In 1998, I got to achieve one of my life goals; kayaking the Pictured Rocks lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My girlfriend and I did some backcountry camping and hiking on the way up, and then had five days to kayak the lakeshore. Unfortunately, bad weather hit and we were beached for several days. The waves ended up swelling to over 15 feet tall. The storm was quite spectacular to watch, and when the waves were lower (around 5 feet) we did some great wave surfing in the kayak. It really gives you a great respect for nature to witness things like that; makes you feel insignificant in the whole scheme of things. You know, builds character, puts hair on your chest, and that kind of thing. We were still able to do some hiking while being beached, and the weather cleared up for one more good day of kayaking. I can't wait to go again and try to time the weather a bit better.
This is an overlook of some of the cliffs along the shoreline.
Here is my kayak on the white sandy beaches near Chapel Rock.
Here is the inside of one of the caves along the lakeshore.
Lastly, here is Spray Falls. This was really cool. We were able to paddle right up to it and feel the falls and mist.
Getting beached was a little disappointing, but it allowed us to do some hiking. Overall, the trip was fantastic and I am glad that I had the opportunity to go. Much thanks to my girlfriend as well, for making the best of the weather we had.