Beyond a Boat and a Bike A camping, kayaking, and biking adventure to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Apostle Islands.

I traveled north out of Iowa and into Minnesota and then into Wisconsin. I drove to the northern tip of Wisconsin to the Apostle Islands. All along the way, I stopped to camp, kayak, and bike.

I’m packed…and ready to go…

Along the way, I stopped to collect flowers for pressing!

Lanesboro, MN I traveled to Root River in Minnesota and set up my small tent in the city park in Lanesboro, MN – a town right along the Root River bike trail.

Lanesboro, MN There was a folk music group playing at a local building and they were square dancing there. I joined in and had fun dancing!

Lanesboro, MN The next day, I rode my bike 32 miles from Lanesboro to Peterson and back. Along the way, I checked out the Root River to see if it was mild enough for me to kayak in the next day.

Root River Trail Along the way, I saw a fawn. He watched me from a distance for several minutes while I watched him!

Houston, MN That night, I drove to Houston, MN where the traveling Vietnam War Memorial Wall was located. This is a very long V-shaped wall with the names of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War listed all along its walls.

Lanesboro to Peterson with a Kayak and Bike The next day, I floated down the river in my kayak and went back using my bike. This was scary and a bit difficult when I had to go around the bends in the river, but I was proud when I made it!

Forestville is a town that died a long time ago because the railroad did not go into it. Now, in Historic Forestville, a small group of people pretend to be the people who once lived and worked there long ago. You can see their homes, their animals, and their gardens.

The general store in Historic Forestville carries a lot of goods sold back in the 1800’s. We have a lot more choices in today’s stores!

I went through Forestville’s Mystery Cave.

Mystery Cave had cool temperatures and lots of rock formations to see.

One of the best sites in the cave was this pool.

My next stop was Wildcat Mountain State Park in Wisconsin. Here I camped, cooked my meals, and looked at the beautiful scenery.

Here in Wisconsin, I rode my bike on the Elroy/Sparta Trail which is known for it’s tunnels. These are tunnels that trains used to go through, but now, just bikes and people.

Some tunnels were very dark.

Along the way, I stopped in towns, looked at flowers (some were not good to touch!) and also saw springs coming out of the hillsides

My last stop was Lake Superior.

Bayfield, Wisconsin The Apostle Islands – Lake Superior In Bayfield, WI, I went to a restaurant and saw a guitarist, Bill Stiles. Later that evening, I went to see another guitarist named Willy Porter at a show called “Big Top Chautauqua.” It was great!

I went on a guided tour of the Apostle Islands. Rob was our guide and Ron was another person along for the tour. We had to wear wetsuits, life jackets, and a “skirt” for the kayak. The wetsuit kept us warm, and the lifejacket helped keep us safe! The skirt helped to keep water out of the boat. We first had to take a class. During class we learned the proper way to paddle.

Next we had to learn how to paddle in the water and how to do a “wet exit.”

I had to tip my kayak over, pull the skirt off and get out while upside down in the water! Then I had to use a paddle float to help me get back in the boat. It was hard to do!

We packed up all our gear – sleeping bags, tents, food, and clothes – and were ready to paddle to the islands.

We paddled for 4 hours and finally arrived at a rocky shore of one island. We had to paddle more to get to our campsite. It rained all night. We set up tents in the rain. We made a fire in the rain. We cooked and ate in the rain and we tented in the rain.

The next day, we packed our gear back up into our kayaks and got started on choppy water.

Sometimes there were waves that splashed up over our kayaks. I felt nervous on the big water!

That night we set up camp on the next island. It didn’t rain. We cooked our meal. We even had a visitor.

Getting water… We didn’t carry extra water with us because there wasn’t enough room in the boat. So we carried one large water bottle and we had to pump lake water through a special filter to get clean water to drink. This large metal box is a bear-proof box. We locked our food and anything we had that smelled (like toothpaste) inside this box at night so that the smells would not attract bears.

Rob and Ron relaxed on the beach and later, we saw a beautiful sunset.

On the last day, the water was as smooth as glass. We paddled back home and saw bits and pieces of an old shipwreck.

The highlight of the day was when our guide, Rob, found a lifejacket on a body floating around some rocks along the shore. It was a coast guard dummy used for rescue practice. We had been afraid it was a real person, but we were glad it wasn’t!

I had a lot of fun on my first camping, biking, and kayaking adventure by myself, but I was happy to get home to my son, cats, house, and kayaking in the Wapsi River!