Kayaking at Pictured Rocks

Friday July 31
We had a great morning kayaking along a short section of the cliffs. The best way to see the cliffs and formations is from the water, and you can take a boat trip or go kayaking. Ideally it would be great to do both, as the advantage of the boat trip is that it goes further and you see more, but the advantage of kayaking is it allows you to get in close to the rocks. Unfortunately we hadn’t thought to book ahead, so we didn’t have much option - this mornings slot was the only one we could get over the three days. We met at their base on the edge of town, and they made an introductory presentation about what to expect and what they supply you with. There were two groups going out, a half day and a full day - most like us were going on the half day. They then bussed us across to the beach where they put us in, and we were given another talk about the sea kayaks themselves, and how to put on the “skirt”. We have done quite a bit of canoeing/kayaking on rivers and small lakes, but we haven’t been in a sea kayak before. We finally set out with two guides, one leading the way and pointing things out to us, and one bringing up the rear. One of the sights we saw was Bridal Veil Falls, top left - this is one fall that dries up as the summer progresses, but at least there was still some water in it. After our canoe trip, we decided we would have to try one of the local pasties, which seem to be a local specialty. We discovered they tasted very similar to Cornish pasties, but they were more circular in shape, and the pastry was much thinner - they were very good! It was then time to get on the road again, heading for Traverse City, though we did make one more stop at the Log Slide overlook (extra), further to the East, at the point where the dunes begin. It is so named for a wooden chute that early logging companies used to slide logs 300 feet down the sand dune to Lake Superior. We reached our hotel, outside of Traverse City about 7.30, and then went straight out to eat.