Sunday, June 23, Day 35
An overcast and gloomy day that later included intermittent rain. We ate breakfast in the cabin, fruit and yogert.
We got out about 9:30 with almost a full battery of electricity and drove into Bayfield. From the car we viewed well tended mansions on the side streets that ran up the hills from the harbor. Bayfield was once the main shipping port for the regionally produced lumber, sandstone and agricultural produce, mainly apples and berries, and I imagine that produced a lot of wealth. Now only the last one is produced and the main source of wealth here is tourism.
We stopped to go into the National Lakeshore Visitor Center which is housed in a former bank building built with local sandstone. As usual friendly and informative park rangers and lots of information about the area's geology, history, economy and agriculture. Madeline Island, the largest in the Apostle chain and the only one that is not in the Lakeshore was known to the Indians as Moningwunakauning, "The Home of the Breasted Woodpecker". It became France's principal fur trading post early in the 18th century and was first permanently settled in 1793 by Michel Cadotte. When he married Equasayway, the daughter of the local Chief and a member of the local aristocracy she was given the Christian name of "Madeleine". Her pleased father named the island after her.
We emerged from the Center into the rain and drove north. We passed the Indian casino at Red Cliff we saw from the boat, but did not stop. Basswood Island which we cruised by yesterday was visible on our right. We the followed route 13 west into a heavily forested area. Very green and very wet.
After driving about 15 miles through the forest we turned off to Meyers Beach. A $5 parking fee. The main feature of this park is that it provides access, by land and water to the Bayfield Peninsula Sea Caves. There are kayak outfitters who will guide you there on water and there is a hiking trail that takes about an hour to get there. It also has a small beach. We were told that the caves are a must see, but unfortunately it was raining so we neither took the kayak tour, nor completed the hike. Notwithstanding the fact that we saw people emerging from the trail into the parking lot pretty drenched, we still went into the forest on the boardwalk trail. However the rainfall steadily increased and we turned around before the end of the boardwalk.
Back in the parking lot we talked with a ranger who was sitting in a small shack near the beach and went out onto the beach where we watched some kayak launches. The sea caves have been created by wave action and icing and thawing. They become ice caves in the winter. I was told that the best view is from the water so all recommended the kayak tour if you are up for paddling.
We then drove a few miles down the road to Cornucopia, so named by two land speculators from Iowa in 1903 for its abundance of natural resources in 1903. They established a post office and set about logging. The first farmers in the area were "Russians" from the Austrian empire by way of Chicago. This claims to be the most northern town in Wisconsin. It is an unincorporated area within the town of Bell that has a population of 98, yet we saw three churches there. It lies on Lake Superior and has a large harbor with two marinas where the Siskiwit River flows into the Lake. It was raining intermittently, but we walked down to the Lake and the Harbor nevertheless and looked at the boats. Impressive, but not as stunning as in St. Tropez harbor.
We then walked over to the Historical Museum, a one story building staffed by a volunteer who was over 70 years old and had lived in the area all his life. The museum displayed photographs, historical artifacts and family histories from the area. The host offered up stories about the area, the most striking was about the Cornucopia Yacht Club. This was an imaginary yacht club that was founded solely for the purpose of affording its members access to yacht club marinas in other cities, which usually afforded reciprocity rights. The club had a $5 membership fee and although it did not require its members to own a boat, it asked on the application, one of which was in the museum, what the member would name his boat if he owned one. The club also printed membership cards and made its own jackets. It listed its address as Pier 99, which was the address of the local post office. At one time it had over 700 members including former President Ford and his wife.
We then walked over to a fish market. The clerk told us that the fish had been unloaded that day. She said that there used to be as many as 14 commercial fishing companies operating out of the harbor, but they were the only one left due to fishing rights granted to the Native American tribes in the area, along with recreational fishing. We sampled some herring and purchased smoked whitefish and lake fish trout for dinner.
After driving through Bell, we entered the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. This comprises over 1.5 million acres in four separate regions. There is boating, hunting and fishing and lots of trails, snowmobiling in the winter, in the forest. We briefly walked a bit on a portion of the Ice Age Trail in-between the rain drops. The same trail we walked on in St. Croix Falls.
After driving through the Forest we emerged into Washburn. We shopped there for dinner and then returned to our BnB.
An overcast and gloomy day that later included intermittent rain. We ate breakfast in the cabin, fruit and yogert.
We got out about 9:30 with almost a full battery of electricity and drove into Bayfield. From the car we viewed well tended mansions on the side streets that ran up the hills from the harbor. Bayfield was once the main shipping port for the regionally produced lumber, sandstone and agricultural produce, mainly apples and berries, and I imagine that produced a lot of wealth. Now only the last one is produced and the main source of wealth here is tourism.
We stopped to go into the National Lakeshore Visitor Center which is housed in a former bank building built with local sandstone. As usual friendly and informative park rangers and lots of information about the area's geology, history, economy and agriculture. Madeline Island, the largest in the Apostle chain and the only one that is not in the Lakeshore was known to the Indians as Moningwunakauning, "The Home of the Breasted Woodpecker". It became France's principal fur trading post early in the 18th century and was first permanently settled in 1793 by Michel Cadotte. When he married Equasayway, the daughter of the local Chief and a member of the local aristocracy she was given the Christian name of "Madeleine". Her pleased father named the island after her.
We emerged from the Center into the rain and drove north. We passed the Indian casino at Red Cliff we saw from the boat, but did not stop. Basswood Island which we cruised by yesterday was visible on our right. We the followed route 13 west into a heavily forested area. Very green and very wet.
After driving about 15 miles through the forest we turned off to Meyers Beach. A $5 parking fee. The main feature of this park is that it provides access, by land and water to the Bayfield Peninsula Sea Caves. There are kayak outfitters who will guide you there on water and there is a hiking trail that takes about an hour to get there. It also has a small beach. We were told that the caves are a must see, but unfortunately it was raining so we neither took the kayak tour, nor completed the hike. Notwithstanding the fact that we saw people emerging from the trail into the parking lot pretty drenched, we still went into the forest on the boardwalk trail. However the rainfall steadily increased and we turned around before the end of the boardwalk.
Back in the parking lot we talked with a ranger who was sitting in a small shack near the beach and went out onto the beach where we watched some kayak launches. The sea caves have been created by wave action and icing and thawing. They become ice caves in the winter. I was told that the best view is from the water so all recommended the kayak tour if you are up for paddling.
We then drove a few miles down the road to Cornucopia, so named by two land speculators from Iowa in 1903 for its abundance of natural resources in 1903. They established a post office and set about logging. The first farmers in the area were "Russians" from the Austrian empire by way of Chicago. This claims to be the most northern town in Wisconsin. It is an unincorporated area within the town of Bell that has a population of 98, yet we saw three churches there. It lies on Lake Superior and has a large harbor with two marinas where the Siskiwit River flows into the Lake. It was raining intermittently, but we walked down to the Lake and the Harbor nevertheless and looked at the boats. Impressive, but not as stunning as in St. Tropez harbor.
We then walked over to the Historical Museum, a one story building staffed by a volunteer who was over 70 years old and had lived in the area all his life. The museum displayed photographs, historical artifacts and family histories from the area. The host offered up stories about the area, the most striking was about the Cornucopia Yacht Club. This was an imaginary yacht club that was founded solely for the purpose of affording its members access to yacht club marinas in other cities, which usually afforded reciprocity rights. The club had a $5 membership fee and although it did not require its members to own a boat, it asked on the application, one of which was in the museum, what the member would name his boat if he owned one. The club also printed membership cards and made its own jackets. It listed its address as Pier 99, which was the address of the local post office. At one time it had over 700 members including former President Ford and his wife.
We then walked over to a fish market. The clerk told us that the fish had been unloaded that day. She said that there used to be as many as 14 commercial fishing companies operating out of the harbor, but they were the only one left due to fishing rights granted to the Native American tribes in the area, along with recreational fishing. We sampled some herring and purchased smoked whitefish and lake fish trout for dinner.
After driving through Bell, we entered the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. This comprises over 1.5 million acres in four separate regions. There is boating, hunting and fishing and lots of trails, snowmobiling in the winter, in the forest. We briefly walked a bit on a portion of the Ice Age Trail in-between the rain drops. The same trail we walked on in St. Croix Falls.
After driving through the Forest we emerged into Washburn. We shopped there for dinner and then returned to our BnB.
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