May 21 Apostle Island National Park and Madeline Island

Red Cliff Indians are part of the Chippewa band and got their name from the iron ore deposits in the cliffs.  The Petersons own several businesses there, right amongst the Indians!  Only 3 miles to Bayfield - pop. 611.  I had an article about it and we knew we wanted to go there.  Beautiful Victorian homes, with some being inns and B & B's.  Lilacs have barely begun blooming and there are other beautiful trees.  We went to the Islands visitor center to watch an interesting 20 minute film before taking the 3 hour cruise around 45 miles and 22 islands.  Park was established 40 yrs ago.  History of name is obscure, but stories say the Indians have always thought the lake was sacred and missionaries and fur traders may have named them.  Some have a very few residents, some allow tent camping.  Some were logged, but many have real old growth forests, and rare plant life.  Some have restricted visitation times because of bird nesting etc.  We barely left the harbor when I spotted a bald eagle.  Volunteers give tours of some of the lighthouses and keeper's houses. The lights are all automated now.  Many ships have sunk on the Gr Lks and the movie said the lost lives of sailors was part of the price of America becoming industrialized.
In the winter a lot of people drive across the lake because its ice gets 2" thick.  Know what?  That isn't thick enough for me!  Captain told us a story about a man who was moving his house from one island to another in 1977.  The ice started to crack and his pickup, trailer and house sank to the bottom.  He said, the Park Service considers vehicles and houses pollution and there is a law that if anything sinks, the owner must pay to have it removed.  They put a strap around the house and started pulling it up and the bottom fell out.  Obviously if wasn't a very large home.  A local Realtor decided to have fun with the situation and placed an ad:  sunken living room, sunken dining room, sunken bedrooms and bathroom.  All for a rock bottom price!
Madeline Island is the only one of the group that isn't part of the park because there are 200 year round residents and 2000 summer ones, so it would have been too expensive to buy them out.  We got off the cruise ship and walked to the next dock to catch the 23 minute ferry ride over to it.  There was only one shop out of 5 or so open and only 1 restaurant open.  After walking many blocks we had time for a quick drink dockside at the restaurant.  On the trip over there was a pickup hauling a trailer with 2 large bear traps that looked like long 55 gallon drums.  The truck was in line for the same return trip as ours and Tom had said he wondered where one took bears they found on Madeline Island.  Being a shy person, I walked up to the truck to ask the driver.  He works for the Dept of Agriculture and he said a bear had broken into a trailer and people think there are 2 of them.  He'll come back to get them and move them to one of the more desolate islands.  He had such a heavy northern Wisc accent and must have said yup 6 times in 3 sentences.  Interesting:  1.  Kids take ferry back and forth to Bayfield to school.  When ferry can't run from end of Oct to March, they often take a wind sled.  Maybe some parents drive them too.  Can't imagine sending a kindergartener or other young ones on a ferry.  2.  As we waited to depart, a small tugboat led a small barge full of sand into the harbor.  The captain got off, climbed onto a crane/shovel and loaded 4 dumptrucks as we sat there.  We saw no grocery stores etc on Madeline.  A couple of cars and pickups on the ferry had women who had lots of trays of flowers to plant.  This is similar to the San Juan Islands in Wa where you do your shopping elsewhere.