Hello fellow hiker trash – we welcomed Frances to the tribe in July and we wasted no time at all getting her out into the woods.

At just 5 weeks old, I’m pretty sure she’s one of the youngest hiker / campers in the state of Wisconsin. So where do you go with a 5 week old – ANYWHERE YOU WANT!

Discovering Herbster

We had some work to do up in Superior, WI so we decided to get some camping in. On the drive east (we were thinking about going to the Apostle Islands) we stumbled on a little sign that had the campground logo on it. I did a quick u-turn and we headed down this weird little road that opened up right onto the waters of Lake Superior. We drove into the campground, and as soon as we saw that they allowed camping right on the beach (10 feet from the water itself) we knew we stumbled onto the right place for Frankie’s first night of camping in her very young life.

(One of the things that I love about traveling with Jaime is that we encourage each other to explore and take chances on something just on a whim. Had we not seen that campground sign and just kept driving, we would’ve never heard of Herbster Campgrounds. So pay attention tot he signs everyone – you never know what you’ll find!)

We scoped out the beach campsites, but the wind was really coming in off of the lake (and was a tad chilly for the baby (and me too, lol)).

We grabbed a little spot just up the hill on the interior of the woods for coverage from the wind, and setup camp. As you can see, Frankie was a huge help!

Settled in, we had a nice quiet fire and rest after a long day of traveling…

Off to Dalrymple

When we got up in the morning, we got to chatting with the super friendly camp host. He gave us a map of the Apostle Islands and all of the camp grounds from Herbster through Bayfield. As we checked the DNR’s website for open campgrounds, we noticed a little campground overlooking the lake called Dalrymple, so we beelined over there to see if anyone had cancelled their reservations, and sure enough – there were two spots open!

We drove the entire campground to see if there was anything even better, but there wasn’t; this turned out to be the best spot in all the campground so we jumped on it ASAP and got everything registered for the site. Three cars drove past eyeing up our spot, and one even asked if we were leaving (I guess we forgot to erase the spot from the board), and I apologized and said we just pulled in and registered.

Less than 50 yards from our campsite, was the Madeline Island Lookout where you can look get a beautiful view of the island, and all of the boats passing through the Apostles.

And we got a pretty beautiful “dunk” that night as well.

All in all, for a “work trip” we really got to make the most of it and enjoy a few nights camping in the UP. We definitely didn’t get enough time to do the Apostle Islands and sort of justice. When we go back, we’ll give you a way more in depth report on the various campgrounds, traveling to the islands, et cetera.

Until then – keep on keeping on!

Cheers!

CK