At press time, Mike Link and Kate Crowley were nearing the finish of their 1,525-mile hike around Lake Superior. The couple encourages others to follow their dreams of adventure.
At press time, Mike Link and Kate Crowley—the “Lake Superior walkers”— had nearly reached their destination. On the day this newspaper hits the stands—September 18—they will complete their 1,525-mile shoreline circumnavigation of Lake Superior. The Cook
County News-Herald,
after being notified by several county residents of the walkers’ whereabouts, caught up with them at Java Moose in Grand Marais.
The couple—both in their 60s—are not the first to walk around the Big Lake. But it is believed that they are the first to walk around the lake on its shoreline. Wherever possible on the five-month hike through three states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan) and one province (Ontario), they have walked on Lake Superior’s beaches.
There were many stops along the way, of course. They weren’t exactly roughing it—there was a following car and an RV to sleep in at night. But the trip was difficult nonetheless, with each day including a 10 – 15 mile trek on the rugged shoreline every day. Link said they were able to make better time on Lake Superior’s South Shore, where the beaches were sometimes flat. “We made about 15 miles per day there. In Canada, we went about 12 miles per day. And the North Shore— it’s pretty rough. We’re making 10 miles per day.”
Asked what their response would be to folks who say they were “cheating” with the comfortable RV to spend nights in, Kate grinned. “I’d say until you’ve tried it, you don’t know what it’s like. She said they were snowed on when they went through Ashland, Wisconsin in April. They’ve walked through gravel and sand and on loose cobblestone beaches. “After about 12 miles, my feet really start to hurt—and then my knees.”
So why did they decide to take this challenging journey? The reasons are many. First, and probably most important, said Link, the former director of the Audubon Center of the Northwoods, was their desire to call attention to the need to take care of Lake Superior. “We can’t compromise on this lake. The good news is that it’s in pretty good shape. But we need to keep it that way. And we can’t just visit every newspaper in the region and say, ‘We want to talk to you about the lake,’” said Link, adding with a mischievous grin, “but we do this—and newspapers come to us!”
The naturalist duo has a major following in area media outlets and on-line. That is another goal of the trip—to share what they are experiencing and learning on the way. “Walking, you see so much more than you do driving, or even biking,” said Kate. “Even the flowers in the ditch look different.”
“Not a day has gone by that we haven’t had an amazing photo opportunity,” said Link.
They have captured intimate details of the lake on camera. Link humbly claims he is not a photographer, a claim proved false by the amazing photos on the couple’s journey website—pictures of Kate trekking with her hiking poles or resting at Naniboujou, a tiny rodent held for a moment for inspection, rock formations, funky, familiar business signs, and much more. The trip is wrapped together on a beautiful website put together—for free— by a former student of Link’s who now lives in Singapore.
In addition to photo journaling the trek, the couple is videotaping interviews with people they meet. “We’re asking people how they feel about the lake. We want to give a voice to the people who live around the lake, as well as the plants, animals, rocks and water,” said Mike.
The trip itinerary included time to digress, to travel side roads and trails and to spend time on those interviews with lake people. Visiting with friends is not listed on the Full Circle Superior website, but that apparently is another reason for the journey. The stop in Grand Marais was a special treat as they have many friends in the harbor town. Indeed, the interview at Java Moose was interrupted a few times by delighted friends calling out, “You’re here!”
The final two goals were to test their own bodies, to see if they could complete the arduous trip and to prove to others that it could be done. “We wanted to show people that you are never too old to have an adventure,” said Link.
To read more about Full Circle Superior, visit www.fullcirclesuperior.org.
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