To the Apostle Islands!

(If you click on the picture, it’ll show my campsites- I marked them with stars)

The upside to booking the first part of this trip last-minute is that I’ve got a fairly accurate idea of what the weather’s gonna be like.  The downside is that rain has persistently stayed in the forecast.  And not just rain- now it looks like storms as well… I wonder if that’s why the site was available for tonight…

I debated staying home and skipping today, but ultimately, I think I’ll be disappointed if I miss out on the hike I’ve got planned.  I picked up some rain gear for our Alaska trip that I never really got to properly test out (thankfully!).  Plus, my tent is pretty bomber- it can handle the predicted wind/rain.

Let’s do this!

A few raindrops, but otherwise, a nice, uneventful trip:

I also found Lost Creeks #1 and 3:

My plan was to stop at this cute restaurant for some fish tacos, but turns out they’re only open on the weekends- during the week, they’re out fishing for their weekend food:

So I backtracked just a bit into the town of Cornucopia to this coffee shop where I grabbed a couple snacks to go:

and headed up the road to the trailhead:

Today’s hike is powered by this chunk of coffee cake:

This first part of the trail is lots of boardwalks and bridges:

They’ve recently added a couple extra campsites to this trail:

but my site is still a few miles down the trail, which has become a bit rooty:

First views of the shoreline!!!

How does that even happen!?

Sketchy, narrow path?

Don’t mind if I do!

Don’t worry, my bag is well packed this time so the weight won’t shift and tip me over.  Plus, there’s this convenient rescue ring, just in case:

Even though I’m in a race against the rain, I couldn’t help but check out each and every viewpoint:

I mean, look at that coastline!

How could I not check out all of them!?

There were a few kayakers out and about, but none of them were in a good spot for pictures, though I did spot a couple ducks? Loons? They were still a bit out of range of my camera:

It’s a bit hard to see, but there’s a nice bench on the far side of this cove:

and I decided that would be a stellar spot to stop and enjoy a snack:

Unfortunately, by the time I got over there, the bench was occupied.  Lame.

So I kept on hiking:

and eventually left the shoreline behind, heading back into the woods:

Up until now, the trail’s been pretty well maintained, but the only people taking this path are the hikers who are staying at the Mainland campsite, so it’s a bit overgrown:

I’m not sure what’s going on here…

Why is it labeled “killer tree”? Looks pretty dead to me…

Ah, a go-over and a go-under… yay…

A go-under I actually had to duck to get past:

So much greenery!

and finally! A thimbleberry!!!

I think thimbleberry season is mostly over- lots of old, dried blossoms, so I was quite excited to find (and eat!) that berry!

Still on the right path!

Hello again, Lake Superior!

There were a lot more ups and downs that I realized, and while I’m thankful the rain has held off, it’s a pretty warm day- I’m ready to be done hiking.

Made it to the beach!!!

I didn’t realize it at the time, but that stick sticking up there on the right marks the entrance to the campsite:

But I missed that and kept walking along the shore:

Very glad to have GPS:

I way overshot the site! But on the plus side, I found my first piece of sea glass!

And as much as I’d love to keep hunting for fun rocks, dark clouds are rolling in and I need to get camp set up, so I backtracked til I found the right path:

which led to my campsite!

Home, sweet home for the night!

The rain started just as I started cooking up dinner:

I had every intention of sitting along the shoreline, soaking my tired feet in the cool waters of Lake Superior, but the rain was coming down pretty hard, so I stuck all my scentables in the bear box:

Which came with this semi-concerning note:

It’s a bit hard to read but it says, “Beware: Sneaky bear came while eating. Does not like rocks & noise. Only made one appearance but was persistent. July 13, 2026 ~7:30PM”

So into the bear box went my bear can- I don’t like how much food is just left behind here…

Also, I made sure the box could be open from the inside because if the forecasted storms turn really bad, hunkering down inside the bear box is my backup plan.

Hopefully it doesn’t come down to that…

I settled in for the evening and finished filtering my water:

Something’s not quite right with my filter- it worked great for my Isle Royale trip, but now is flowing at barely a trickle… it took almost 45 minutes to fill this liter bottle. I’m hoping it’s just clogged, but to be safe, I threw in an Aquamira tablet.

A well-timed break in the rain meant I was able to watch the sun set:

I rather enjoy the sound of rain on my tent, but waves crashing… I know most people find that white noise to be comforting, but how will I hear the bears sneaking up on me!? Not sure how well I’ll actually sleep tonight…

Good luck, me!