Day 52: Bête Grise Bay – Keweenaw Point, 16mi

A pretty cool day. Woke up to the patter of rain on my rainfly, so I rolled over and dozed a bit longer before finally rallying myself up around 730. By then the rain had stopped, and despite my late start I managed to get everything packed and hit the water by 820. It was calm and overcast as I paddled along the sand beach at Bete Grise Bay, turning the water silver in the morning light, and then as I made it out of the bay the shore became rocky with huge stone cliffs in the background rising out of the steep forested hills in a way that I hadn’t seen since Canada. Unlike the fragile-looking sandstone cliffs that I had grown so accustom to here in the U.P these cliffs were solid, naked earth, painted all sorts of shades of orange, white, black, and grey by the hardy lichens that grew on their stone faces. The rocky shore even sounded different, with the gentle sound of the water splashing against the solid rocks and their many ridges and crevices giving the scene a much different feel then that given off by the sound of the surf crashing against a sand beach and really much different even then the sound made by the water washing up against the sandstone cliffs. It was beautiful. As I paddled along this wonderful stone shoreline I found some really sweet stone arches and caves, and then about 6 miles out of the bay I came across a nice gentle waterfall that was rolling it’s way right into Superior. I hopped ashore to hike up the watrfall a little ways and ran into a group of kayakers that were just starting to take down their tents, and after saying hello and finishing up my little hike I got back into my boat and paddled on down the shore. The shore stayed rocky until around Keystone Point where it became sand once more and then morphed into a sort of crumbly looking brown rounded rock formation around Keweenaw Point. And then, as I rounded the farthest point of the Keweenaw, the last real challenge that stands between me and the end of this trip, and looked out across the vast blue horizon of this incredible lake, it all suddenly hit me. I dont know if it was the mornings paddle along the stone shoreline that reminded me of canada that triggered this or just the fact that the trip was coming to an end, but all of a sudden I found myself filled with all sorts of emotions as the experiences, feelings, thoughts, challenges, and accomplishments of the trip just started running through my head and taking over my thoughts. Part of me was (is) terribly sad at the fact that this incredible trip is coming to an end, while another part of me was (is) filled with joy by the unbelievable experiences and moments that I have had on this trip (and by the wonderful people I have been so blessed to get to know!), but above all else I was (am) feeling fiercely proud of all that I have accomplished these past two months and especially about having nearly achieved what has been such a powerful dream of mine these past three years. I pulled ashore on a cobble stone beach right past the point to grab a snack and sort of take in the moment and let it all sink in, then paddled a few more miles down the shore before just deciding to call it a day. Found another nice cobble stone beach right next to a stone rock face to make camp at, and after setting up my tent a little ways back in the woods I spent the afternoon reading and just sort of thinking and having some me time. Had pasta mush for dinner (surprise!), and retired to my tent a little after sunset. A wonderful day.