Hiawatha Water Trail map courtesy of the Hiawatha water Trail Association. Paddle to the scenery
Day trips and overnights on Lake Superior's spectacular Hiawatha Water Trail
by Aaron Peterson 
| A rainbow appears in Spray Falls as a sea kayaker explores the coast of Pictured Rocks
National Lakeshore near Grand Marais, Michigan. |
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We could hear it before we saw it, and the roar of crashing water indicated it was going to be good. We quickened our cadence in expectation. As soon as we turned the corner along the multicolored sandstone cliff, a plume of water exploding from 50 feet overhead thundered down into Lake Superior. As if Spray Falls wasn't impressive enough,
the late afternoon sun splashed a rainbow in the mist of cascading water. The only thing heard over the roar of the water was the thud of my jaw dropping onto the sea kayak's deck and the clicking of my camera shutter. Spray Falls along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is one of those places everyone should see. And now many more will, thanks to the Hiawatha Water Trail, a 120-mile section of stunning Lake Superior shoreline in Michigan's central Upper
Peninsula. The budding trail is the brainchild of dedicated local sea kayakers who want the world to know about the diverse paddling opportunities between the quaint harbor towns of Big Bay and Grand Marais. They also want to make sure paddlers on the world's largest expanse of freshwater do so in safety while respecting private property. So, with the help
of volunteers and some grant funding, they've developed access points and campsite signage, a website and literature, including a waterproof map, to guide visitors. Future plans include placing more signage at current access points and adding launch sites and camping areas through cooperation with local municipalities and private landowners.
While the entire route is worthy of an extended trip and is certainly doable by advanced paddlers, the beauty of the water trail is the ability to break it down into great one-day and overnight trips using the host towns as cozy base camps.
Here are a few top introductory paddles on Lake Superior's newest water trail. Western end:
Marquette and Big Bay
Every spring the roof racks of vehicles in the historical harbor town of Marquette sprout multi-colored kayak blossoms, as cabin-fever-crazed paddlers dust off their neoprene and meet at the lakeshore to explore the wild granite and sandstone coast north of town.
With a population of about 20,000, Marquette is the U.P.'s largest city and a regional hub. It's home to a number of chain stores along the main highway, but the downtown bustles with small local restaurants and
shops. It's also home to Down Wind Sports, a well-stocked silent sports shop.
Nearly all of Marquette's waterfront is accessible to the public and boasts many fine sand beaches, a lighthouse and a massive dock for loading Great Lakes freighters with iron ore. Any of this waterfront is worth exploring from a number of city parks and pullouts along Lakeshore Boulevard, but the best paddling starts where the scenic boulevard ends: Presque Isle Park.
Presque Isle
to Little Presque Isle
7 miles, beginner/intermediate
Highlights: Geological extremes from red sandstone, exposed bedrock to sand beaches. Hazards: Partially exposed coast with few convenient landing areas; sudden urge to sell your home and quit your job in order to paddle every day at one of the best kept secrets on Lake Superior.
Launch from the sand beach on the northwest side of Presque Isle Park where there's room to park, plus bathrooms and drinking water.
Explore the intricate red sandstone shoreline of the park as it yields to a hard, black volcanic slab at an area known as the Black Rocks on the park's northernmost point. The beautiful cove on the other side of the exposed black rock is a popular diving site in summer, so beware of canon-balling teenagers.
Cut back across Middle Bay to the northwest to explore the rocky, uninhabited Middle Island. This small
island is the only public landing spot for a while so stretch here if you need to. The high rocky point due west from Middle Island is the aptly named Middle Island Point. The area is part of a private land association that boasts some interesting lake cottages atop the bedrock cliffs.
Slip between the island and the point and head to the towering Partridge Island that reaches 200 feet above the lake. The island is private but uninhabited and often home to nesting bald eagles. Paddle
counterclockwise around it, exploring the many nooks and crannies in its lichen-covered bedrock before crossing west to the mainland.
Development of the shoreline dwindles with each paddle stroke, and the shoreline ownership soon becomes state forest. The coast is extremely rugged and exposed here, with delicate purple wildflowers clinging to crevices in the rock. In the distance you'll see the bump of Little Presque Isle and the shoreline begins to
soften into boulder-strewn pocket beaches, the broad sandy expanse of Wetmore Landing, and red sandstone cliffs.
Little Presque Isle is just offshore from a sandy point. A quick circle around the island's exposed eastern end reveals jagged bedrock boulders and cliffs with dwarf spruce, cedar and oaks hanging on in the face of Lake Superior's brutality.
Little Presque Isle and Wetmore Landing are popular day-use areas for hikers, swimmers and beach bums.
Access them by taking County Road 550 north from Marquette. You can arrange a shuttle on your own or with a local outfitter for a one-way trip, or do a round trip back to Marquette after a picnic on the sand.
Big Bay to Little Presque Isle
20 miles, intermediate/advanced
Highlights: Undeveloped shoreline, lighthouse, sand beaches, an historic log mansion. Hazards: Very
exposed coast of entirely private land, long distance, debilitating rapture over how this much shoreline can be private and still largely undeveloped.
Thirty miles north of Marquette at the end of County Road 550 is the sleepy harbor town of Big Bay. This authentic backwoods berg is a hearty blend of tourists, loggers and eccentrics who prefer life at the edge of civilization. But no matter who you are, you'll be welcomed at the two local taverns, general store, historic
lighthouse bed and breakfast and the super-friendly Big Bay Outfitters paddle shop. (The shop is also an art gallery, coffee shop, bait shop and offers scenic tours of the area).
Follow signs to the harbor where you can launch from a sand bar onto Big Bay Harbor. Head northeast and round Big Bay Point to paddle beneath a lighthouse bed and breakfast atop the red sandstone cliffs. Tours
of the light are offered during daytime hours but the grounds aren't easily approachable from the water.
The cliffs drop down to a sand beach at the mouth of the Iron River. Round Yellow Dog Point and then take your time enjoying Granite Point, a gnarly finger of exposed rock with deep, ultra-clear water surrounding it.
Granite turns to sandstone again and then to steep cobble beach for several miles before becoming sand
again near Saux Head Point. The Garlic River empties here amid steep granite walls and a number of small, barren islands that make interesting exploring.
Soon you'll reach a rocky point that's home to an extravagant lakeside log mansion called Granot Loma. The lodge is the centerpiece of a 5,000-acre holding originally owned by banker Louis Kaufman. The 20,000-square-foot fortress is private, so don't plan on stopping unless you can swing the $10,000 per day
rental fee required by the current owner, a Chicago commodities broker.
Passing the lodge, continue to round another rugged peninsula, Thoney Point, and follow sandstone cliffs to the long expanse of sand beach leading up to Little Presque Isle.
Eastern end:
Munising and Grand Marais
The eastern end of the Hiawatha Water Trail is undoubtedly more well-known than the western end. All the
shoreline from Munising to Grand Marais is under federal jurisdiction as either Grand Island National Recreation Area (National Forest Service) or Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (National Park Service).
The beauty of the area is simply staggering and could provide an entire season of paddling in itself. Here are a few brief introductions to what is arguably the most spectacular section of the American Great Lakes
shoreline. Enjoy the shoreline, but make time to explore the towns, too, especially places like Grand Marais' Dunes Saloon.
Grand Island
27-mile circumnavigation over at least two days, intermediate/advanced Highlights: Rare, wooden lighthouse, colossal sandstone cliffs, arches and caves. Hazards: Boat traffic, few landing spots, contagious desire to scuttle your boat and live forever on this amazing island.
Grand Island, lying just offshore from Munising, offers 27 miles of sandstone cliffs and sand beach shoreline. The island is a former Ojibwa summer camp and corporate retreat for the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company. Today it's home to a number of campsites, hiking and mountain biking trails, as well as some private cabins that were grandfathered in when the U.S. Forest Service designated it a National Recreation Area in 1990.
Designated site camping and random dispersed camping on Grand Island is permitted with restrictions. A quick stop at the Hiawatha National Forest/Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Visitor Center in Munising for permits and advice is a must. There are often black bears on the island. Staff can give you the best information on how best to avoid the bruins.
Paddlers can either launch from the official National Forest ferry dock just west of Munising or from the
beach near the end of Sand Point in eastern Munising. Either way, a half-mile crossing through a popular boating lane is required.
The south end of the island is fairly sheltered and home to the East Channel Lighthouse, a wood-framed beacon with a freshly restored copper dome atop it. You'll also find shallow submerged shipwrecks in Murray Bay just off Muskrat Point.
The east side of the protruding "thumb" of the island is generally less exposed than the west side. It offers golden sandstone cliffs that often drip with numerous seeps. Be on the watch for marvelous little caves, arches and pockets eroded in the cliffs. Continue along the cliffs as they turn north toward Trout Point where just around the corner a large arch and partially collapsed cave can be explored. If this is enough for
the day, paddle in to the great sand beach at the head of the bay where several good campsites can be found.
The northern end of the island is host to the oasis of North Beach, a respite from the otherwise rugged towering cliffs that line the approach from either the east or west. North Point offers another amazing arch and a few small caves that can be explored in calm water. The privately owned North Point Lighthouse gazes out from atop the cliff here.
The entire western side of the island is comprised of extremely exposed 200-foot cliffs with few landing spots, and no camping until you reach a sand beach about halfway. Here, stairs lead from the beach to campsites. Paddlers must be sure of a good forecast before attempting to access this side of the island.
Miners Beach to Spray Falls
15 miles round trip, intermediate/advanced
Highlights: Towering multicolored cliffs, arches, waterfalls and beaches. Hazards: Boat traffic, very exposed coast, limited landing spots, falling rocks, neck strain and dry mouth from staring, slack jawed, at the mind-boggling cliffs.
Pictured Rocks was the country's first national lakeshore and will celebrate its 40th birthday this year. The area is named for the multicolored mineral seeps that "picture" or paint its cliff faces. Its beaches see
extensive day use, and a good network of hiking trails bring backpackers into the interior. But only by paddling can the grandeur of the park be truly appreciated.
Launch from the far eastern end of Miners Beach and almost immediately be dwarfed by golden sandstone cliffs soaring up to 200 feet above the water. Paddle closely and investigate seeps bubbling out of the rock face, carrying dissolved minerals that streak reds, greens and in some cases riotously brilliant blues.
Bridal Veil Falls cascades over small stone ledges into the lake during times of high water. Check out the cave at its base and cool down with a splash over your head. Travel along the cliffs, ducking in and out of fallen chunks of sandstone, but keep an eye to the sky for tumbling rock.
A beach of sand, cobble and sandstone shelves greets you at Mosquito Beach where the Mosquito River
pours into the lake. Explore the delicate geological filigree on the opposite side of the river via a bridge just upstream.
About a half mile farther up the coast is an enormous arch that opens into an area with some of the best examples of coloration on the route.
You'll soon reach Grand Portal Point where a large arch has eroded through a solid rock wall. The portal collapsed a few years ago so it's impassible. After the point the shore begins to turn east and then southeast
as the cliffs end abruptly at the oasis sands of Chapel Beach. Besides Mosquito Beach, Chapel is the only reliable landing along this route.
The beach gets its name from a unique church-sized formation of Chapel Rock that graces the east end of the beach. A short paddle beyond Chapel brings you to Spray Falls where a creek free falls into the lake. The boiler from a shipwreck is visible just below the surface near the falls as well.
From here head back as the setting sun sets the western-facing cliffs afire or, if you were lucky enough to get a camping permit at the park office for Chapel Beach, sit back and enjoy your own wilderness beach for the evening.
Hurricane River to
Grand Sable Dunes
3.5 miles round trip, novice/intermediate
Highlights: 200-foot-high sand dunes, lighthouse and shipwrecks. Hazards: Exposed coast, temptation to
climb dunes, leading to a heart attack and head-over-heels cartwheel descent.
Launch from the Hurricane River Campground area off Highway 58 in Pictured Rocks between Munising and Grand Marais. Paddling along the beach you'll pass the obvious remains of a couple shipwrecks and in sight of the Au Sable Lighthouse.
Continuing around Au Sable Point, you face the alien landscape of the Grand Sable Banks, nearly six miles
of sand precipice that rises to over 400 feet above the lake at some points. Atop them, shifting dunes stretch inland in a bizarre dreamscape. This is all still part of the national lakeshore, and a narrow beach at the foot of the banks provides a stopping area to stare up at them in disbelief. Climb if your heart and lungs can take it.
Aaron Peterson is a free-lance writer and photographer based in Marquette, Michigan.
Hiawatha Water Trail Trip Resources
Hiawatha Water Trail Association
www.hiawathawatertrail.org
Trail map available for $10.
Guide to Sea Kayaking on Lakes Superior and Michigan
by Bill Newman, Sarah Ohmann and Don Dimond. Written prior to the trail's creation, the book nevertheless covers many of the water trail's best sections. Use it in combination with Hiawatha Water Trail literature and website information for best results.
Hiawatha National Forest/Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Information Center, Munising
906/387-3700
Sea Kayak Specialists, Marquette
Paddling Lake Superior requires specialized equipment, knowledge and skills. Certified instructors and world paddlers Nancy Uschold and Sam Crowley of Marquette teach paddlers of all experience levels. 906/250-4238; www.seakayakspecialists.com
Down Wind Sports, Marquette
Down Wind Sports has one of the region's most diverse selections of outdoor gear, supplies and experience. 906/226-7112; www.downwindsports.com
Big Bay Outfitters/Anatomy of a Canoe, Big Bay
Bill Kinjorski, aka Big Bay Bill, will go out of his way to make your paddling experience great. The epitome of small-business customer service, Bill runs a shuttle, rents boats and procures that last-minute piece of
paddling gear from his classic shop in the old town jail. 906/345-9399; www.anatomyofacanoe.com
Northern Waters, Munising
Northern Waters offers guided day and multiday trips as well as equipment. 906/387-2323; www.northernwaters.com
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