Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore--Our New Favorite Kayak Adventure

We have been wanting to get our kayak out on Lake Superior for the last two weeks. But we keep hearing how treacherous this lake can be, and how storms can blow up so fast and trap unsuspecting kayakers against the rocky shores. The ranger at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore strongly advised us not to take our inflatable kayak to see the rocks that make this park famous. She made it sound like we would surely perish if we tried. So instead, we took the short hike to a rock formation known as Miner's Castle. It's a beautiful view with the turquoise water of Lake Superior behind the white rock. Even more interesting, aren't those kayakers far below, enjoying the view from the water?

We hiked higher to get a different view of Miner's Castle from the top. That also gave us a view of the unusually calm waters of Lake Superior.

We headed down to Miner's Beach, where we see more kayaks. It looks like we can do this!

So we inflated our Sea Eagle kayak, and we're ready to go kayaking in Lake Superior on this beautiful weather day.

The view of Miner's Castle was nice from the viewpoint on land, but it's even better from a kayak on the water.

From our new perspective on the water we can see that its base is actually hollowed out into sea caves.

We suppose that the more proper term here on Lake Superior, would be "lake caves." Other kayakers and even swimmers are exploring the openings.

We found that even our 12-foot kayak would fit into some of the larger openings.

We watched as others were working their way along the base of the cliffs on foot. Now we're really glad to have our kayak.

Even though we were hesitant at first, we've gotten our sea legs now. With more confidence, we are heading past the sand beach where we launched. We see tall cliffs ahead of us that need to be explored.

Water is dripping down the walls, and we have discovered the secret of Pictured Rocks.

This is mineral water. As it has dripped down these white limestone cliffs, it deposits its minerals to paint stripes of different colors on the rock faces.

The red come from iron, the black from manganese, the white from calcium, the yellow from sulfur . . . These pictured rocks have been painted by the hand of God.

These 100-foot cliffs are so overwhelmingly beautiful to a couple of kayakers from Oklahoma!

When we get closer to the indention known as Rainbow Cave . . .

we even see the blues and greens caused from copper-rich mineral water.

We have wandered into one of God's very best wonders today!

The view changes around each curve. Now we have another tall cliff beside us. This one was stained red from the iron-water that seeps through the limestone.

In addition to striped flat rock faces, there are also fun rock formations.

The cormorants have taken over many of the knobs and turrets of these unique formations.

The sea gulls prefer this sheer cliff-face for their home base.

The bottom part of the cliff is decorated with stripes where the mineral starts to seep through the limestone. The top section is a perfect perch for hundreds of seagulls.

Our favorite rock formation has to be the arch we see far in the distance. Since we have rowed about four miles down this cliff section, this will be our turn-around point.

It's cool gliding under a God-made arch in such a beautiful location!

We go back through the arch, and decide to try a new photo-opp. Mark gets out on a rock. . .

while Denisa paddles back under the arch for our favorite picture of the day!

Have we mentioned yet that we feel so blessed to get to wander into such a beautiful wonder today?

Besides the beautiful rocks, the water is lovely as well. The water is perfectly clear, and at certain angles it is a bright green.

With the white sand bottom, it feels like we are in the Caribbean instead of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Just as the ranger mentioned, even on a calm day the passing tourist boats cause waves that rock our little kayak. But Mark is masterful at positioning our boat so we rock, instead of roll, with those waves.

We got quite practiced at this technique, as we were passed by dozens of tour boats during our seven hours on the water today. Add the rented boats with inexperienced drivers, and the boat drivers that have consumed too many adult beverages, and it adds another dimension to our kayak adventure.

Even with those distractions, we are having such fun on the water today. We can't wipe the smiles off our faces!

After being warned about the dangers of kayaking on our own, we saw dozens of inexperienced kayakers on the water with a single guide leading them among the cliffs. Watching them, we saw that this tiny crevice was bigger than we first thought.

Would we be able to fit through such a narrow slot?

Why yes, I do believe we can kayak to the other side!

After talking with a guide, we also found a sunken wooden ship that we could see (but not photograph) through the clear water of Lake Superior. The wooden ship sunk here over a hundred years ago, and has been preserved by these cold waters. So guides do have information that lone kayakers like us didn't know. But we certainly are glad we didn't have to pay the $340 it would have cost for the two of us to go with that group!

This blog has already included way too many pictures, but we took hundreds more during our all-day trip on the water. So we'll add a few more without any of the normal chit chat between pictures.

As we paddled back towards our launching beach, the sun was setting. The sunsets in Michigan have been hazy, because of the smoke from the wild fires in the west.

As we carried the gear back to the car, we were reminded of what a charmed life we get to live. We are blessed to wander among some of God's best wonders! This kayak trip at Pictured Rocks will definitely go down in our memory as one of our all-time favorites!