Matt Abbotts and I plan to circumnavigate Lake Superior by sea kayak in the summer of 2009. We decided to use trailjournals to record our trip because we both found the site to be an incredible asset in keeping Matt’s friends and family up to date on his thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2008. We will be leaving Houghton, MI on our 1,000 mile paddle on June 11, 2009. I will be writing in the journal every now and then for the next few months as we finish up the planning stages of our trip. Once we begin paddling it is our goal to have daily entries, which will be updated every week or so. If you found out about our paddle on trailjournals and would like to learn more about us and our paddle, please visit our website at www.asuperioradventure.com. We always appreciate feedback, so if there are any questions you have about our trip or suggestions you care to make, feel free to write in the guest book or contact us directly at our email addresses listed on our web page.

Today was the day. I took the leap. I made the investment. Matt and I went to Downwind Sports in Houghton, MI and purchased my kayak. I own THE BOAT that I will be paddling around Superior. It’s an Impex Force 3, 17 feet long and 21.5 inches wide, orange upper with blue trim. It seems like most of the gear I own is orange, not because I love orange, but because orange things seem to go on sale more frequently and I don’t discriminate. This boat fits me like a glove! I haven’t been able to get it in the water yet because the outdoors is frozen and the school only hosts pool sessions once a month. I can’t wait for spring!

We’ve been having some pretty weird weather here the last couple days. It’s amazing to see days above 20 degrees in February in Houghton, let alone the 40 degrees we’ve had for the last 4 days. The weather has been pretty rough on the ice that Matt and I have been climbing for the last few weeks, however it gave us the perfect excuse to put our boats in the water. The ice moved out of Keweenaw Bay a couple days ago leaving a few miles of crystal clear, perfectly still water. There was no resisting it, we had to get our boats in the water. It was beautiful. My boat paddles like a dream, I don’t think I could’ve found a better fit. We were only able to go out for about an hour, but we’re gonna try again tomorrow. Today’s paddle just got me so excited for our trip I had to share it. Only four months til we’re on the water for real!

I know Matt posted something the other day, but we’ve made a decision not to talk about or read each others journals, so hopefully this isn’t too repetitive.

We are now officially sponsored by Aquapac. Aquapac is a great company that makes all sorts of dry cases specifically designed for electronics. We are going to be bringing a few of their cases along with us on our paddle for our cameras, VHF radio, GPS, etc.

In other news, we sent out our press release last week and since then have had a news story in Sootoday and a story on Marquette’s TV6.

As far as preparation goes – we went paddling the other day, it was cold and Matt’s boat got swamped by a large wave, but all in all it was a good test of our preparedness. Today we’re heading to the store to get spaghetti sauce, refried beans, apple sauce, etc. to dehydrate for our trip.

We are almost ready to go…if only there was no ice on the lake! Matt and I spent my spring break firming up our meal plan, shaking down our gear, and dehydrating food. We dried a whole bunch of hummus, vegetables, and spaghetti sauce with just fruit leather left to go. What we though was going to be about 2 weeks worth of food quickly turned into about 40 days worth of food so we might need to think about cutting back a little and having some of it sent as mail drops. As far as gear goes it looks like we’re just about ready to go! We now have pretty much everything we need to make this thing go, aside from a couple luxury items and our deck bags which we still need to make.

We tried to get out on the lake yesterday, but the forecast was completely wrong and the wind was blowing out of the NE not the NW so the East side of the peninsula was in no way sheltered and there were car door sized pieces of ice blowing in on white caps with 30 mph gusts, needless to say we decided there will be plenty of nicer days to get out and paddle.

In other exciting news we have more sponsors…Granite Gear has made an incredibly helpful contribution to our journey and we are very proud to have their support as we love their products and environmental ethics. We also picked up a little gear sponsorship from headsweats, the official head gear of Iron Man. They make great hats and we’re looking forward to sporting their visors while we’re out on the lake.

I guess that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll be getting some pictures and a gear list up soon. Thanks for following along with us – we’ll be getting to the really exciting stuff soon.

It’s been forever since I’ve posted…but don’t worry, we’re almost ready to go. I think we’ll be taking off just a little earlier than originally planned, Matt and I should be pulling out of the Portage Lake canal and into Lake Superior this coming Tuesday (June 9). It’s been a super busy few months since my last post. I finished school for the year, Matt bought a house, and we announced our engagement to our families and friends. We are spending this week just tying up the last couple of loose ends that are holding us back including dropping our puppy off with my parents who have graciously accepted the task of taking care of her for the summer, purchasing the last couple odds and ends required for our trip (hair rubber bands, glucosamine, duct tape, etc), and taking a quick break from the hustle and bustle of our daily lives to collect our thoughts. Less than a week until we’re on the water and I can’t wait!

Houghton, MI to Redridge, MI: daily miles 18.9, total miles 18.9

First day went pretty well. Arni from Downwind drove our boats down to the water for us, where we met a few friends, packed our boats, and set off after a few goodbyes. There was a pretty heavy fog over the Portage and the morning was cold but the wind was low and the water was flat, making it an excellent day to embark on our adventure. Matt and I had a nice easy paddle in the morning, stopping at Hancock Beach and the beginning of the seawall to stretch our legs. My boat was hooking to the left a little all morning, but it was just how I packed the weight in my boat which we soon fixed. Ate lunch at the break wall which separates the portage from the big lake. Lunch was a little chilly, but good because Matt’s parents brought us fried chicken, potato salad, chips, juice, and more. The second half of the day was a little more difficult because we were both sore and Matt’s stomach was upset. It was such a relief when we rounded the last point and saw the Redridge Stack because we had seen the Freeda Stack and thought we may have miles left before our day was over. Matt’s parents met us on the beach and made us hotdogs while we set up camp and dried off. I’m tired and it’s a little hard to lift my arms, but all-in-all it was a good day. I have a lot more confidence in myself, Matt, our boats, and our plans now that we have a day under our belts. The sun is breaking out from behind the clouds, foghorns are sounding in the distance and it’s time for me to stretch and get a back rub. Many thanks to everyone who helped get our trip rolling including my parents, Matt’s parents, Belinda for taking pictures, Dan and Andy for seeing us off, Downwind for countless little things and bringing us down to the water, and our sponsors, Aquapac, Badger Balm, Granite Gear, and Headsweats for their contributions.

Redridge, MI to Willard Point, MI: Daily miles 17.1, Total miles 36.0

Passed out early last night at about 9 p.m., 2 hours before the sun went down. We got a slow start this morning, making time to organize our gear a little better in our boats. We left camp around 9 a.m. and paddled the 3 miles to the Freda smokestack in a quick 40 minutes. The water was glass calm all morning. Matt and I stopped around 11:30 to take a break and snack on some chex mix and brownies left over from last night’s dinner. From there we started paddling toward Misery Bay. I thought we could probably paddle from the point before Misery Bay to 14-mile Point and cut some miles because the water was flat enough to cross some pretty big open-water. I was wrong. 14-mile point was to far away. Matt had to go to the bathroom and I got tired way quicker than I anticipated. We decided to cut the crossing a little short and head in to Willard Point, a few miles shy of 14-Mile Point. Matt wasn’t feeling well and wanted to get into land quickly so we decided he should go ahead – we both regretted that decision after about 20 minutes when the waves began to pick up. Matt slowed down and I dug in hard to catch up. By the time I caught up I was pretty spent and we still had a ways to go to get to Point Willard. I will admit, I got a little whiney when my wrist started hurting badly, but eventually we made it to land. We set up our thermarests on the ground cloth of the tent and cooked up some tortellini while we rested up. We decided over dinner that we would make camp here. So we set up the tent, gave each other some much needed backrubs, and took a nap. I miss Rainy (our little dog) and wish I could call my parents to see how she is doing but there is not enough cell service here to make a quick call. I am going to end there because Matt wants to show me the sun dial he made.

Willard Point, MI to Ontonagon, MI: Daily miles 19.3, Total miles 55.3

Matt’s sundial didn’t work very well. After drawing in the sand for a while we went and took some pictures. We ended the evening with some hummus sandwiches and a surprise visit from our friend Mike, who just happened to pass our campsite on his way home from fishing. I slept pretty well but didn’t feel particularly refreshed when I woke up. We got a pretty slow start on the morning – left camp a little before 10 a.m.. Paddling was fairly slow because we were both sore and we took a bunch of breaks- the most significant of which was lunch to combat the chill of fog which hung so heavily over the water that we spent the entire day no more than 50 feet from shore. We pulled into Ontonagon pretty late, around 8:15 p.m.. I was super happy because I got to call my family and tell them how things on the paddle have been and hear all about my little dog who I miss so much. Then we made dinner and now I am going to sleep.

Ontonagon, MI to Union Bay Campground, MI: Daily miles 17.1, Total miles 72.4

Woke up around 8 a.m. Matt and I took turns walking into Ontonagon to use a real toilet and wash our faces. I also picked up some candy bars and cheese while I was at the gas station. We ate the candy bars for breakfast, packed up the boats and headed onto the water for the day. The water was flat and the sun was shining, making it by far the nicest day we’ve paddled so far. We tried leaving the GPS on all day so I can give you some numbers-we averaged 3.8 mph, our fastest speed 5.7 mph, and we covered 11 miles before lunch. In the afternoon we stopped for a break on the beach at the beginning of the Porkies and finished the day off with a short 2 miles into Union Bay Campground. When I went to register for a campsite the guy asked me where my car was and I had to explain that we had arrived by boat-I have a feeling we’re going to experience a lot of that. When we started organizing and unpacking our boats for the evening we found that a couple of our dry bags had leaked a little and the ziplocks inside them had leaked a little, leaving us with about 7 soggy meals which we’re now going to have to eat as soon as possible. After that Matt and I took showers and it felt amazing to be clean after 5 days without a shower. For dinner we ate a double helping of AuGratin potatoes, keeping in spirit of using up the soggy food quickly. Our night ended with a stroll around the park and journal writing. It was a gorgeous day and I hope we get more like it.