Washburn, Bayfield and Madeline Island

Houghton Point near Washburn, Wisconsin

Wandering around as we do, we meet and talk to a lot of people from all over the place.  Usually it is a one-time encounter and we enjoy talking to them about where they are from, where they have been and what they have seen.  But a few times, chance and perhaps luck have given us a second encounter.  As we were leaving the city campground in Ashland after finding there were no spaces available, a man at one of the campsites was waving us down.  We stopped and the man asked if we were in Lassen Volcanic National Park in California last summer and we said yes and immediately recognized Robert and Diana, who are incidentally from Texas.

 

Raspberries are ripe in the forest!

 

We spent a little time catching up with each other and our travels and found we had been in some of the same spots this summer as they had been.  In fact, we had just missed each other in Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore in Michigan a few weeks ago.  It was nice to catch up with them and so good to see that they are still ‘on the road’ full time.  Robert has a cool website documenting their travels called Postcards from the Road. 

 

Echo Dells on the Houghton Falls Trail

Pool in the 'dell'

 

Since we were concerned about getting a campsite for the weekend, we didn’t visit as long as we would have liked.  So next summer we may have to arrange to run into each other for a longer visit.  We wished each other ‘safe travels’ and luck finding campsites and David and I took off hoping to be lucky.  Fortunately, the city campground in Washburn had a few vacant spots and we grabbed one right by Lake Superior.  We settled in to enjoy a lazy afternoon of lake breezes and evening strolls.

 



Ferns along the Houghton Falls trail

 

Washburn was a cute little town with a ‘free’ library and a great bakery called Coco’s.  There was a good city trail that traversed Washburn following the shoreline of Lake Superior.  The Houghton Falls Trail, a short distance from town, was a lovely trail preserved by several conservation groups.  Passing next to an ancient riverbed called the Echo Dells with beautiful pools and rock formations; we followed the trail through the dells then passed through a huge old-growth stand of pines and hemlocks finally reaching the rocky shoreline of Lake Superior.  A beautiful ‘walk on the wild side.’

 

Maya and David rest while I make some photos

Looking down behind David and Maya

The next day we drove 12 miles north to picturesque Bayfield, known as the ‘Gateway to the Apostle Islands.’  This enchanting little village is full of restored Victorian homes; many have been turned into B&B’s.  It is also known for some of the best sailing in the world.  We spent a little time wandering the town and since we didn’t bring our sailboat, we hopped the ferry to Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle Islands.

 

Riding the Madeline Island Ferry

The Apostle Islands are an archipelago or island chain consisting of 22 islands produced by millions of years of geological processes.  Ice, wind and waves have built and then battered layers of sand, gravel and stone to form these islands.  And the islands’ story continues to be written.

 

A sailboat off the starboard side

At 14 miles long and 3 miles wide, Madeline Island is the only island in the Apostles not overseen by the National Park Service and the only island on which there is a small town and some commercial development.  The town of La Pointe was established in 1834 just a year after the railroad reached Bayfield bringing tourists to this area.  Summer boat tours of the Great Lakes were very popular and La Pointe and Madeline Island became favorite destinations.  Artists also flocked to Madeline and making things by hand has become an island tradition.

 

The flower 'boxes' in the town of La Pointe were so creative
It was very much an 'artsy' little village

After our ferry docked at La Pointe, we drove off to explore Madeline Island.  We hiked the Casper Trail, went to Big Bay State Park, walked the town, checked out the art and had a late lunch.  The ferry was jammed with the Sunday crowds going back to the mainland but we managed to time it right and only had a short wait in the ferry line. We returned to our campground in Washburn for another mellow evening on the lake.

 



Wildflowers along the Casper Trail on Madeline Island

We have been enjoying our time on Lake Superior and we were already in the far northwestern corner of Wisconsin, so it made sense for us to continue our circling of the lake and move on to Minnesota.  Monday morning we drove to Duluth to clean up (you don’t want to know how long it has been since we’ve done laundry) and stock up on groceries and then we plan to continue along Lake Superior for another week or so.  The cool weather and absence of insects is just too good to pass up.  We will be back in Wisconsin a little bit later to see some of the rest of the state.

 

City Campground in Washburn

 

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked:  2    
Total Miles Hiked:   5.09
Ave. Miles per Day:   2.55  
Total Elevation Gain:   260 
Ave. Elevation Gain per day:  130