Words by Apostle Islands
Found in the 2024 Spring Issue
As you move across the magical, mystical waters on the big lake they call Gichi-Gami, look to the evening sky and witness the northern lights fluorescently glowing with a kaleidoscope of green hues, red sparkles, purple “reigns” and luminescent yellows as they hover over the horizon on many a night. Whether the auroras show up or not, or if you’re treated to the Milky Way instead with its zillion stars, these are just a few of the childlike wonders of the Great North Woods.
I challenge all of you to do the Lake Superior “circle” once in your life, because it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s not just boating on the greatest of the Great Lakes itself, it is the whole damn watershed. Be it the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota, Quetico Provincial Park in Canada, the historic Keweenaw Peninsula with Copper Harbor or the sandstone rainbow colors that paint the rocky shoreline on Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Just when you thought you’ve seen enough, take in the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point and take a deep breath looking at the ghostly memorabilia of the Edmund Fitzgerald which lies in state just off the windswept shores which are protected and guarded by one of the most spectacular lighthouses on the Great Lakes.
The subject of this story is Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands, of which there are more than twelve and none of them are named Peter, John or James. These “Apostles” are named Sand, Raspberry, Otter, Cat and of course there is a Devil’s Island whose lighthouse is the outer beacon for the whole group of the Archipelago. Rather than an in-depth analysis of all that encompasses the vastness of the Apostle Islands, I am hoping to just wet your appetites enough to experience the great northern waters yourselves. I found that less was more for me. It was like an empty canvas that I could apply my own paint brush to and call my own……
