Beautiful Wisconsin

 It is Tuesday August 25, our last day at the Apostle Islands RV Park in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

It is a pretty, small community on the Bayfield Peninsula just below the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. 

Today is a perfect day to be working on a round-up post for the week. It is raining! I know, for local residents rain is no big deal. But we have seen so little of it this last year, it is a welcome sight.

Note: rain stopped about noon.

Earlier in the week we went on the three hour Apostle Island Cruise. 

It was a late afternoon trip and the weather was perfect. It had been a bit hot all day, so we looked forward to getting out on smooth Lake Superior.

We got to the dock area quite early since the plan had been to explore the shops before boarding. But there really wasn't much to see, so we wandered over to the pier and were actually the second couple in line. Other passengers arrived while we had a pleasant conversation with the first couple. They were from Wisconsin, but not quite locals.

There were quite a few sailboats out around the islands. Since the Apostle Islands are a National Park, they don't have private homes on them. There are only a few "grandfathered" homesteads left, that will go back to the park when the current owners pass away.

A popular fire proof building material, brown stone, was quarried on the islands for the rebuilding of Chicago in the 1870's. But when the Eiffel tower was completed in 1889, iron became the preferred material for the new "skyscrapers." These brown stone blocks were ready for shipment when the market for them crashed, and have been sitting here for over 100 years.

 

Water, wind, ice, and time.  Nature's sculpture tools.

Of the 22 islands, Devils Island has the deepest and most extensive "sea caves."

 

Yes, the water was this green in some places.

We also went past a couple of lighthouses and an old fish camp that are being maintained for historical reasons, and learned a lot from the captain's narrative about the islands themselves.

Finally, it was time to turn back and as the boat speed increased, we held onto our hats and faced the wind.

We had intended to get a fish fry at one of the many restaurants in town, but when we went into two, we were turned back by the large crowds of unmasked people, including the servers. We are being very careful about COVID exposure, and since we suspected that most of these people were NOT vaccinated, we opted for a nice pizza at home in the Alfa.

 

While on the boat we heard about a nice easy, three mile, hike on the "Lost Creek Falls" trail.

It was very pretty, and amazingly there were very few mosquitoes. Probably because it was so dry. 

There were sections of boardwalk over many parts of the trail. You could see that in wetter weather these traversed marshy places. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like most wooded trails, there were plenty of rocks and roots. Somehow this image does not show the steep downward slope of this and some of the other places on the trail.

 

Unfortunately, I have a bad knee that can suddenly become very painful while hiking. Particularly when I'm going downhill. I think it is time for a really good stabilizing brace if I want to continue trying to hike. This is the second time this summer I have gotten into a difficult situation because of it. Difficult for me, but not for 99% of other hikers!

The trail took us to the falls. I did not make it all of the way because of the incline, but Craig took a few pictures for me. This whole knee thing is a mystery to me. By the time we returned to the Jeep, on the last 1/3rd of the trail where is was smooth and level, my knee did not hurt.

I suspect woodpeckers may have been at this tree, but the odd thing was there were no other similar holes in any trees we could see. 

Also there were no holes farther up the trunk and it was quite a tall tree!

 

Speaking of natural oddities: Craig saw this little creature in the center of the trail.  Was he just snacking on a leaf, or was he waiting to trip up some careless hiker?

Wednesday we head back to US 2 and go southeast into the UP of Michigan. We have two more stops before arriving near Mackinaw City, reaching the end of Hwy 2. 

Check back to see more.