Twenty-six done ... 26 to go...

What: #86 Kayak at Pictured Rocks

When: July 16th
Where: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Why: Despite my wanderlust, I still love my home state of Michigan and will always list off a dozen places that are must-sees in the mitten. One of those, Pictured Rocks, is pretty out of the way, and someplace I have not seen despite wanting to for many years. When I was younger, my family went to the Upper Peninsula ("the U.P.") for a vacation to see Tahquamenon Falls (I totally just spelled that right on the first try...definitely a Michigander!), and a few other stops, but I still missed out on this sight. Now that I've had more time to think about visiting the lakeshore to see the cliffs of Pictured Rocks, I realized that I wanted to do more than see them off the railing of a passing ship; I wanted to get so close I could touch them and kayaking along the cliffs became my dream.

As my dream became a reality, it was also infused with a bit of Michigan's sense of humor regarding our weather. The saying in our state is that if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. In this case, we planned a trip in the middle of July, knowing it would be warm and nice out on Lake Superior. Instead, however, we had a freakish cold front blow down from the north, setting record lows for the nights we camped along the lakeshore and making the day we wanted to be on the water absolutely impossible to go out due to high waves and winds and low temperatures. Fortunately, we were able to rearrange our stay to head out onto the lake the next day, and while we were still contending with 3-foot high waves (no small feat in a kayak), it was sunny and made it an adventure worth having.

After three days of getting our feet wet in waterfalls, along sandy beaches, hiking about 15 miles, and running our hands along the cliffs, I feel that I can safely check off a visit to Pictured Rocks. If you are interested in details of planning a similar visit, I can let you know the best places to hike, eat, and stay!

See that space between the rocks...we are going through that...