Sea Kayaking Grand Marais’ Harbor

Sea kayaking Grand Marais’ harbor is one of my main summer trips. It’s close to my house, access is easy and there’s a lot of interesting things to see. Mainly, it’s convenient. The total trip can be anywhere from a mile to up to four miles depending on whether or not you include Artist’s Point and the campground point.

I usually paddle from the boat ramp in the campground which is in the southwest corner of the harbor. Then I’ll go around the western light and paddle to the point to the west. There can be some fun wavy areas that direction if the big lake is lumpy. Then I’ll paddle east to round Artist’s Point. There are a few underwater rock reefs over that way, so you may be able to grab a wave or two. There’s also a narrow slot that usually has enough water in it to pass. I’ll often paddle around the point and to the cobblestone beach in the East Bay.

From there I’ll head back to the harbor and then circumnavigate it back to the boat ramp.

The boat ramp now features an accessible kayak launch, accessible walkway on the breakwater, and it’ll soon have a changing room for kayakers. The accessible walkway and kayak changing room where both my ideas when they were working on the boat ramp remodel. I pushed hard for them, and we got them! The accessible kayak launch was something that the MNDNR provided the city. There’s a handicap parking spot right near it.

On this trip, you’ll see a number of locations. I always like paddling past the old Coast Guard station. It’s now abandoned, so keep in mind that the closest USCG rescue crew is in Duluth. Cook County is setting up a marine rescue unit. They recently received money from the state to do so. That said, the last kayaking death in the area was retrieved by the Canadian Coast Guard. The incident before that ended with a local fisherman retrieving the bodies.

I should mention that Lake Superior is cold, cold water. You should dress for immersion and always wear a life vest when on it. Cold water is no joke and can kill you instantly if you aren’t prepared.

In that same area, you’ll notice an old wooden cribbing. That was where the America used to dock. There were a ton of fish houses and docks in this area at one time, and the America used to service the entire north shore from Duluth to Thunder Bay back before the highway was built. I’ve lived here about 20 years and have watched storms beat up the old cribbing. It’s in much worse shape than it used to be in.

The above photo shows the slot that’s just north of the eastern most point on Artist’s Point. I try not to get mad about the stuff tourists do, except when it’s terrible like trashing backcountry campsites, cutting down pine trees at campsites and dumping their RV waste into our ditches, but when they do stuff like make a bridge out of trees to access this little island, I do get mad. At the current water levels, they could have just stepped into the water in the shallow area and walked a few steps to the island.

Please, don’t do stuff like this if you visit the area.

Anyway, the above slot can get fun when the lake is lumpy! Watch out for the shallow rocks in there.

If you’re lucky, you may see the Hjordis, which is a schooner that sails tours out of the North House Folk School. It sort of looks like a pirate ship to me.

There’s always something to see on this paddle, and I’ve paddled it so many times that I’d hate to count. But it never gets old. It’s also a great start if you want to paddle to the Fall River. That’s a trip I used to guide often when I had my sea kayak guiding company.

Also, the kayak in the photos is a Dagger Meridian. I was planning a magazine column covering classic sea kayaks before Ocean Paddler folded. The Meridian was going to be the first kayak I covered. I still have the interviews about the design. I should write that article soon.

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