Description

The best way to experience the Lake Superior shoreline is to live on it for a week. During this seven-day, seven-night sea kayak camping trip, you’ll do just that. We’ll start the trip at Temperance River State Park and over seven days kayak 67 miles to Grand Portage. Paddle the entire Lake Superior shore in Minnesota over two weeks by joining our Lake Superior Water Trail Kayak Camping Trip – South.

Places We’ll Visit

Along the way, we’ll paddle past Tofte, Lutsen, Grand Marais and Hovland. Kayaking past a town makes for an unique and charming way to see these small north shore towns and experience the wilderness of the parks between. Depending on the weather and pace we may even camp in one of the towns, which gives you a night on the town on your own. Along the way, we’ll also have a chance visit the waterfalls on the Onion River, Cascade River State Park, Fall River and the Kadunce. In the evening, when we camp in or near a state park, you’ll have plenty of time to explore or time to kick back, read a book and relax around the fire.

The shoreline from Temperance River State Park varies from cobblestone and sand beaches to 50-foot basalt cliffs. There are several small caves and a sea arch along the way. The beaches that we’ll camp on are perfect for finding agates and fairy stones, a rock with a natural hole. A boreal forest comes right down to the lake, and in it we could see eagles, owls, deer, fox and other animals. We’ll use Lake Superior Water Trail campsites for camping, and depending on our pace, we may camp in Grand Marais.

The Kayak Camping Trip Experience

On a Lake Superior sea kayaking trip, you can expect to paddle 10 to 16 miles per day with a full-day off planned for bad weather, rest or for poking around and exploring the area. Minnesota’s shoreline offers a unique sea kayak camping experience, because small towns and state parks dot the shoreline. In between the parks and towns, old fish houses and new cabins dot the shoreline. It’s a wildernessy, urban experience. These tours feel a little bit like bike tours in that we can reach towns fairly easily, but we can also avoid them.

Our days on a sea kayaking trip follow a pattern. In morning, we break camp and your guide makes breakfast. After eating, we launch our kayaks and paddle up the shore exploring, photographing and enjoying the day. June is generally calm, but on rough water days, we’ll stay on shore. Mid-day, we’ll stop for lunch and a break. In the afternoon, we’ll finish paddling to our next campsite where we’ll set up camp. The guide will cook a dinner over a stove or a fire. Then we’ll settle in for the night. Sunset happens about 9pm, so there’s plenty of time in the evening to spend relaxing or exploring before the sun goes down.

Logistics

Because this is a one-way trip, we need to shuttle from one end to the other. On Saturday morning, you’ll drop your car off at the Grand Portage marina and take a shuttle that we arrange to the Temperance River, about an hour drive. After you arrive at our campsite, we’ll get ready for the trip. In the afternoon, we’ll get into the kayaks and practice safety and rescue drills in the protected mouth of the Temperance River. On Sunday, we’ll launch our sea kayaks into the largest lake in the world and paddle northeast up the shore. Seven days later, we’ll reach Grand Portage and your car.