 4 or 5 seconds. Sometimes your boat would be touching two waves at the same time, which leads to very different boat behavior/handling. It also made it harder to predict what the waves would do after they crashed into the jetty and reflected back.

Rock gardening along the jetty

Mike testing his boat control skillz

The second group practiced deepwater rescues with towing. When someone capsizes near rocks or other obstacles (which is quite common since these areas can have confused waves/currents), it may be too dangerous to rescue them in place. This rescue involves two rescuers: one person who performs the standard assisted rescue and another person who tows the rescuer's boat towards safer waters. Usually it's best to have the capsized boat empty and parallel to the rescuer's boat before towing, as the process of emptying can be difficult while in-tow. 

Pink helmet selfie

After some practice, the groups switched. I did a rescue with Dan and a newer member who was feeling a bit sea sick. I was the rescuer and Dan towed. The rescue went pretty smoothly, and she was back in her boat in a couple minutes. However, I stuck both our paddles under the front decklines and found that I was not able to extract them at the end of the rescue. The paddles get thrashed around in a wavey rescue. Next time I'll stick them through decklines closer to the cockpit.

Paddling back into the Lake Ontario sunset. Mark, Dave, Janet, and others in the distance

In true Rough Rider fashion, most of us went out for drinks and dinner at Salvatore's, which is just up the road from the kayaking shop. It was so fantastic to see everyone again, even if only for a short while.

Date: August 7th, 2014
Distance: 3 miles + (exercises at the jetty)
Duration: 2 hrs

The Non-Kayaking Portion: A lot of driving and work happened on Days 19 and 20. I'll skip these parts and just say that after Traverse City we drove to Ann Arbor, spent the afternoon in Amer's (a popular student cafe), made a quick visit to the Arboretum and law library at U of Michigan, and met up with Julia for dinner. Julia's first day of classes was the next day, so we had a quick dinner at Blue Nile, an all-you-can-eat Ethiopian restaurant. Yummy!! We also drank Michigan beer (Bell's Oberon - so delicious) on Julia's new porch with Alex, another Cornell ski-team alum and the local groundhog:

Julia and the groundhog

Day 18: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

The Legend of Sleeping Bear (courtesy of NPS)
Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear. You can see the two islands in the zoomed out map below (we paddled along the blue lines - see zoomed in map further down in this post).

Our trip (blue line below "Sleeping Bear Dunes") and the two baby bear islands from the legend

The launch site: Village Park in Empire, MI

Today we kayaked along the shore near the sleeping bears. Jeff and I drove across the UP and down to Empire, MI in 5 hours this morning, where we met up with Elizabeth (my future roomie in Delft, who I'd never met before!) and her sister Ali. Jeff and I successfully jammed up the parking lot waiting for a spot to free up, but the car was parked things went smoothly. Parking was ~$1/hr. Sleeping Bear Surf and Kayak delivered 3 kayaks to the Village Park beach from their shop a few blocks away. The wind was whipping up some small, choppy waves on Lake Michigan, but we launched successfully (with an intentional refreshing dip by Elizabeth and Ali before departing). 

Elizabeth (front) and her sister Ali (back) paddling into the wind

Elizabeth and I chatted about Delft and "quitting" our jobs (Elizabeth is also going to work part time remotely) as we paddled into the wind. Along the shore the beaches were very narrow, with an actively eroding scarp (I was later informed that water levels in the Great Lakes are very high this year due to the extremely stormy/snowy winter). 

Our first stop was North Bar Lake, a small freshwater lake attached to Lake Michigan through a shallow channel. We dragged our kayaks over the low sandbar at the mouth of the lake and weaved through swimming children, trying not to be pelted by the various beach-related toys flying through the air. The water in the small lake was significantly warmer than in Lake Michigan. 

Arriving at the entrance to North Bar Lake. The water was so clear!

The crowded inlet channel to North Bar Lake

We continued up to the southern tip of the Sleeping Bear Dunes to have a brief photo shoot. We watched tiny tourists running/rolling down the 400-ft dune in the distance and wondered how they would ever get back up. The return trip was significantly easier/speedier thanks to the tailwinds pushing us along. 

Elizabeth and I doing the kayak-win-cheer!

Jeff and the gorgeous view of Empire Bluffs in the other direction

Date: August 5th, 2014

Distance: 7 miles

Duration: ~4 hrs

A zoomed-in version that shows the launch site (Village Park in Empire), our stop at North Bar Lake, and the bottom tip of the huge sand dunes.

The Non-Kayaking Portion: After our paddle, Elizabeth gave us all a ride in her convertible (first time, woo!) to Glen Arbor where we visited Cherry Republic. Elizabeth rightfully called this a "campus," as there are three buildings dedicated to cherries: snacks (free samples galore), drinks (cherry wine and hard cider), and ice cream. Our stomachs full of cherries and cheez-its (we'd snacked on these in the car), we returned to Elizabeth/Ali's home in Traverse City. Together with their parents, they cooked up a delicious dinner (BBQ chicken, pasta salad, caprese salad, and mango salsa), which we shared on their back patio with various pink drinks. We were informed that there was a skunk stuck to a fence somewhere on the property and that a snack had been spotted earlier, but otherwise the garden was beautiful and peaceful. We spent a great deal of time examining each other's kayaking tans/burns (it was super sunny today). A few showers later, we chatted about all things Dutch. In particular, we stalked our future Delft friends on Facebook, discussed gravy sticks that come out of vending machines, and mapped out a plan to bike/ferry to London. I can't wait to move to the Netherlands!

First convertible ride ever. Headbands are essential in the windy back seat!

Day 17: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (no kayaking...)

Last night we crossed the Eastern/Central time zone and realized it was much later expected, so we pulled over and camped in the Squirrel Rapids Picnic Area, halfway between the Apostle Islands (WI) and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (MI). We were up early to the sound of lawn mowing all around us. After a quick stop at a farmstand for veggies and breakfast, we drove across much of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (the UP) on Route 28. 

At Pictured Rocks we attempted to find a campsite at the Twelvemile Beach Campground (I'm pretty sure this is where Marika and I stayed 3 years ago), but all the sites were full (on a Monday!). Instead, we headed a bit further east to the Upper Hurricane River campground and snagged a big site where we cooked up an extravagant veggie-full burrito lunch. 

Our site at Upper Hurricane River campground

Food coma overtook us and I sprawled out on the beach for an hour while Jeff went exploring (food comas affect us all in different ways). One lesson I've learned on this trip is that I am no longer capable of reading a novel. Goal #10 for my year of sabbatical: manage to finish reading a novel without falling asleep.

 

Excited about clean hair

We decided to stop being beach-bums and drive to Grand Marais, passing Grand Sable Lake on the way. West Side Diner had immediate ice cream potential. Immediate sensory overload overcame us upon entering the diner. Shelves of steaming baked goods were interspersed with quality touristy trinkets. The diner was busy, so we sat at the counter in the diner car before eventually ordering (1) apple crumble with vanilla ice cream, (2) cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting, (3) chocolate ice cream. Yes, we were craving sugar. Day 16 was clearly lacking in calories, because sugary things were on our minds all day. 

Sucker River Lagoon outlet

Feeling slightly sick, we decided to get some exercise. First, we drove to Sucker River Lagoon, at the end of a long residential road, and went for a brief beach walk. We had to hop over a few Private Property signs to reach the beach. Next, we hiked to Sable Falls and the adjacent beach (very easy hike down massive new staircase) before walking the Grand Sable Dunes trail and taking silly shadow photos from the top of the massive dunes. The dunes here are made of incredibly fine orange-reddish sand.

Grand Sable Falls

Dune slide at the end of the Grand Sable Falls trail

We then made another U-turn to Grand Marais to have a beer and people-watch at the Lake Superior Brewing Company. We impulsively decided to visit the Log Slide – the essence of which eluded us. A brief walk through the woods brought us to a massive steep sandy cliff where logs used to be slid down a wooden chute to the lake. Rumor has it that the chute was so long that extensive friction caused it to catch fire. To the east were massive untouched sand dunes basking in the warm evening sun. Signs everywhere warned of dune collapse that buried and suffocated previous visitors. It said “it takes 5 minutes to get down and over an hour to get back up.” Needless to say, we did not go down.

View of massive dunes from the Log Slide Outlook

Now we’re back at camp – I chopped veggies for a breakfast stir-fry and Jeff made a campfire that we are now enjoying. We are a little sad that we did not sea kayak here, but the rental shops were expensive and far away. Kayaking on Lake Michigan tomorrow!