Sea Caves – Valerie's Voice

Several years ago, a new beach opened up to the public near Silver Bay, Minnesota. It’s called Black Beach.

It’s along the shores of Lake Superior and it’s made up of small black pebbles…so it looks like a black sand beach, thus the name. This is unusual for this area of Lake Superior. We’re used to seeing rocky shores and colored rocks, so this is a fun addition.

We’ve never spent a lot of time on Black Beach…we just stop by on our way up the north shore. There is parking lot with vault toilets, the path leading to the beach and some picnic tables set back from the water. It is pretty, so it’s a fun stop.

So, when we were staying up at a cabin near Two Harbors recently, we took a drive one morning, up Scenic Hwy. 61 and decided to stop at Black Beach to see if there was any white snow left on the black beach.

This shows perspective on the size of these ice drifts.

Wow! Were we surprised! There were humungous ice drifts settled on the beach.

As we walked out closer to the lake, we realized how large these ice drifts… ice chunks… ice boulders were.

Are we still in Minnesota? This is another view of the path through the ice formations

It was fun and amazing to walk up to the ice formations, and walk through a row of them. I can only imagine what it was like earlier this winter. This is March and they were melting in the 38* weather…icicles were forming on the bottoms of the masses, dripping water back into the lake.

The icicles forming as they drip back into the lake.

In a small way, it reminded me of the sea caves we walked to several years ago near Bayfield, Wisconsin, when the DNR created a path on the frozen Lake Superior so folks could walk out to see the sea caves, usually only seen by kayakers on the open water.

Gary walking towards the lake. The photo is deceiving. There is a big drop off to the beach at the edge of the ice, with ice packs below, lining the shore.

We are continually amazed at the variety of adventures we find on our trips to the north shore of Lake Superior…my happy place!

Continuing my Friday series on memorable hikes…

In 2014, an article in The Washington Post read “An estimated 94 percent of Lake Superior is covered with ice, enabling sightseers to visit the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore’s sea caves for the first time since 2009.”

Before 2014 I did not know there was a possibility of walking on frozen Lake Superior to visit the sea caves. We explored the sea caves while kayaking one summer, but to see them in the wintertime was intriguing. I love Lake Superior and I loved the idea of walking on it. As soon as I learned about this opportunity we recruited some friends and headed to Duluth for dinner and an overnight, and drove to Bayfield, Wisconsin the next day. A beach near Bayfield was the designated entry point for the trail to the sea caves. There were throngs of people with the same idea. It quickly became a very popular attraction that winter, which made for congested parking and long lines – but it was worth it.

We bundled up in our warm, winter gear, grabbed our hiking poles and walked out to see the beautiful dazzling ice formations, crystal caves, and icicles hanging everywhere off the cliff faces along the Apostle Island National Lakeshore. When the lake is not frozen the sea caves are very popular places for exploring with canoeists and kayakers. But at this point in time people could walk through, and crawl under, these same sea caves and it was awesome!

Tag: Sea Caves

Black Beach

Memorable Hikes – Bayfield, Wisconsin 2014