Daily Stats
Start: 7:30 AM - St. Ignas, MI
Finish 4:00 PM - Naubinway, MI (3 miles east)
Time: 8:30 hours
Daily dist: 31 miles
Total dist: 4500+
Companions: Lisa joined me on the water for about two hours
Weather: Calm and partly cloudy becoming mostly clear w/ south wind 10 mph.
Notes: Reached northern most point of the trip.
Start: 7:30 AM - St. Ignas, MI
Finish 4:00 PM - Naubinway, MI (3 miles east)
Time: 8:30 hours
Daily dist: 31 miles
Total dist: 4500+
Companions: Lisa joined me on the water for about two hours
Weather: Calm and partly cloudy becoming mostly clear w/ south wind 10 mph.
Notes: Reached northern most point of the trip.
With only about 72 miles to go between St. Ignas and Manistique, where I have to be in three days, I could have plotted three 24 mile days. However, the light and variable winds I had for most of the day were not predicted to stay around. Instead the forecast is showing south and southwest winds up to 10 mph for the next two days which will be blowing right in my face as the shore bends to the southwest. With that in mind, I figured I’d put in a few extra miles today to shorten the distance I’d have to travel in the wind over the next two.
The very favorable weather in store today allowed me to take my time a bit this morning and enjoy a nice meal of eggs, sausage, and toast with the Bassett family who afterward came to the shore to see me off this morning.
Only about fifteen minutes into the day I caught a glimpse of a yellow kayak headed toward me from a bay to my right. Over the last two weeks I’d been corresponding with Lisa who lives in the Detroit area and has a cabin north of St. Ignas. We had hatched a plan to try to meet up on the water today so I was on the lookout for other kayaks but didn’t expect to see her so soon. It was great though as Lisa was pleasant company for the two hours she paddled with me before she had to drop off and return back to her car that was waiting at a park behind us. She didn’t leave, however, before she had a chance to give me a huge bag of dried Michigan cherries that she thought would be an appropriate gift for someone paddling a big chunk of Michigan. If you’ve never tried dried cherries before they‘re worth a shot, they are amazing.
Interestingly, eight and a half hours and thirty one miles of paddling put me at what I determined will be the northernmost point I will visit on this trip. Just like I did down on Low Key in Florida last February, I preserved the moment with a photograph and by taking a leaf of a nearby plant. This time it’s a sprig from a hearty little cedar tree growing amongst the rocks on a wind blown point of land that juts into the lake. After crawling my way north for the last five months (the exception being Lake Erie of course) I will now be on a south and southwest track pretty much all the way to the finish line. Now if only the wind would cooperate and stop blowing from the south and southwest.
Northernmost Point of the trip
Original phone in update - posted by Jake's brother Luke
Today Jake reached the northern most part of the trip. He enjoyed a day of calm weather but the wind has already started building from the south. Jake is expecting two days of headwinds as he heads to Manistique by Tuesday where he will see his Mommy and Daddy for the first time since December 5th.
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