Visitor Stories Articles

Discover the Park – Park Info

New horizons: 2026 Access Opportunity scholarship winners explore the Apostle Islands and new possibilities

New horizons: 2026 Access Opportunity scholarship winners explore the Apostle Islands and new possibilities

Far out on the blue horizons of Lake Superior, Whitney Martens got a surprise visit. Martens lives with Cerebral Palsy which can affect her balance, mobility, and energy levels. As part of a Wilderness Inquiry trip made possible by the Access Opportunity program of Friends of the Apostle Islands, she was experiencing both the excitement and the nervousness of her first time on Lake Superior, her first time in a sea kayak and wondering if she could really do this; that’s when she saw the butterfly.“It seemed so little out on that big lake,” Whitney says. But watching it flitting around above...

Fleeting beauty: Apostle Islands Ice Caves opened for one spectacular day

Fleeting beauty: Apostle Islands Ice Caves opened for one spectacular day

More rare than Yosemite’s annual Firefall, less predictable than the synchronized fireflies of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Ice Caves of the Apostle Islands are a truly ephemeral phenomena. Temperatures must plummet and stay down for weeks to freeze this corner of Lake Superior tight as a drum. Winds must be light to keep that ice from cracking and lay it down thick enough for people to walk more than two miles each way over deep, space-black water. In Alaska’s Katmia National Park, the brown bears return for the salmon run like clockwork every year. In the Apostle Islands...

Exploring the Basswood Island quarry on skis

Exploring the Basswood Island quarry on skis

Basswood Island (Wiigobiish-minis) is just over a mile out from the Bayfield Peninsula. Beyond its banks of sandstone and red clay you will discover evidence of logging, farming and brownstone quarries dating back to 1869. Crews used steam drills and derricks to cut and move the enormous, heavy stone blocks, destined for places like the current National Park Service headquarters in Bayfield and the Milwaukee County’s courthouse.While only accessable by boat in summer, you can make the trip on cross country skis when winter conditions are right. Friends board member Neil Howk and friend Gerry...

Snowshoeing to the mainland ice caves for some spectacular views

Snowshoeing to the mainland ice caves for some spectacular views

It's been ten long years since the mainland ice caves in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore have been open for exploration from the lake surface. Conditions since then simply have not been safe enough for the National Park Service to permit access.What's the next best thing? Hiking the Lakeshore Trail that takes you from Meyers Beach to some spectacular views above the caves. Friends board member Neil Howk did just that on a sunny January day. Click on the photo gallery to see the spectacular photos that go along with Neil's poetic description of his adventure.[foogallery...

Unfinished business – returning to the mouth of the Sand River

Unfinished business – returning to the mouth of the Sand River

You might think the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is so vast and so wild that it doesn't change much. But when you visit more than once and pay attention to the details, you soon discover that change is constant. Friends board member Neil Howk shares a case in point on the way to the mouth of the Sand River.In mid-September, Mark Peterson, Garry Miller, and I took three sea kayaks to Little Sand Bay for a paddle trip along the mainland shoreline west toward Big Sand Bay. Our goal was to reach the mouth of the Sand River and paddle up into the slough. We made it within about a mile of...

Love Our Lakeshore: A talk with the next generation of Lakeshore lovers

Love Our Lakeshore: A talk with the next generation of Lakeshore lovers

During this challenging time of change for our nation and for our national parks, Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore wants to shine a bright light – a lighthouse beacon if you will – on this very special place and on the people dedicated to protecting the national lakeshore for future generations. That's the goal of our series entitled “Love our Lakeshore." In this report Friends of the Apostle Islands board member and former NPS ranger Neil Howk continues his work as a National Park Service volunteer stationed on Sand Island. Neil talks with the next generation of Apostle...

Love Our Lakeshore: Why people keep coming back to Bayfield and the Lakeshore year after year

Love Our Lakeshore: Why people keep coming back to Bayfield and the Lakeshore year after year

During this challenging time of change for our nation and for our national parks, Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore wants to shine a bright light – a lighthouse beacon if you will – on this very special place and on the people dedicated to protecting the national lakeshore for future generations. That's the goal of our series entitled “Love our Lakeshore." (You can tell us why you Love Our Lakeshore by filling out our simple form at this link.) In this report Friends board member Neil Howk asks Bayfield business community member Rachael Lamkin, Assistant General Manager and...

Love our Lakeshore: New report shows more people are visiting Apostle Islands, new record for national parks visits

Love our Lakeshore: New report shows more people are visiting Apostle Islands, new record for national parks visits

During this challenging time of change for our nation and for our national parks, Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore wants to shine a bright light – a lighthouse beacon if you will – on this very special place and on the people dedicated to protecting the national lakeshore for future generations. That’s the goal of our series entitled “Love our Lakeshore.” (You can tell us why you Love Our Lakeshore by filling out our simple form at this link.) In this report, we explore new data released by the National Park Service on visitation to the Apostle Islands Natinal Lakeshore and...

Sam’s first camping trip to Stockton Island

Sam’s first camping trip to Stockton Island

First-time visitors often wonder... what's it really like to camp on one of the islands in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore?  And how can you do it, if you don't have the desire, equipment or expertise to paddle a kayak and all of your gear to the campsite? To answer that question, we asked Samantha Howk, daughter-in-law of Friends board member Neil Howk, to tell us about her first camping experience at Presque Island Campground on Stockton Island, which is served by a hiking and camping marine shuttle service.Hi, Friends! My name is Samantha Howk, and I am very fortunate to be the...

A spring fling to hear the birds sing at Little Sand Bay

A spring fling to hear the birds sing at Little Sand Bay

There's always something to see, hear and experience at Little Sand Bay in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Friends board member Neil Howk takes us along on a recent nature walk.I went to Little Sand Bay to do some birdwatching on this fine June morning. I donned my bug shirt and walked around the parking lot, out to the end of the road, into the woods, through the Hokenson Fishery, along the beach, past the marina, around the visitor center and TWILITE exhibit, past the Town of Russell boat launch, through the dunes, across the outlet from the lagoon, and back along the beach to the...