Friday, August 12, 2011

Pancake Bay 2011


Pancake Bay Provincial Park

Another great getaway at Pancake Bay on Lake Superior. Thankfully this summer was sunny and warm in comparison to last year's frigid with a side of gale force winds that turned the beach into a large sand-blasting experience.

At the beach...
Playing in the riptide Sara in the sand
Pancake Bay on Lake Superior Sailing on dry land

This year we once again made our annual trek to Mica Bay for some shoreline exploration. Last year the water was too cold and the waves too large to allow us to swim or snorkel so we had to settle for a fire and lunch on the shoreline. This year the conditions were perfect and we took full advantage of the day - we even managed to conquer the "orange island" after a rock scramble, a swim, and a short wade. Unfortunately I wasn't able to bring the camera along for that adventure. Btw, the orange was due to a particular lichen that had grown over the rocks. Very colourful against the blues and greys.

Annual day trip to Mica Bay...
Mica Bay on Lake Superior The "orange rock" at Mica Bay

Every year we sit on the beach and stare off at the horizon and every year we ponder making a trek out to the western tip of Pancake Bay. Well finally this year we made the effort to tear ourselves out of our beach chairs and hike through the neighbouring Pancake Bay Provincial Park and out to the very tip of the western point where sand starts to turn to rock and where there is yet another bay waiting to be conquered. Actually while we all started out on the adventure there were two that broke formation and turned tail only minutes before reaching our destination. Thankfully they had the bacon and blueberry pancakes ready for us when we returned as we were ravenous after what turned out to be an 11km hike.

Hike to Pancake Bay's west point...
West Point, Pancake Bay

This year I decided to make use of a great backpacking tent that I originally purchased 3 years ago from SteepandCheap.com... it was sweet and definitely more spacious than jamming the 4 of us in one small room with only a double bed.

Camping at Pancake

Until next year, Pancake...
Pancake Bay on Lake Superior Pancake Bay on Lake Superior

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