Cale Circumnavigates Lake Superior

Have spent my past 4 summers working as a caregiver at an assisted living primarily in dementia care, has been an incredible experience and could not imagine my life without it. Last year at one point I worked 180hrs in 15 days last summer and knew I wanted to do something wild when I am still young and have time. Will write more later, but to me at this point, somewhat represents a transition from adolescence to adulthood in many ways. This is also a means of raising awareness for the conservation of Lake Superior and the surrounding ecosystems which could be nearing crisis. In my life, I have personally observed irreversible changes to steams and ecosystems in my backyard, and I do not want to sit back and wait until the damage has been done.

I will be paddling my 95’ Explorer I purchased last fall for this trip and use Celtic Kinetic paddles that I got through MIKCo that are slick. Spent an incredible amount of time researching by reading books, blogs, watching videos, and reaching out to knowledgeable people. Did a trial run for a bit over spring break that was incredibly successful. For food, I will eat the same meals every day, all cold-soaked out of peanut butter containers. The food consists of overnight oats, quinoa and beans, gorp, and a few other snacks. With this trip and for months I have been vegan. I did this mainly for environmental reasons and believe it to be more healthy and believe all people should at least consider incorporating more vegetables into their diet regardless of their stance on environmental causes. For my awareness efforts, I will document much of my trip and my experiences to reach others and spark inspiration for adventure and conservation of our incredible resources.

My tentative start is May 11 which gives me a day of rest after my finals. Am incredibly excited to begin. I will be continuing to write updates as I embark on my expedition. I have switched the direction of my journey a few times looking at the wind forecasts and historical wind trends. Now, as of writing, thinking counterclockwise. I would like to send out thanks to the countless people who have prepared me for this, could not imagine this trip without many who have helped me along. This will likely be my longest entry, wanted to fully set the stage as at least I find it important to better understand my expedition if you do not know me. Look forward to the trip and sending out updates.

May 13, 2024

Hello all, I am now on my third day of paddling.

Taking today as a somewhat rest day as there’s a 15mph headwind and I’m prepping for a solid crossing tomorrow. With that said hope to hit 20 miles or so to set up for tomorrow. After 2 days I was 50 miles as the crow flies from Duluth, so have paddled further than that. 2nd day started incredibly rough for me. I woke up early and got out by 5 to catch a solid tailwind that was projected and it was good until 10 mins in it switched to a direct headwind. Was pretty fatigued starting the trip after just having finished finals and then spending like 12hrs on my day of packing.

Ended up taking a nap on a beach which I rarely am able to fall asleep for at like 7am and it completely turned my day around. Initially was feeling like I could only go 10 miles tops, but ended around 30 maybe. Started the first day under the lift bridge in Duluth around 9 am.

Been a little cold sleeping but I just haven’t had all my layers on. Have a hammock with a 45 degree quilt and underquilt and the sub 40 temps are pushing it a little.

Been using my 650 paddle primarily, has been really solid and think I’ve dialed in a nice pace and am starting to figure out a routine.

Have been documenting water temps and have seen much variance as makes sense with the surface temps, but incredibly warm compared to what I planned for as many readings are just above 46 degrees.

The lake warming is something that does not revive much attention with there being such large climate implications. Water has warmed near a degree Fahrenheit a decade for the past 4 decades and if continued, will have massive impacts on more than just fish. I would like to myself find an answer to why the average person should care about this and have been thinking a lot about it. It means a lot to me and I do things to protect it, but want to derive a reason to make someone who currently feels little connection to the water to care and so something before it’s too late as we are already seeing some of the consequences with increased natural disasters, ecosystems falling apart, and water quality facing challenges, and so many more are implications.

May 16, 2024

As of my 6th night. I am 122 miles from my start so have gone further.

To recap, I will go by the day:

Finish of Day 3 - hard headwinds all day, found a nice campsite, would rate it an A.

Day 4 - fought strong headwinds to get to a point where I had a tailwind pushing me down into Bayfield. Some large waves, first time having to look up at a wave as it comes. Had someone who sailed out to me to ensure I was alright in the waves though I was perfectly fine. Very much appreciate them checking though as it was some legit conditions. Difficult crossings but the water was 56.1 that I marked and it’s accurate. This is a staggering number. The large increase is due to the warm surface water being blown, so with all of the headwinds, the temps got warm.

Day 5 - another day with strong headwinds, solid progress and left Wisconsin behind, so all done there. Not much that was memorable, as always just singing songs and fighting headwinds. I knew the headwinds would occur as the general trend for this time of year is east winds which then shifts midway through my trip to west which means I’ll fight a lot of headwinds throughout my trip. Starting in Duluth at this time of year is the worst place to start I think, but that’s how it is. My upper back has been getting much more sore and think this results from having my thighs locked in to better stabilize against the waves which leaves not ideal kayaking form, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay to increase my safety. Would rate my campsite as a B

Day 6 - started off pretty tired, fatigued from the headwinds and went out to face more. Today was the day I think the honeymoon phase stopped and the trip became real. I somehow hit the sos button on my spot gen 3 and this alerted search and rescue to come out to me. My spot was in a bag in my pfd and I literally am at a loss as to how it could go off, but it did. I had no clue of this at all. At maybe around 11:30 in the morning I was like half a mile from a boat ramp and saw a boat getting smoked by waves while beelining it to me. I watched and realized it was 2 officers. They approached me and asked if I was Cale and I was shocked they knew and immediately thought I was getting fined for sleeping on a beach or something. They told me they were alerted by my gps which had gone off. They were incredibly nice and understanding of it. I feel bad about alerting them to nothing and wasting resources like that.

Lighthouse Trail
Day 4- around Bayfield on the small strip of land there is an abandoned lighthouse and I walked around and found a trail connecting the 2 lighthouses. Liked this as with all the rotting boards and dead trees it shows an area lost to time.

Mates
Day 4- 2 bald eagles sitting on a branch. I have not captured many birds as I am afraid to take pics while on the water with these winds, but there have been an incredible amount of eagles, loons, and ducks.

Captain Cale
Wanted to snapshot my look. Have reported to a buff to keep warmth on some days and sun away on others. Croft’s Crew was our club ski team started with Ben Croft and a few of us. Ben introduced me to paddling as a sport as a means of training for skiing and I think back to what he taught me very much on this trip. Shoutout to all the guys and Spencer especially who is getting married while I’m on this trip.

Superior Lakeshore
Day 4 - Wanted to show off a lakeshore that I found neat around the apostle islands.

Creature Comforts
Morning of 7- while in the process of putting on my boot, I found this toad in it which I found funny. Named him puss which makes him puss in boot.

Rock Layers
Day 3 - really neat lakeshore and liked the contrasting surfaces of the rocks and the shallow waters in this area.

May 22, 2024

Hello all, hope all is well with you all. Doing pretty well out here.

Been incredibly windy the past days and waters have been rough. It has often been in my favor as of recent, but has switched at points that left me to exhaust myself to get to shore. The wind will and does switch in seconds and these switches are not forecasted and just happen. The wind is often around 20mph so there is danger in these switches.

One thing about Superior is that the interval between waves is vastly different than elsewhere. Just looked it up to confirm, the waves will hit you every 3-5 seconds in Great Lakes as opposed to 10-12 in the ocean. This is why many great ships have demised in the Great Lakes, it’s brutal. Also, the waves are often hitting from 2-3 different angles and the closer to shore you get, especially with rock walls, the more this happens so I stay a bit out for this reason. Last night for example, I had maybe 4ft behind pushing me along shore, some waves as large as 6ft to my left and near shore there would have been some to my right. This creates hard to predict crests and holes, but my kayak navigates incredibly well.

The water has been relatively warm so I haven’t feared my ability to swim for a long time if needed as my drysuit would keep me insulated.

I do have a legit pain in my left shoulder that has been occurring since the early days of the trip. It resulted from me carrying my kayak. I have had issues with this in the past with skiing and have been doing stretches to deal with it. I often don’t feel it while kayaking, but when it gets rough and I’m throwing dynamic strokes I feel it. I now just use my right arm for most things at camp and now pivot my kayak when I get to shore using my right arm. Also, my left hand especially is hurting as with all the wind I have to keep a firm grip on my paddle so it doesn’t blow away and with a left hand indexing on my paddle which means a larger shaft, my left hand is not loving it and it’s hard to open and shut it at times.

The day recaps are as follows:

End of Day 7 - only made maybe another mile past where I hung out all day, too many headwinds.

Day 8 - Winds would switch from in my favor to very much not quite often. My skeg was not deploying as either the bungee stretched a bit or the knot did and I had to abort a small bay crossing and head to shore to fix it. Absolutely saved me later in the day to have it deployed when it switched and wanted to push me to the lake. Incredible how much difference a piece of plastic controlled by a bungee makes.

Day 9 - Incredibly solid tailwinds, was often 4ft waves behind me all day, for days 8 and 9 I switched up to my 700 paddle and think it helped out tremendously in control and power. Pretty much rode the waves all day and made incredible progress.

Day 10 - This is the day that my grandparents were meeting me for a resupply point. Absolutely terrible communication on my end. The past 2 days I hadn’t had reception and this day my phone died and I didn’t have any ability to solar charge as there was clouds all day. Assumed they would maybe come around 3 so I set off around the horn of the UP but I didn’t know there was like 18 miles of no car access. Also, to make things worse, my spot device somehow went off again while in a hatch this time, so had a jetski come to my aid just to see me paddling. Huge thanks again out to those workers. They save lives and there’s a reason they are around. I am incredibly sorry and feel a lot of negative emotions surrounding this. I have once again moved my tracker to my bag in front of me and it’s given me a hobby watching it all day making sure there’s no light. Once again happened on a calm day so that’s good. Past this, I ran into Jason who happened to be walking the shoreline fishing no joke maybe 10 miles from the nearest road and was able to use his phone to contact my grandparents to figure something out. Jason was incredibly nice and absolutely saved me. So I had to paddle another 10 miles to get to my grandparents who I learned had been there ready to meet with me in the morning. Huge shoutout to them for dealing with this. We went to the nearest town which was Gay Michigan which has maybe 50 residents to get some food. We went to The Gay bar to get some stuff. They got pizza and I got some onion rings. Pizza looked good but the onion rings were lackluster sadly. They drove me back to where they met me and left me to paddle a bit further to a campsite. Meant for this to be an easy day as I’m beat up and didn’t even fully pack my food, but this was not the case.

Day 11 - Easy day somewhat. Wind switched from a headwind to almost a tailwind which was nice. My grandparents had spoken to the owner of Harbor Point resort and I was able to get a shower. Incredibly nice guy and amazing looking resort. Amazing to be able to get a shower. Ate a whole 9.25 oz bag of chili cheese Fritos and got back after it. Got back out and was able to get to a bay past Gay. Largest waves I’ve seen yet.

Day 12 - think today may be a true rest day as the winds are terrible and I frankly need to calm down with my shoulder as it hurts quite a bit.

I don’t have many pictures as my phone has been dead often and on the water it’s too rough to bring out my phone.

May 29, 2024

It’s been a while, days fly by for the most part and I completely lost track of time. I am writing this on the 19th night. It’s been solid, mostly ups but some difficulties. Waves and wind have been legit. I’ve been fighting many east winds as projected and knew that this stretch would be rough as it’s completely exposed. My “smooth is fast” mentality continues to be working. Whether paddling or setting camp, overlooking or forgetting something has a much larger cost than the bit of time to ensure it’s right. Has been incredibly wavy so once again don’t have tons of pics that show the beauty in the ugly conditions. Below I will recount the days as I best remember:

Day 13 - Did not start paddling until 1 as winds were unfavorable up until that point. 15 mile crossing with borderline-favorable winds but angled to push me offshore so stayed controlled and focused. Made it to an island I was prepared to set up camp on and realized it was a nature refuge after I saw a downed sign, so out of respect I left and managed to make another 6 miles. Incredibly happy with this day as even though it started late, was able to get some solid ground while staying smooth.

Day 15 - Slight miles and made it to a nice beach where I once again spent much of the day hanging out and just walking around a bit. Throughout my rest days I have worked hard to eat as much as possible to try to offset the calorie deficit I am in when I paddle all day. Wind is just too difficult to fight all the days, and with the state of my shoulder what it was, pushing on will only hurt me in the long run. Remembering the long run is something I have overlooked as I instead get distracted and want to slug out a few more miles which may work in the short term, but eventually could lead to issues.

Day 16 - Made around 8 miles, another rest day as there were headwinds and I didn’t care to fight when I’d have tailwinds the next. Focused on resting my shoulder again. Much of this consists of staying warm in my hammock as opposed to getting blasted with cold and wind. This gets so incredibly boring as for the sake of being warm and my shoulder, I just sit in my hammock and try to nap, but end up sitting there bored. I didn’t really bring anything to keep me entertained other than my phone, so when no reception, while keeping warmth and recovery in mind, there’s little.

Years ago now my friend Benjamin and I went down a legit whitewater section in my parents’ old 17ft Alumacraft canoe. I learned the power of water then as in seconds, we were thrown, the canoe became pinned on the side of a rock, and the bottom inverted and was left almost touching the middle bars. Was a hard time paddling the rest of that section with pretty much a paddle board. It’s still floating and treking after much repair with a sledgehammer and alumaweld. I write this as I find it funny now and because I thought of this a lot today. I was awestruck to see the many semi-submerged flat rocks be smashed by 4-5ft waves spraying mists of light blue sparking water as the sun shone through like 10ft into the air. Knowing being caught in that would squish me like a bug. For me, this adds to the beauty that I could float on by and observe.

I would like to focus upon my foamed out bulkhead as I attribute this hugely to my abilities and find it hard to imagine paddling without it. I have removed the footpegs from my boat and have put chunks of foam for my feet to push upon that go from my feet to the front bulkhead. I have like 4.5” of pink insulating foam and then a 3” section of high density foam that’s angled at 15 degrees. I find it hard to imagine paddling without this and I have put my feet in the footpeg position and flat and it’s hard to handle at all for me. With the foam I am able to continually adjust as needed. I am not incredibly flexible, I worked hard to improve for this trip and I have, but on all accounts, it’s bad, so the fact I can sit in a kayak for over 12 hours is impressive to me.

Kayaking and being on Lake Superior in general are activities in which our levels of perceived danger may not line up with the actual danger. Comparing this to rollercoasters this is seen the opposite. With this said, I try to understand the actual danger in the situation as much of the large problems and frankly deaths on Superior have something to do with this mismatch for many. To be most safe, I believe I need to make sure they align and act accordingly. I do this by checking temps to figure out drysuit layers, wind forecasts, waves, looking and shoreline, watching clouds/weather, fatigue, prepping for random wind changes, and so many other things as I prepare for the worst. I always have multiple options in mind and multiple planned courses of action if one fails to avoid panic. I have never factored rescue into my thoughts. It has always been my plan that if I were to ever be rescued, that would mean an immediate end to my trip even if given the option to continue. With these false alarms though, I continue as I feel it’s reflective of little more than a bad unit. Carrying on, rest of the day was good. I crossed like 15 miles to an island and it was breathtaking. I was also tired out of my mind and genuinely debated between paddling another mile and sleeping on a mound of rocks. Chose another mile, slugged it out and made it to an amazing campsite. I really hope this is the end of the sos saga and they may end my trip anyways if it happens again. With that said, looking forward to Canada where I am yet to irritate the authorities.

Day 19 - Another large crossing, spent 10hrs in kayak. Went by Pictured Rocks which were neat but think my island was much cooler. Saw a tour boat make rounds multiple times which for much time from a ways off I was fearful was the Coast Guard out to collect me. Didn’t get too close and choppy headwinds so getting close to shore is dangerous. Think I’ve said before, but especially with hard rock walls and caves, the waves are sent back out and this can create some incredibly rough conditions close so it’s better stay a bit out. I met up with my grandparents once again and was able to restock. Was great to see them and they brought many things in addition to what I had prepared which is fun. Much smoother meeting and coordination this time. Lots of people everywhere, quite the change. Have mentioned it a lot, but my left shoulder has gotten to a point where every day at the end it’s not in a great spot, but not terrible and it seems to have hit this as a baseline which I’m content with. Have been incredibly fatigued the last few days after my rest days, but seem to be back in a groove.

June 1, 2024

I write this on the evening of the 23rd day, after arriving in Canada. This marks a bit over halfway in the trip by my calculations. Beautiful here, honestly a different landscape than I’ve seen in a while as it’s large rocks instead of miles of sandy beaches as the past days have been. Shaky past few days as far as morale goes for various reasons, but hopefully should go up. Still incredibly fearful of any boat so hopefully now I can chill out more. Today’s crossing had terrible visibility at times so getting hit by a ship was seriously a concern as there’s many around here and large ones travel incredibly quick, quiet, and can’t divert direction. I’ve been on the plan that anything that can be considered a bay is fair game to be cut off. Spoke with Zane who did the trip last year a bit on this as there is no official consensus of what constitutes a circumnavigation. Pretty much it comes down to the Keewenaw Peninsula and bays and what’s able to be cut. I went around the peninsula which was a lot of additional miles but by my rules is part of the circle, but to many, not necessary. Cutting bays of course saves many miles but also leads to more danger as obviously increasing distance out exponentially increases the risk. Being close however is also dangerous at times as waves will be sent back from shore, so balancing those two can get somewhat difficult. I’ve been miles and I’ve been able to touch shore with my paddle, pretty neat what a kayak can do.

Otherwise doing well, will recount the days below:

Day 20 - Began my morning speaking with a nice woman on the beach and she asked if I’m paddling all alone. I want to write on this as it’s often regarded as the #1 rule to never paddle alone for safety reasons. With that said, I believe John Dowd wrote something along the lines of while alone, there is no false sense of security. I did reach out to a select few who I trusted, but with none able to commit, I embarked alone. Also, there’s been times where outside of shouting words of encouragement, I literally do not know what else could be done to assist someone when there’s major waves from 3 directions crashing down on you. I am introverted, but as the true definition of the word, that does not mean I want to isolate myself. I would say I’m decently calculated and thoughtful in general, but once I get a feel for a room, I often display a completely opposite persona and enjoy joking around quite a bit. Would definitely be fun to share this experience with someone though, but there’s pros to solo as well. For paddling, solid day and decent amount of miles. The sun was incredibly bright today. I managed to sunburn my nose a bit after all this time out here which is impressive considering how tan it already was.

Day 21 - Began my morning of paddling by watching fish jumping out of the water for bugs. I also witnessed this as I was wrapping up this night. Must have been some hatch as there were fish barely breaking the surface which would indicate emergers. Both times in a few feet of water with a sandy bottom. Tried to get near and see what fish, but would scatter. Trout of some kind most likely. Solid day of paddling, offshore winds so a little difficult to paddle but got an hour of tailwinds to wrap it up which was nice.

Day 22 - Spent quite a bit above already writing but after aborting the crossing cranked out a few more miles. Turned it into a rest day as I’ve been cranking lately and needed some rest to be honest. Still another 8hrs of paddling but less than past days. I was beginning to attempt to cut from US to Canada on what would have been maybe a 21 mile crossing. To note, I have a crossing permit that does not require me to check in. Winds were good, water is a sweltering 55 degrees, feeling solid overall, but I was not willing to accept that I would be screwed if an east wind came along or if I ran into issues considering there’s like a 20mph wind and stronger gusts pushing me there but slightly to the big water. Also, this time, unlike my previous crossings, I would be 21-X miles from shore as opposed to shore like 2-3 miles at most. Once I was maybe a mile out, I began to feel afraid for the first time on this trip. I worked decently hard to return to shore, washed away many potential miles of progress, but proud to have stuck to my gut. I did not complete the thought I wrote about before with the perceived and actual danger. I left out the part of what amount of actual or perceived danger I’m willing to accept which is incredibly important. I of course am accepting risk and danger being out here clearly. With that said, my accepted level is to try to never put myself in a possible situation where even with a few mistakes, I couldn’t get out. The adrenaline rush I felt as I embarked on the bay was incredible, so lack of attention is not an issue. I was not planning on taking on the crossing, but was somewhat blown out and just thought screw it for a while. I do not bring years of sea kayak experience in or much at all for that matter, but I’ve used many things that I read and prepared for in many important situations. John Dowd’s book on expeditions has possibly saved me out here. I am a 20 yr old guy as well and I know as much as I would like to think, risk management isn’t my strongest ability so I try to err on the side of safety. Regardless though, the best of kayakers could not hold their own in some conditions Superior can generate so I keep this in mind. Made it to a nice beach but probably had my worst night yet. Difficult as there were an incredible amount of mosquitoes which just make everything so much incredibly worse. I was incredibly hot while trying to sleep and it’s tough as I would have liked to take off my underquilt, but then I’d be massacred by mosquitoes which were absolutely ready as they pile up in the space between the bug net on my hammock and my tarp set above for rain. To allow more wind, I took off the tarp to allow a better flow in. Was able to fall asleep after much time and was woken up by rain falling down on me. Fitting that the second night it rains since the 5th night be the one without the tarp, so in the rain I had to rush to put it back while getting destroyed by bugs, memorable time. The thoughts of fear I held on the water really got to me this night. On this trip I’ve been in conditions that I seriously think would sink many boats under 20’ all while singing songs and just hanging out, so to get smacked by fear and think of all the friends and family I just spent time communicating with really put me in a different state of mind. In reality, I would have been fine, but getting taken over by the uncontrollable possible danger ahead hit hard. Have been reflecting and it definitely changed things, but needed to happened.

Day 23 - After my failed attempt on the day before, I had set myself up in a more favorable position. Was still 18 miles, but situated much more in and getting blown out to the lake could hardly be a possibility. Set up for a NE heading and got after it. First hour was incredibly calm and was beautiful. 2-3 were calm headwinds, probably 3-5mph. 3-7 were terrible headwinds. Once again, not forecasted and I’m not sure what they were, but they were strong enough to create many 2’ whitecapping waves that were not even a second apart for the remainder. In addition, there was a lot of fog and I estimate there was less than 50yds visibility for a while. Absolutely relied on my compass for these moments as my headings were of course not visible. My compass is one of the most important pieces of gear I have and I seriously debated if I needed one when I have my Garmin watch and phone. A good kayak compass for the mount is like 100$, so I naturally opted for a 20$ compass which I partially disassembled and rigged between my ropes with some wire. With that said, I will be buying an actual compass after this as it may have saved me today and I’m not cutting the right corners on this. Will write layer on expenses and my gear as I think it’s somewhat important to understand my perspective. Pretty brutal day of paddling and it’s so difficult to maintain motivation when you feel like you’re getting blown backwards. Made it to an incredible beach though. I never was afraid though as I was sure to leave enough energy that I could flip if needed and surf the waves back. Also, honestly the 2’ waves are not incredibly problematic to scramble into my kayak if I were to strike out on rolls for whatever reason so wasn’t worried considering the water was 53 degrees. Made it to an incredibly beach and have a solid campsite. Road is somewhat loud nearby, but lots of pretty birds and calls as of writing so I’m content. Looking forward to the days to come.

June 9, 2024

I sit on a large rock/island seeking cover from the wind and waves on the 30th as I write. Things have been going decent. Have definitely experienced more that wind and weather forecasts are hardly ever accurate to the degree of wind speed and often irrelevant for direction which is hard to plan around. A big change is that after all this time I finally realized a flaw in my form which has been leaving me incredibly sore. My head has been too far down and I wasn’t looking up enough and this led to strain on my neck and then shoulders. Started to somewhat ration my food as I’m stuck in a section where there’s over 100 miles of no towns, but hope to get out today. Weather has been absolutely brutal and cold and it’s almost comical how miserable I feel at times due to mainly being cold despite all of the beauty around. I’ll recount the days below:

Day 24 - Mediocre tailwinds so happy with that. Pretty rainy throughout the day. Managed 35 miles which I was happy with. Beaches are incredibly tough to land on as it’s mainly large rock in Canada so far which is problematic. Highlight was a rabbit that came out and began to eat plants from the rocks less than 15 ft from me as I was finishing packing up my gear and setting up camp. I was on an island and would assume there’s no land predators which may explain its lack of care. To this point the entirety of my animal encounters consist of a staredown with a raccoon at dusk, squirrels chewing through my mesh bag 3 times now after I’ve left food or wrappers in bag, and deer huffing, so was neat to be able to hang out with a rabbit for a bit.

Day 25 - Today was a setup day for the bay crossing the next day. Kept it pretty chill, had some slight tailwinds so somewhat floated my way through 25 miles. Beautiful campsite, but had to get creative getting to it. There were pockets of water that were incredibly warm that I considered bathing in, but to lessen my odds of a disease, I once again braved the temps. Nights are brutally cold with the wind and humidity to the point that I often am up shivering. I have two 45 degree quilts but they are not enough. I dress in everything I have, which is 4 shirts, a sweater, raincoat, 3 bottom layers, socks, and I’m still quite cold many nights. Bathing has become difficult as there is much more than discomfort with the cold. After getting rained on much of the days, brutal winds, and cold temps, I choose to wash a bit with a washcloth instead of plunging as all the energy to warm myself in addition to my already tight muscles which risk further damage is not worth it for me.

Day 26 - I sent just over a 20 mile crossing to cut off Wawa. Had some decent tailwinds throughout the day but got a little spicy near the end. When I was 5 miles away the wind began to really amp up to the point the rain that had been falling stung decently. The rain is interesting in that when the drops hit the water, they just stay and float around as drops. I would assume this is due to the differing temperatures and this leaves a pretty neat effect. All was going well until I was around 2 miles from shore, a thunderstorm in the distance began moving my way. I frantically fought to get near shore, but along with the storm came some legit waves and wind. As I noted before, the shoreline is absolutely brutal to land on in general and would be pretty much impossible with 4 and 5’ waves crashing in. I knew I could swim to shore in an absolute emergency and planned on some rocks, but this would mean my kayak would be absolutely destroyed. I came to the strategy to just wait out the storm. There were high cliffs with trees so much higher points than me by a longshot so I wasn’t too worried. In addition I try to sit with my paddle across the deck and arms on my chest which I would like to think insulates me from the water. Held for like 45 mins in this and eventually it cleared out. With the wind from open water, waves prevailed as they do which is tough. I was in a massive unprotected stretch of water so I knew I had to directly fight the waves and try to find somewhere I could land. I eventually found a spot another 45 mins later where I managed to land my boat. Was not the cleanest, but got to shore unscathed. At this point I was shivering, wet, exhausted, getting rained on, and absolutely pissed at the water and I was holding myself back from chucking rocks to show my disapproval. I came to the conclusion that my anger at the water is pretty much a best-case scenario for these conditions so I toned it down. Comes back to respecting the water and the conditions it can unexpectedly create. Talking to those who completed this before, I heard about respecting it so often I somewhat disregarded it, but now stand by this being the most important piece of advice you could give someone out here. After drying off and warming up I was able to find a nice spot after some climbing. From this point on a 7 mile crossing will be my furthest, so all down from here. Continually throughout the trip I ensure that I acknowledge all things but focus on the things I can actually control. This is something I have been taught while skiing in college. In Nordic skiing, so little can be controlled, which is super cool, but can also get hard to deal with when you strive for excellence and you may envision something and then have it completely flip as conditions change. When this happens, focusing on the few things you can change has really helped me.

Day 27 - Woke up early as projected winds would absolutely shift later in the day. Got on the water around 7. I’ve been hesitant in general to wake up early as I do not want at all to reduce any recovery I could get. Had some incredibly solid miles. I figured out the head positioning the day before and was able to sling quality miles like I hadn’t before. Was out until 3pm when some intense fog rolled in, birds flying away, so I booked it to shore. Seems like it never shifted and it was just fog and I probably could have continued, but that’s how it is. Had a nice river so didn’t have to swim in Superior to get a bath. Spent a bunch of time doing things I neglected such as repairing stuff, tackling the mold in my day hatch that was starting to grow, laundry, stuff of that nature. My spray skirt has continually been a source of much frustration due to many reasons. Today, the pull strap ripped as I entered shore. This has always been a fear of mine and for many kayakers I’d assume. Sewed it up and am being quite cautious, but not overly thrilled with it. I purchased a Whetman pressure deck as an upgrade before my trip but realized it does not fit my kayak rim as the combing of my rim is angled too far down. I have seen you can take a heat gun to it, but as this was not something I cared to do, I returned it and have used what came with my boat. I have often thought of getting a new skirt, but at this point I might as well trek on as it would not come before my next restock. Doing well otherwise.

Day 28 - Pretty much a full rest day. I got motivated around 1 and fought incredibly hard to get to the water. As I planned, I would time with the waves to depart as one recedes, get smoked by a wave, swim out with my kayak, and then back deck scramble on. Worked perfectly but my skeg was incredibly jammed. Came to the conclusion that I would not paddle without it and returned to shore 100yds past where I had started. Waves and wind were pretty legit outside of my cove so venturing would not be incredibly smart. I realized after setting up camp again that I was very much in moose country as there were many piles of droppings. Getting trampled or bit by a moose is a concern so I tried to set up away from the major paths. No reception so just lay balled up trying to stay warm. That about sums up the day.

Day 29 - This was projected to be a brutal day fighting constant 15-20 mph wind. In reality, it turned into a slight headwind. I’ve known for days now that I would basically run out of food soon and did ration my food the day before which was not fun. With this said, I was completely determined to not starve and was willing to absolutely fight to put myself in a position I could get to Marathon on the next day. Got on the water at 8:20 and ended a bit after 9:30. Managed around 40 miles fighting headwinds. Most quality day by far, think I’ve gone further with tailwinds, but was incredibly impressed by this day as I was initially hoping for 10 and put myself in a position that I won’t have to paddle without any food. I’ve ran out of oatmeal and some of my other food, but luckily have been overpacking my trail mix and keeping it so thrilled to have it. Managed to find a nice campsite and found it super cool to find an incredibly old campfire ring with rotting wood that definitely used to be a bench.

Day 30 - Just as I moved to the open water, the winds shifted hard, but I was able to find a nice safe passage between the rocks. As written before, winds throughout the trip have been so unpredictable. Despite my hopes, wind did not change until like 6pm. I sat on an exposed rock pretty much all day waiting. Slung out 5 miles in headwinds but was having issues with my shoulders as with the no coverage, I was pretty much cold and tight all day. Looking forward to being able to restock soon. Would have ideally planned to restock yesterday, but due to lack of foresight of this 100+ mile stretch and winds, that didn’t happen.

June 13, 2024

I wrote this in parts as I did 31-33 together, but couldn’t send out due to no service and exhaustion in later days, so included up to 38 as I write now. Definitely the best days of the trip as of recent. Not sure if that is because I’m reaching the final stretch or if that is me figuring this out. Definitely stretches in the past where I have been wishing the end would have come already, but now, I feel I could forever live this way and am loving it out here. Some absolute breathtaking areas and times to be out here.

Day 31 - Some decent headwinds today. Took a decent amount of effort to get the 20 miles to get to Marathon. I had my 3rd resupply with my grandparents. Was great to see them again and spent a bit of time together. The last time I had spoken with someone was the morning of the 20th, so pretty wild to go over 10 days. Before this trip, the most I had done was a full day. I was still texting in this time, but would go days without reception so was pretty cut off. I honestly do not feel or think any different to my knowledge. I will say that I feel incredibly tuned into my body. In addition, my memory of past events is incredibly solid as I can recount things I have not thought about in an incredible amount of time. I had little idea of how this isolation would impact me, but seemingly no effect. Out alone, the saying nobody can affect your emotions but yourself is incredibly true as there is literally nobody or anything to balance or impact anything. I think I have been incredibly positive throughout the trip spare a few moments. When it gets rough, I try to remind myself that this is why I choose this trip and to stop whining and enjoy it. Also, I try to keep in mind that there will be times I would absolutely give the world to relive even the worst moments. There have definitely been tough times, but these are what make the good so great. Moving on, in Marathon, my grandparents took me to a grocery store where I got vegan ice cream, puffcorn, and some peanut butter and bread. I put down the ice cream on the drive back to the beach and demolished the bag of puffcorn the next day. Got dropped off, walked back to my site and called it a night.

Day 32 - Wind was continually switching throughout the day and that is of course difficult to plan around and deal with, but was alright in general. Pretty average day, started late, but got around 9 quality hours. The campsite I found was incredibly neat as it was an actual site on Wilson Island and I completely hobbled into it. Honestly this changes little for me as there are trees everywhere with my hammock but was incredibly neat to wander into. There was also a camp toilet which is a change. Pretty much the entire trip, my routine is to bring my water, soap, and collect driftwood from the beach to wipe with and hike into the woods a ways. I then dig a hole, poop, wipe with sticks, wash with soap and water, and then cover it up. It sounds a lot worse than it is. Toilet paper is far from sustainable and would suck to transport and deal with as one is supposed to burn it or pack it out to leave no trace. Also, I will advocate that driftwood is about as good as it gets. That’s about it for the day.

Day 33 - Woke up just past 10 which is pretty incredible how much sleep I had gotten. A few days ago I had gotten 3 according to my watch due to shivering all night, so think this is my body compensating. I pretty much run the routine of waking up whenever I do as if my body wants that much sleep, I see no reason to question it and grind out the morning hours. Somewhat frustrating day in that the wind was incredibly brutal to deal with even though this was not forecasted at all with the direction or speed. With that said, only managed 10 miles but this was not from a lack of effort. A somewhat highlight came in the morning when I made a bathroom break on a beach. I had landed in a cove with some large rocks to my right. The waves were calm so I just put the bow up on shore. In the few minutes I was gone, my boat had managed to leave shore, leave the bay, and was making its way to the big water. I realized this, dropped my stuff, frantically put on my drysuit, and then sent it off the large rocks in pursuit of my boat. Winds were relatively calm and it was maybe a 15 yd swim, but could have been quite bad. I would have had my phone, but would have been stuck on an island in the Canadian wilderness with little means of getting out which would be incredibly unfortunate. Moving on, the day consisted of trying to get miles, have the wind shift and then hunker down. Had thunderstorms pass through so just sat under a tree and watched the winds and rains. Managed another while of paddling and then got pinned on a large rock once again. Hung out there for a few hours and managed to get out for a few more. Only around 10 miles on the day so nothing incredible. After leaving the rock, the emotions of joy, feeling alive, connected to the world, and at the same time disconnected from myself were stronger than anytime before on the trip and I do not know the last time or if I had ever felt this to this extent. Truly an amazing time. Nothing about this evening was special, but looking back I think it was me completely living in the moment. I’ve gotten to a point where I pretty much disregard wind, do not entirely know where I am, and have literally no plans and am willing to sit on a rock and watch waves as chaos surrounds me. Have been riding a high since then and find it funny this clicked after 33 days.

Day 34 - Another day of somewhat solid headwinds. Managed around 20 miles after around 10hrs of effort. Wind continued to switch on me throughout the day and it made it difficult as I would work to get protected with islands on my crossings and, but then would get absolutely blasted with a sidewind or something not ideal. Did not really bother me though, enjoying my time and had no issue taking cover at times.

Day 35 - This has by far been my favorite day. Woke up late to the sound of waves crashing and was sad as I thought it was a headwind but was pleasantly surprised to see it was actually a tailwind. Incredibly solid day of paddling, 12.5 hrs, 36 miles on map, so probably a bit over 40 traveled. The highlights were definitely seeing a mother and 2 small moose and the sunset. At this point, I had been absolutely scanning the shores for days on the search for moose as I would be incredibly sad to not see one. This is quite difficult as most rocks look like moose from ways off and this emotional rollercoaster prevailed for days. I was surfing waves between two islands and thought I saw something over a mile up. Continued on and when I was maybe 100yds away a mother moose with 2 smaller moose directly tailing were trotting along the shoreline. Did not manage a photo, but definitely a massive highlight for the trip. I have only seen moose from over a mile when I was 12, so was amazed to see how large and effortlessly it moved along the rocky shoreline. After this, I continued on and as the sun began to set, an incredible pink and golden sky illuminated the lake. The picture does no justice to the moment. I have seen many great sunsets, but feel as if I have never lived through one like this as the sun set and I was hitting a crossing on calm waters with solid tailwinds. Was pretty to see the sun fully set and let the moon illuminate my way. Got off the water around 10:30 and called it a night.

Day 36 - Started my day late again, but got on the water and cruised another 10hrs and just over 30 miles. Some absolutely beautiful islands and rock formations. Have many pics, but once again, feel they do little justice to the moment. Had a decent amount of fog roll in and less than 50yrds visibility. Saw a sailboat motor by into a protected bay as it got later and was incredibly neat to see one up close. Have sailed and seen many in the past, but it’s remarkable how few boats I have seen in general, especially in Canada.

Day 37 - Some decently tough headwinds all day, but managed maybe 17 and got back to MN. Throughout the trip it has been difficult for me to determine the effort I put into fighting wind as the wind often varies and this makes it difficult to know if it changed or just a gust for a minute or so. Have been on the mentality that regardless of the wind, I will not allow myself to lose ground. Definitely tires me out at times, but definitely needed in the past. Really not much eventful otherwise, solid day of paddling.

Day 38 - Started today at 7 which is hours earlier than lately and managed some solid tailwinds and progress throughout the day. Quite sore as 37 was by no means an easy day even though there was not incredible progress. In addition, 10hrs has somewhat been my low lately and I’ve been doing some larger days. Today I got in the mid 30s for miles after 11.5hrs of paddling. Finished around Croftville I think. Some crazy thunderstorms that I had to hunker down for. Most of the strikes were around 7 seconds after the flash at closest, so just over a mile away but they were legit and wind and rain were strong.

Night of 38 - Soon after I finalized my writing and sent it out, things got a bit chaotic. It began with feeling that my butt was a little wet, so I took off my pants as I thought they were the source. I could then tell that the bottom of my hammock was wet, so I put on my headlamp to ensure that my rain fly was not sending water through, but my tarp was good. I then reached my hand out with intentions of wringing out my underquilt if wet and immediately realized that my location had turned into a pond. There was a flash flood warning that I saw before turning off my phone, but I of course, thought nothing of it. There was a foot-wide stream 10 yards from my spot, but decently below my spot. I would estimate the water rose around 7’ as I was feet above the stream and decently high in the trees that night. Earlier, while waiting out the storm I had counted 10 mosquitoes on my right knee alone, and they were absolutely ready as I had to evacuate my spot. The bugs absolutely pile into the area between the integrated bug net of my hammock and the tarp and as I was scrambling to evacuate with nothing more than underwear on, I was obliterated. I worked to collect my drysuit, socks, dry bags, shoes, boots, and hat which were all floating around and had to fish them out in addition to working to protect my stuff from not getting further soaked. Ferried all of my stuff to high ground to where it was safe and walked down the beach to find high ground which was alongside a long driveway. Throughout the trip, I have chosen unoccupied areas, which I have learned are unoccupied for a reason, but that’s how it is. Once I got moved, managed to get some alright sleep considering all my stuff was wet.

Day 39 - Some solid headwinds today, less than 20 miles. Was great to see my parents as they came to meet me on a beach and prepare a meal. Other than the few onion rings in Gay, warm food was not something I had had. They cooked up a stir fry on our portable Blackstone grill. After a pint of ice cream and as much as I could possibly eat, I hobbled to my kayak and managed to get another few miles. Meeting my parents once again broke a streak of no-contact that dates to Marathon. As said before, weirdly, I feel impacted little and was quite content enjoying my adventure alone.

Day 41 - Calmest water I have experienced on my trip. Around 12hrs of paddling and an incredible setup day. Managed around 35 maybe. Highlight was running into Owen who is rowing around the lake. He was rowing a super neat boat that I had never before seen something like. He began at Copper Harbor and was on day 10 when I saw him. Was neat to speak with someone who was relatively fresh into the journey as I was nearing the finale. Got his contact info and am looking forward to any updates I may get. As I continued I prepared for the finale and got to a spot directly 43 miles from the bridge.

Day 42 - Grand finale both in the day and the weather conditions. Woke up and experienced the worst bugs I have had on the trip. I have of course gotten efficient, but was never in a rush like this morning. Knowing it was the last day I resorted to pretty much throwing my stuff in hatches with little concern if they got damp from not being in a dry bag. Got on the water just before 6. Nice tailwinds to start but turned into the largest waves I have experienced. I would estimate a large one around 7’. I have had no means of actually measuring wind or waves and have been skeptical of forecasts and that stuff. With that said, I definitely feel that I would fit standing in these conditions. These were incredibly rough conditions and I sat on shore for a while waiting for them to calm. The problem was that the wind shifted, and when this happens, waves do not immediately change and you get waves from multiple directions which obviously is rough.

I was able to find cover at the harbor in Two Harbors. In this time I ran into a search and rescue ambulance. I was walking to the bathroom and of course since I had a pdf and drysuit, they were clued into me. They rolled down their window and asked if I had just been paddle boarding. I told them I was kayaking and that was the end of that conversation but it definitely scared me and set in the reality of the danger as those waves and conditions were terrible and there was serious danger. Hung out for maybe an hour and got back on the water.

I came to the strategy to back paddle and lean back in the large packets of waves to not surf them. Earlier in the day I was launched by maybe a 5’ that broke as I was surfing and picked up the back of my boat and sent me a bit airborne and angled down which is not a great place to be in. From that point I made sure to not get on the lower section of wave where I would surf. The large waves come in packets so while the waves were around 2’ otherwise, large ones would come through that I could avoid without much concern. Definitely sketchy but I was dressed for immersion, was near shore, and had multiple means of rescue so I felt comfortable moving on.

The reality of finishing became real when I saw all the antennas of Duluth blinking as I rounded a bend. It was a bittersweet finale to my trip. When times got rough on the trip I thought of how great the end would feel. Of course it was super neat and finalized the accomplishment, but was a bit sad to walk away from this trip as it now rests as the past. All the countless hours spent prepping, days paddling, everything, was for this. I made it under the bridge around 8:40 and was greeting by family and friends on a beach. Was incredible to see them again. I even had a rainbow as I finished. The final stretch was brutal as there were some legit currents and waves that were going through the canal. Definitely took some technical kayaking.

Concluding Remarks

As was my senior quote and holds true for this, “Life is the pursuit, not the capture” -Scott D. Anderson. The trip was never about finishing, it was about the experiences created in the pursuit of this feat. This may be the greatest solo adventure I ever do, and at this point, I accept that and am proud of what I did. I have always loved to make the joke that the peak is past and it will be a hard fall, but I do not think this is true. Life and experiences are what you make of them, and while possible I will never again go on an adventure of this difficulty, that does not mean I may not get more enjoyment out of some other trip or adventure. I have a lot more to come and look forward to it. To me, this will forever be the testament to my transition from adolescence to adulthood as I brought in the dreams of someone wanting to experience something raw and revolutionary while at the same time bringing in incredible preparation and foresight that maturing brings. I will most definitely casually bring this up in every conversation I have for the rest of my life.

Environmental Awareness and Action

This is not something I have focused on much as I did not feel my ramblings of updates would do justice to the importance of this. To begin, as I wrote in my intro, I spent much time thinking for my own answer as to why people should care about Lake Superior. I have concluded that Superior is part of the larger ecosystem and while it is a reason I care, someone who cares about another place is in the same boat. When I said average person, I did not mean someone who lives close to Lake Superior. I wanted to include someone who lives far away and connect as to why they should care. One could make some far-reaching connection, but to someone hundreds of miles away, they would not care in the same way that I do not fight for some problem facing an ecosystem hundreds of miles away. Whether we work to conserve or not, in a thousand years, what remains is the land and we together will be remembered for how we left it for those to come. To bring it back to Superior, it is one of the fastest warming lakes in the world and is warming since the 80s at nearly a degree a decade which is incredible. This is incredibly problematic as this has massive implications for severe storms, clean water, and ecosystems to name a few. To focus on severe storms, there have been multiple storms that were deemed 500 and 1000 year storms, within a decade absolutely rampaging the South Shore. I will never forget the 2012 Duluth flood as it was absolutely crazy. If anyone reading does not know, consider looking up pics, it is wild. I want awareness of Superior to be one of the major takeaways from this. I have little to gain and do not care to boast about my kayaking skills, and that was never what this was about. Also, kayaking is just a sliver of what I believe I am and science and outdoors have always been passions of mine well before kayaking. Part of the inspiration came from the ability to use my perspective as a future educator. This summer’s water temps are especially warm due to the record-breaking warm winter. This was reflected in my collections of surface water temperatures. The lowest and only recorded in the 30s was 39.4 (day 1) and highest was 56.1 (day 4). Compounding all of the days, the average would be around 48 degrees. To put this into perspective, I legitimately planned that my average be around 39-40 degrees based on averages of previous years. It is not just the surface temperatures warming, the entirety of the lake is. Like many climate trends, through the seasons the temperature fluctuates, but looking at the trends, slopes up. I do not want to be labeled and disregarded as an alarmist scientist, but this is not good and few people seem to be aware of the numbers and implications it brings. Now that you may be more aware, I wanted to ensure that I focused on a piece of action that I would take and bring awareness to as awareness without action accomplishes incredibly little. I understand this seems like an external challenge and something larger than us. Also, to be honest, as an individual, the impact of one is irrelevant in the grand scheme. Though I stand by the quote by Hellen Keller that, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” The climate fight is not over, for me and others my age, it now begins. All we can control is our future, the world inherited comes with problems, but I absolutely believe that if we work together, we can create change. A step in this direction and something I wanted to talk about was going vegan. With this said, I talk to bring awareness as it is regarded as the greatest change someone can make to protect ecosystems. I do not mean to guilt or shame someone into something. Also, I have only been vegan since the winter, so I am no lifetime vegan. Before this change, anti-vegan would probably be the best way to describe me as I thought it stood in direct opposition to all the hunting and fishing I grew up doing. I now believe that avoiding all animal products may be the greatest protector of those ecosystems I have forever been fascinated with. As said in my intro, I have seen streams change irreversibly as stretches that once held bass and trout now only hold invasive minnow species. This beaks my heart as those bends, my memories of biking as a kid to those spots, and for any other person to enjoy what I did in the past is lost. That is culture forever lost. I will absolutely fight, sacrifice, and try to inspire others to not let the beauty of nature be destroyed as we watch. There is absolutely culture in animal products and especially cheese and dairy is massive around where I live. With that said, I feel that more culture is destroyed as we consume products that have so heavily been marketed as essential. We believe the meat and meals we cook are cultural and have been conditioned to believe that going vegan cannot be done and that meat and dairy products are needed, but I challenge you, if you think that, look up an unbiased source that supports your viewpoint that plant-based cannot be just as or more healthy than a diet that contains animal products. Please at least now look up some of this stuff if you have interest in protecting our ecosystems. I do not want this to seem as me attacking you, but I want to inspire at least some awareness of the impacts. What the animal agriculture industry gets away with baffles me. I did not care to look it up for a long time or acknowledge, but it absolutely sickens me and actually acknowledging it inspired me to pretty much change all that I eat. This was quite the change, but I honestly think I am happier and the common stereotypes I held have been shattered. I will say that I am not giving up hunting and fishing and will continue with that. To note, I almost always fish waterways that are either contaminated or catch and release, and my falls are too busy now to get out hunting, but I want to hold on to this stipulation as it accurately reflects me. I am still vegan over 95% of days and oppose the term environmentally-conscious eater as this leads way too much room for interpretation. We all like to believe we are doing better than we actually are and find it difficult to see the fault in ourselves. With this and the advertisements that the animal products we consume are sustainable, we justify not thinking critically or confronting the industry worth trillions that shows little respect for our environment. This industry is not happy individual farmers working together to supply all the animal products for us, it is a global industry led by major powers that shows incredibly little regard to the damage they leave as they move on once they have extracted all the profits. Please, if you have made it this far, at least look some stuff up. This is not about stirring conflict with you, but I want to oppose the industry that gets away with what it does when we stand conflicted against ourselves instead of against those who profit as we do nothing. If you look this stuff up, few people would say they support what is going on, but if we continue to consume, we are voicing our support as a consumer and are feeding them. If anyone reading has any connections to any conservationist organization or projects and see value to any perspectives I could share, I would be thrilled to contribute.

Food on Trip

I was completely vegan during the trip. I honestly did not think this could be done when I initially began planning this trip. I was prepared to show up to a town, buy 2 packs of brats, and just cook them over a fire. I have before done stuff like this and it is as glorious as it sounds. To begin, I lost 10 pounds during my 42 day expedition which I am pretty impressed with. Feel that I am at a healthy weight now and not under. I put on a bit of a buffer before, especially in my finals week where I tried to eat as much junk food as possible. To put that into perspective, I lost 8 pounds on my 15 day SHT hike which had a diet heavily consisting of cheese and summer sausage. Also, my kayaking trip was much more demanding than hiking. There was not much variation in my diet and I did not care as I was happy with it. I had overnight oats every morning, gorp (mainly cashews), 4 granola bars, and unholy amounts of chili cheese Fritos. Overall, I was thrilled with food and think I nailed it.

Cost

I want to highlight the cost as I think it is important. I do not want to give off the impression that this trip was an expensive wellness journey footed by my parents as I do not think that is the case. I find stories of that nature a bit ridiculous and of little relatability. I ran this trip for right around 3k for everything. I brought in less than 200$ worth of gear, so pretty much everything was purchased for this trip. I acknowledge this is a lot of money, but if you know the quality of my gear which I will lay out my list below, this is incredibly impressive and a testament to how many hours I spent on used markets and timing deals throughout the year of prep. It absolutely could have been run cheaper, but I absolutely never wanted to compromise on quality on essential items as that could absolutely cost my life. My parents have raised me to be pretty financially independent and I appreciate it. For example, my parents have never gotten me significant ski gear. I got my first job and worked my butt off for 8.25$/hr to afford used high-end pairs of skate and classic skis. Finding other skiers where this is the case, especially at the college level is quite difficult. This does not just apply to skiing or that activity alone. I am paying for school, rent, food, gas, pretty much everything. I have given up a lot of times with friends working as many weekends as I have been available and full-time or a bit above in the summer. This has instilled a work ethic I doubt would form if I did not have to make sacrifices for something I wanted. I am still privileged and will not try to disregard that, but this

Inspiration

This would have been great in the intro, but was a bit afraid to write a heroic story and then potentially drop out or fail for some reason. Of course I am unable to convey the entirety of my life and what leads me to adventure, but I know for the most part what led me to this trip in particular.

It consists largely of 4 events which I will outline. First of which was the 180 hrs I worked in 15 days. I wrote this in my intro but never connected it to anything. I for the most part elected to do this and do not want to give off the impression they sought out to destroy me. Also, it was all double-time as a base pay so I made out pretty large and this alone funded my trip and much more. I would absolutely do it again if this opportunity ever came up again. In this time, I was in southern MN working at a sister facility and living there. In addition, I was supposed to be on break from working out to give myself rest which removes a pillar of my life, so that in addition to being in an unfamiliar environment, working many 16hr shifts, nobody my age, I felt like I had lost my life in a way. With that, you really grasp the value of something when it is taken away. I began dreaming of a grand adventure throughout my days. I did not know what it would be, but I wanted to make a mark, to do something I could look back on and know that I absolutely lived to the max and held nothing back.

My second was a chance encounter I had with a guy who completing the trip. This was in a reservoir parking lot. I had just been fishing for a few hours in my rowboat, and comically, an oar lock broke which left me working incredibly hard to fight headwinds paddling a large rowboat like a canoe to get back. I had organized to camp with my friends in the reservoir and true to form, they were running late. This left me time to talk to this guy who I am unable to recollect the name who was strapping down a canoe. After some time talking about paddling, he mentioned he completed the journey in 3 months. I thought he was absolutely crazy and the trip sounded ridiculous.

Third was the Superior Hiking Trail which is a trail through northern Minnesota a tad over 300 miles. This provided the baseline for my expedition experience. I would like to say my roommate Max and I “surthrived”, but there was a lot of things that went wrong for both of us. We absolutely suffered a lot of days and going out early July was not ideal. Learned through denial and error but I completely attribute the smoothness I had on the wildness of Superior to these errors. This was an incredible experience but was not the pure adventure I dreamed to complete over my working trip. We took 17 days with 2 being rest days at Max’s Aunt’s house.

Fourth was the realization and putting together that circumnavigating Superior was the craziest, purest, and raw adventure that I could do in a summer. It was just another typical afternoon of working. Nothing particularly special other than the fact that I remember it being somewhat uneventful. I do not know what prompted it, but it completely inspired me and I began planning that night. After my 2-9 shift, I had a 6-2 the next morning, so definitely not much sleep that night as I began reading stories and created my master Google Sheet.

Mentality

As important as all the physical abilities and technical kayak skills are, the mental side may be even more important. There are a lot of small phrases I will include as many are relevant to this trip, but more importantly, to life.

Smooth is fast- definitely not a sprint, keeping in mind the long-term while ensuring you do not miss a step is critical.
Only you can control your emotions- simply said, you are alone and left to process and enjoy the beauty in it all, regardless of how difficult it may seem.
No shame in watching waves- no reason to fight a battle where you do not belong. Also, if the worst part of your day is sitting on shore watching waves, life ain’t that bad.
Control what you can control- whenever I got in a rough spot, I worked to determine what I can control and spend all my attention on that and not about what I can not. Lesson learned through sport and incredibly applicable to life.
Fear is not bad- fear is absolutely essential to have when stakes are high. I absolutely ensured I never got lazy and complacent as then safety becomes a real concern

Foundations in Kayaking

Before this, I had done almost no kayaking that was not directly tied to fishing. Even my exploration into whitewater kayaking was directly tied to the ability to fish areas that others could not. I have grown up fishing, and especially during the pandemic, working at an assisted living, fishing became what I did. The average days for my first 2 summers working consisted of working 6-2, training, eating, fishing until dark, and then repeating. Primarily I fly fish out of my 9’ open kayak for bass on rivers around Cloquet and Duluth. It is absolutely incredible how many miles of rivers there are and I have spent a lot of effort getting to some. These trips and experiences are much of the reason I decided to stay around Duluth as there is literally nowhere else I would rather be. I have traveled to many areas, but always feel grateful to have grown up where I did as I feel that nothing compares. In all this exploration, I got better as a kayaker and worked to improve my abilities. It was never about kayaking and in many ways, this trip was somewhat never about kayaking, but it allows you to be free, to navigate the crazy seas, float in inches of water, and to explore the water and shores like few others can.

Experience in kayaking / research

I am not afraid to admit that my sea kayaking experience before this trip was incredibly limited. I purchased my kayak late in the fall and only did an overnight trip over spring break. I am pretty much self-taught as I had never gone with anyone, but I consumed as much info as I could while researching. Through books, videos, forums, and reaching out to those who completed the trip or other trips. Hard to give a number but definitely over 100 hrs of prep as I spent nearly a year with almost every day having some level of thought put into the trip. I did not take this trip lightly as I am not ignorant enough to ignore that I faced serious danger. Looking at stats, tragically two people lost their lives in Michigan while I was on my trip and this stuff sadly happens quite a bit. Lake Superior absolutely does what it will and all one can do is adapt. I have laid out much of this in my kayak section below if interested.

Leave No Trace

I worked hard to leave no trace around the lake. Back to my efforts, I had no fires, worked to not trample stuff or erode shoreline, many more. With that said, I acknowledge that camping along the shoreline, if done by tons of people, could wreck the nature. To offset this, I worked to pick up trash on the beaches and take it with me. There was trash on almost all beaches as stuff just washes up. I would argue that I did more good than bad. All this stuff does not take much effort, but takes a conscious effort.

Acknowledgments

It is definitely cliché to say, but while it appears to be a solo expedition, this trip relied on so many people it is incredible. I also want to say there are many who will not get a shoutout who deserve one.

Ben Croft and Croft’s Crew

This trip and absolutely would not have happened without literally any member of this group. Ben has been a volunteer ski coach at Cloquet for many years and it’s hard to write the impact Ben has made. Excluding family, it is hard to think of people who have made a larger impact on my life than Ben. Ben has spent hundreds of hours coaching me and still continues to show up to my stuff. Ben is also incredibly knowledgeable on Superior and was definitely concerned and would check in. Also, of massive impact is that he has a legit kayak that I knew if something went wrong for whatever reason, I had a spare lined up as he without thinking offered it up when I told him of my plans. Ben has always rented out gear to us and the entire Cloquet ski team and it’s incredible what he has and the generosity to share it. Croft’s Crew was formed by the guys a bit older than me and was our club for non-high school races we competed in. There is no club or team I would rather have grown up skiing with. With that said, Ben introduced us to canoe paddling as a means of cross-training for skiing in the winter. Ben coached the foundation that I brought into this trip as canoeing and kayaking is closely related. With kayaking, Benjamin, another member taught me how to whitewater kayak and this was the other piece of kayaking I brought in. Absolutely relied on some of the things Benjamin had taught me when things got rough as all the good and bad playing in waves with his direction taught me what to do. Each member absolutely has massive roles in the development of this and I love how we continue to hang out and produce songs together.

Current and Past Coaches

I have had so many incredible coaches throughout my years and many played massive roles in the development of me and this trip. There are too many to name them all, but all from my years growing up playing soccer, Cloquet Ski Club, high school days, to my years now at CSS. There are no teams I would have rather come from than Cloquet and and love the teams I am on at CSS. Lessons from sport have been pivotal in my life and many of the large ones I carried into the trip came from running and skiing.

First Responders

Huge shoutout to all the first responders and I am hugely thankful for what they do and the lives they save. I did everything I could to prepare to never see them, but with my 3 false alarms, I saw them more than I wanted, but even as frustrated as they may have been, they were incredibly invested with my safety out on the lake and were kind through it all.

Family and Friends

My family was instrumental in assisting me throughout the trip. It would be a lie to say my parents were thrilled with the idea of this trip. Both tried various things over my time preparing to have me do otherwise. With that said, they were supportive of me throughout it all and I appreciated the concern though I felt bad about causing it. They helped coordinate my food as well as I had laid it out, but it needed to fully be put together. In addition, my grandparents drove to my location 3 times for restocks and was great to see them and appreciate the time they dedicated to helping out. Throughout the trip I continued to receive support from friends and family and it was refreshing and fun to hear from people I had not heard from in a while. Thanks to you all

MIKCo

Tom and Liz were instrumental in this journey and this blog. Spent a decent amount of time working to ensure I had the best paddles I could out here and the customized fitting was amazing and I would not have wanted it another way. In addition, they definitely spent a decent amount of time formatting this blog into a solid format and I am incredibly grateful.

Those who I reached out to

I reached out to an incredible amount of people who had completed the trip or had decent kayak or expedition experience. Incredibly nice to hear perspectives and revive advice from people who have many years of experience. There are too many to name, but want those who I reached out to to know that they provided invaluable input.

Trip and Lake Superior Info

This section will not be of much value to the casual reader, but I wanted to make this a resource for other kayakers as I worked incredibly hard to find info like this.

Gear - brief overview of all the gear I used and my thoughts on it after the trip

Kayak

I used a fiberglass NDK Explorer. Absolutely incredible boat and I do not know if there is a boat I would rather have used. Of course not the fastest boat comparatively on flat water, but can absolutely hold its own in some crazy conditions and I would not want any less stability in some of those conditions. Absolutely took some beatings on the lake and shows little sign of wear. Absolutely feared breaking my boat after a rough entry of mine early on that could easily have destroyed a light boat and that would be terribly bad.

Paddle

650 and 700 Celtic Kinetic paddles. I used the 650 pretty much the entire time. There were a few days that I used the 700 as you could feel the increased power and wanted that in the water, but with 10+ hrs of paddling every day, wanted a little less grab and the 650 was great. These paddles absolutely took beatings as I absolutely smoked some rocks and outside of a few cosmetic dings, seem perfectly sound.

Drysuit

Kokatat Icon. Would absolutely recommend a drysuit for someone completing the trip. Never had to rely on it to save my life, but knowing my survival time in the water was massively more than without it made me comfortable when waters were rough. Incredibly nice for my entries and exits to water as some were rough and relied on me swimming. Also, enjoyed the back zip as I liked how I could wear it around my waist while not up

PFD

Kokatat Neptune. Hurt a bit to spend this much on a PFD, but incredible adjustment and pockets that I utilized. I never wanted to compromise on safety and this was a big one. Chose this as it’s approved in both Canadian and US waters which is seemingly rare. Would find it hard to imagine getting dinged, but I did not want to take any chances.

Sprayskirt

Boreal Design sprayskirt. Absolutely terrible, in rough conditions would have to bilge out inches of water every few minutes between large packets of waves. It is old and did not fit incredibly well as there was a massive fold in the back that let in much water as it pooled. Nothing against the company really and they no longer make skirts, but this is not something to compromise on. Came with kayak so have no clue on age.

Boots

NRS Freestyle boots. Chose these as I liked the minimalist nature of them and I was able to move around incredibly well inside the kayak. The ability to move my feet around was incredible and needed as I would go 12+ hrs sitting in my boat at times.

Glasses

Bliz Hero Polarized. Glasses absolutely saved me in some of the conditions as I would have been blind without them when facing around 40mph winds with sideways rain. Liked the large lenses as they covered much of my face. Got a legit deal on these so went with them and was incredibly impressed. Regardless of what I used, highly recommend glasses at almost all times as the sun is incredibly bright and wind is rough without them.

Gloves

Had NRS guide gloves which were neoprene and Simms sun gloves. Switched between these depending on sun and temperature. Sun would have obliterated my hands otherwise without gloves and I did not want that. Was skeptical of using neoprene gloves as I often hold a gloves are for the weak mentality in the winter. When it is 40 and raining all day, warm gloves were incredibly nice. In addition, if I ever were to have to swim, hands are often what gets brutally cold first so preventing that would be massive.

Hammock

Kammok Mantis UL and 2x Kammok Bobcat. Absolutely loved the hammock setup and would not have wanted a tent. Not many days of flat ground for a tent and regardless, I prefer a hammock setup as I enjoy the feel and enjoy the option for ventilation on warm nights. Had to get creative some nights and it took a bit of time, but always found 2 solid trees. Kept the whole system Kammok as it integrates well together but sure other systems are solid as well.

Tracking

I used a Spot Gen 3 that I purchased for the trip and am beyond pissed at this thing. 3 false alarms on days 6,10, and 18. First time it was in a bag inside my PFD pocket, second time was sitting inside a hatch, and third time it was sitting in my mesh bag. All times were completely bogus and this is ridiculous to have wasted the resources to send out rescue teams to me 3 times. Will absolutely be tossing this thing.

Solar

Incredible setup, pleased as my phone and watch easily stayed charged throughout the trip. Took time to find this setup as much of solar almost seems gimmicky or not rugged enough, but this was a legit setup and would recommend this.

Direction

The direction of my journey was something I spent many hours working on. Went counterclockwise and am glad I did. In the northern hemisphere currents carry counterclockwise, but do not think that is incredibly relevant as wind controls the top of the water. Wind was what I planned my trip around. Depending on the season, there are wind trends. When I began it was a prevailing east wind, but then shifted to a west wind. This makes Duluth possibly the worst place on the lake to start, but that’s how it is and this was my window. There is much information online about wind trends and I spent a decent amount of time looking at the historical trends of cities around the lake. In addition, planning on the shoreline blocking winds was big in my thinking. The wind will roll right over the hills and hit you right on shore, but the waves do not pick up so it is not terrible. Either direction would have worked, but would impact how many days would be a wash.

Gear Requirements

Not much to this, but you have to ensure you hit all of the US and Canadian requirements for this trip. Believe Canada is same as US with the addition that you need a throw rope. My trip may very well have been ended by the Coast Guard when I was boarded if I did not have all the requirements when boarded.

Recommended Resources

I consumed a lot of resources to prepare for this trip. My absolute favorite was John Dowd’s book on expedition sea kayaking and I was absolutely applying his words to chaotic conditions that I doubt I would have properly dealt with otherwise. Read many forums on all things kayaking and that provided many interesting tips and things people do. Kayaking is not one size fits all, so important to get many perspectives and figure out what works for you. I watched some YouTube videos on stuff as I enjoyed the visual aspect of it. Lots of stuff out there, but in the end, experience and time on the water will show you to what you find. With that said, while a resource or tips of someone incredibly experienced may not be your thing, at least acknowledging and being aware of the thing is important.

Weather

Looking at the hourly weather and wind is important. With that said, weather seemed to do as it wanted and it was not incredibly accurate it seemed as it would absolutely change on a dime. My mentalities were to prepare for the worst, to control what you can control, and accepting there is only shame in being out in conditions you should not be in. Absolutely incredible some of the wind, waves, and precipitation that I saw out there and you absolutely have to respect the lake.

Circumnavigation Rules

There are no set rules on what constitutes a circumnavigation but I abided by rules I created and will share.

Paddle power only, no sails, motors, anything else
Any bay is fair game to cut. Would find it silly to say some bays are off limits and held the idea that if it can be deemed a bay, it is fair game.
No rescues, any needed rescue or assistance would mean the end of my trip.
Go around the Keweenaw Peninsula. This was one of my favorite parts, but regardless, even though technically an island, did not feel it’s fair to cut
Of course finish where you begin, lift bridge in Duluth was my line.

Bay Crossings

I sent some legit crossings with a 19 and 23 mile as the highlights. Definitely added danger, but only went out when conditions looked favorable and when any wind change would still mean I could get to a shore and not get blown out to the lake. By the shore gets sketchy as the waves get sent back, so staying incredibly close (30yrds or so) gets dangerous.

Kayak Modifications

There were a few things that I did with my kayak. Most impactful was foaming out by my feet and removing the foot pegs. Most of the time my legs were pretty straight and not pinned bracing the sides. When I read of this in a forum I thought the person was lazy and was not sitting properly, but with legs pinned on side, hip and torso rotation is problematically limited. Had 4.5” of insulating foam and then a 2” block of foam I had at a 15 degree angle to allow a more natural foot positioning. I also cut a U in all the blocks at the top and this allowed me to store my bilge easily. I had a few rope loops I made that held bungee that was held with goop to secure the bilge. Pretty standard rope and bungee system I used and nothing particularly special. Had a mesh bag I made that was incredibly nice. Sized it to fit the top of my deck and had a zipper than ran the majority of the way on the front.

Shore Landings

Absolutely learned this the hard way. Initially wound deadlift my kayak holding onto the cockpit and would carry it in and out of the water. Less damage to gelcoat I guess and many pros, but carrying a loaded kayak absolutely destroyed my shoulders to a point that I feared tearing them. My routine was to get to shore, get out, put up my skeg, put weight on the back of the boat to lift up the bow and get it up far on shore, lift up back of boat and walk it up on shore, and then pivot further as needed.

Bears / animals with food

I hardly took measures to deal with food as I knew it was stored in dry bags inside of hatches. I was a bit careless at times and would forget granola bars or the wrappers in my mesh bag, which prompted it getting chewed a few times which was annoying but my fault. I definitely could have hung some food, but due to the fact that my food was in various bags, I was lazy and did not care to. Also, did not think on many of the rock points and islands that I was on that a bear would be around.

That’s my overview of info. Please feel free to reach out to me through some form of social media if you are interested in a trip like this as I would be happy to share what I have learned as it has massive implications and to pay forward to all those who I reached out to.

GOING TO SEA IN SMALL BOATS

On Peaks Island, Maine since 1986

Meet Cale...

They approached me and asked if I was Cale and I was shocked they knew and immediately thought I was getting fined for sleeping on a beach or something.

Kayaking and being on Lake Superior in general are activities in which our levels of perceived danger may not line up with the actual danger.

That’s a wrap, ka-chow!

Concluding Remarks

Acknowledgments

Trip and Lake Superior Info

Maine Island Kayak Co.

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Sea kayaking outfitter, retailer, and guide service on Peaks Island, Maine and the world beyond.

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