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Shadows and reflections at Little Sand Bay
Summer tourists are long gone. Fall colors fade as shadows lengthen on the sand, signifying shorter days, longer nights and the change of seasons. And yet there’s always something to see and do in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Retired park ranger and Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore board member Neil Howk proves the point with this story and photos from his walks on the beach at Little Sand Bay.
I went to Little Sand Bay a couple times in late October to walk the beach, see what was new, and experience the impact of the changing seasons. The town of Russell campground still hosted a couple RVs with late season campers, but there were few cars in the parking lot and the only boat in the harbor belonged to the National Park Service. Many of the leaves had fallen, but a few trees still offered splashes of color.
Path between Wilderness Inqury and Nelson Cabin
I heard of a new path connecting the campground with the Wilderness Inquiry Camp just outside the park. I walked up the road to the little log cabin built in the 1930s by John Nelson, a Norwegian immigrant who fished with the Hokenson brothers. There I found the gravel path leading into the woods and followed it as far as the Wilderness Inquiry property. I then retraced my steps past the cabin and discovered where the trail entered the Town of Russell campground next to the vault toilet. It is a nice walk that enables campers to stay off the road.
I spent most of my time enjoying the beach. The prolonged drought through the end of summer and beginning of fall caused the lake level to drop several inches below the long-term average. This is good news for beach lovers, since the beach at Little Sand Bay is wider than it has been in recent years. As I walked east from the marina, I discovered another ramification of the drought.
The lack of water draining into the slough meant that longshore currents had filled the slough outlet with sand and closed its connection with the lake. Beachcombers can now easily walk all the way to the east end of the bay without wading across the outlet. Still waters in the slough provide a mirror-like surface for reflections of the sky. Beyond the slough, the low sun angle creates interesting shadows along the shoreline.
Little Sand Bay slough
Upon concluding my walk to the east, I then headed west towards the Hokenson Brothers Fishery. A couple years ago the National Park Service rebuilt the Hokenson dock that was destroyed by a winter storm nearly ten years ago.
Little Sand Bay panorama
After several years of sitting on the beach, the historic herring shed has now returned to its original location on the dock. I walked the beach west of the Hokenson dock to where the sand ends among boulders of sandstone. Along the way I enjoyed the patterns in the sand left by waves on the pristine beach. Back at the Hokenson dock, I encountered another sign of the changing seasons and the only other creature that I had to share the beach with on this walk. A lone snow bunting was probing through the leaves looking for seeds to fuel its’ migratory journey to the south.
Little Sand Bay beach west of the dock
Beach shadows and waves
Wave patterns in the sand
Snow bunting
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is beautiful in every season, but never more so than in the fall. Though the lake moderates our temperatures and extends the period we can enjoy fall colors, the season is always too short. As the hectic summer season transitions to the slower pace of fall, I love the opportunities the park provides for quiet reflection…like enjoying the shadows and reflections along the beach at Little Sand Bay.
Neil Howk began working as a park ranger/interpreter for the National Park Service in 1978. He worked at a number of different parks over the years and served as the assistant chief of interpretation at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore from 1993-2016. He now serves as a board member of Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
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