adventure vacations

Wisconsin’s Madeline Island is the southernmost island of the Apostle Islands archipelago and a region I've been meaning to visit all my life. Madeline Island is private, but the National Park Service manages the other islands as national lakeshore. My wife and family of four kids, plus an exchange student from Geneva, Switzerland, had a fabulous time exploring its wild parks, beaches, and – via kayak – sea caves and inlets.For first-time kayakers looking for sound equipment and guides, a friend suggested we check in with Adventure Vacations in La Pointe, on the island’s southwest shore. It offers several boating and kayaking tours around the Apostle Islands, including through the sea caves that garnered much publicity last winter. (People walked to those caves over the frozen lake.) Motorboat tours in tandem with kayaking time were available via that area, but we opted for a four-hour, paddle-only tour for myself and the four older kids (ages 15, 15, 12, and 8) on our trip. From Big Bay Town Park, we embarked across a wide bay to the rock cliffs and caves adjacent to Madeline Island’s Big Bay State Park.Our guide of the day was Samantha Follis, an experienced big water kayaker who first explained the equipment, then tested our kayaking skills in a lagoon. I think most of her trips involve couples or perhaps families with slightly older kids, but Sam was happily willing to tackle this trip with us. It was my first time in a kayak, and though my canoeing experience didn’t hurt, the foot-pedal-operated rudder in our two-person kayaks was new to me. Trying to paddle while operating the pedals had a brief “walking-while chewing-gum-at-the-same-time” learning curve, but once mastered, I loved it. And if this relatively uncoordinated Gen-Xer can figure it out, anyone can.My oldest son, Logan, powered the stern of the second two-person kayaks with our European visitor, Tanis, and struggled a bit more with the steering protocol, but he and his partner had fun gradually narrowing the wide S-curves they made across open water. My 12-year-old son, Alec, went solo in his kayak and did well, while 8-year-old Jameson manned the bow of my watercraft.Flotilla leader Samantha directed us across Big Bay, then we meandered through some shallow sea caves and pillars that eons of wave action have created in the rocks. Like I said, more scenic trips probably are available in the Apostle Islands, but this still contained incredible scenery. Going around a corner, we watched folks jumping from some of the rock cliffs into the deep, cold water. My kids couldn’t wait to do the same, and we eventually spent the better part of an hour swimming and jumping off the rock cliffs. It was a seriously extreme sports experience. The scenery, natural history insight from Samantha, and flat-out fun provided a wonderful American memory for our guest from Geneva.We enjoyed relatively warm water for swimming and ridiculously calm conditions for an afternoon trip. Even on a warm day, however, Lake Superior is COLD, and Jameson – the kid is all surface area and no body fat – got chilled after a few jumps off the cliffs. A dry towel and granola bar warmed him up, and we were all sweating again during our 40-minute paddle back across big bay.For parents or adults alike, I'd highly recommend this experience if you're thinking about a visit to Madeline Island or simply want to sample big-water kayaking. We had absolutely optimal conditions, but I believe I would have enjoyed even a rough day on the water. I was really shocked something this cool existed so near my home.