For the seventh* time, I organized and led Team River Runner’s Apostle Islands sea kayaking clinic. Once again, the islands provided the perfect setting for paddling, learning, adventure and camaraderie.
Team River Runner (TRR) is a nonprofit organization that uses paddle sports to support veterans’ health, healing and community. While most of the 40+ TRR chapters across the U.S. focus on whitewater kayaking, our Apostle Islands sea kayak clinic is unique. Instead of running rivers, we bring veterans and volunteers together to kayak big waters of mighty Lake Superior. We learn and polish sea kayak skills, challenge ourselves, and spend time together in a wilderness camping experience.
This year’s group included 13 participants—nine veterans, six women and seven men. Our veterans came from seven states: Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin. The group included veterans with injuries both visible and unseen. For six people, it was their first exposure to Lake Superior kayaking. For the rest of us, it was a welcome return to a place that has become a special part of the Team River Runner experience.
Saturday: Gathering at Little Sand Bay
We gathered Saturday, August 15, 2026, at Little Sand Bay on Wisconsin’s northernmost mainland, where we set up camp for our first night. It was a chance to meet friends new and old, organize our gear and prepare for the first big paddle of the trip.
It was also the traditional pre-trip ritual of figuring out which piece of gear everyone had forgotten and whether there was still time to buy it in Bayfield. Fortunately, everyone seemed to have arrived reasonably well equipped.
Sunday: Paddling to Oak Island
Sunday morning, we loaded our kayaks with camping gear and headed toward Oak Island, nine miles away.
Oak Island Group Site A is my favorite group campsite in the Apostle Islands, and I was happy to be returning. We camped there twice before during previous TRR clinics. The spacious site sits atop a high bank above the sandspit at the southern tip of the island, with a view to several of the other islands in the distance. It makes a wonderful home base for exploring the islands—and an excellent place to sit with a morning cup of coffee and admire the view.
After arriving, we unloaded our camping gear from our kayaks, carried it up the hill, set up camp and settled into island life.
That evening, we gathered around the campfire in a circle of chairs for one of the traditions that has become an important part of this TRR clinic. One by one we introduced ourselves and talked about what we hoped to gain from the week. Answers varied. Some sought a peaceful retreat in nature. Others wanted to share an outdoor adventure with like-minded people. And some wanted to explore this new-to-them environment. All wanted to test themselves against the big waters of Lake Superior.
Monday: Manitou, Oak Island and a Little Weather
Monday morning offered several choices. Three kayakers paddled five miles to Manitou Island and toured the restored historic fish camp there. The rest of the group stayed on Oak and most of them enjoyed a hike along one of the island’s trails.
We also kept an eye on the weather. Rain was in the forecast for Monday night, so we took advantage of the dry afternoon to set up my large tarp over the picnic tables. It turned out to be a good decision.
Around 10 p.m., a heavy thunderstorm rolled across the islands and hammered the campsite while we were comfortably tucked away in our tents. However, a few campers weren’t quite so fortunate and dealt with leaky tents.
The storm provided an excellent reminder that when camping on Lake Superior, “mostly dry” is sometimes the appropriate goal.
Tuesday: Kayaking, Cliffs and Rescues
Tuesday was a kayaking day for everyone.
Five of us set out on a ten-mile roundtrip paddle from Oak Island to Raspberry Island. Our destination was the beautifully restored Raspberry Island Lighthouse.
The other eight paddlers explored closer to home, following the Oak Island shoreline and admiring its spectacular sandstone cliffs. The towering cliffs and rock formations are among the features that make paddling in the Apostle Islands so memorable. From the water, they take on an entirely different character than they do from shore.
There was a fun coincidence at the end of the day. Both groups arrived back at the beach below our campsite at the same time. With everyone together, Dorine and Bethany volunteered to demonstrate kayaking self-rescue and assisted-rescue techniques.
It was a fitting way to end a day of paddling: enjoying the islands while also reinforcing the skills that help make sea kayaking safer and more enjoyable.
Learning on the Island
The afternoon wasn’t over when the kayaks were put away.
Scott led an informative presentation on weather forecasting for kayakers, covering the kinds of information paddlers need to understand before heading out on Lake Superior.
Bethany followed with a presentation on Leave No Trace ethics and practices. It included a sometimes hilarious demonstration of the proper way to dig a cat hole. It turns out there is considerably more to responsible outdoor sanitation than most people probably wanted to know. By the end of the presentation, however, we were all considerably better educated about where—and where not—to leave our contributions to the wilderness. Fortunately, we had a vault toilet near our campsite.
It’s hard to imagine a better combination for a camping trip: learning how to read the weather and learning what to do when nature calls.
Wednesday: A Change of Plans
Our original plan called for paddling back to Little Sand Bay Thursday morning. But the forecast for that day called for rain, and we didn’t particularly like the idea of breaking camp in the rain before making a nine-mile paddle with wet weather moving in.
So we changed the plan. I messaged my friend Brooke, the campground host at Little Sand Bay. She assured me they would have room for our group.
Wednesday morning, we packed up our Oak Island campsite and paddled back to the mainland a day early. The decision proved to be a good one. The lake remained beautifully cooperative, with waves less than a foot for all of our paddles during the trip.
We set up camp in the overflow area of Little Sand Bay campground, and then headed to nearby Bayfield for a group dinner at Manypenny Bistro.
The next morning we packed our tents and gear and loaded kayaks onto vehicles and my trailer. Four people decided to get an early start to their long drives home, so the remaining nine of us returned to Manypenny for a scrumptious breakfast before saying our good-byes just as the rain began to fall.
Another Great TRR Adventure
Five days after gathering at Little Sand Bay, the 2026 Team River Runner Apostle Islands clinic was over.
Paddling conditions couldn’t have been much better. Waves were less than one foot for each of our paddles, and both air and water were relatively warm throughout the week. We explored islands, lighthouses, historic sites and sandstone cliffs. We learned about weather and Leave No Trace practices. We endured a thunderstorm, a few leaky tents and learned more about digging cat holes than most of us ever expected to know.
But, as always with Team River Runner, the most important part of the trip wasn’t any of those things.
It was the people. For six of our 13 participants, this was their first TRR Apostle Islands clinic. By the end of the trip, they had joined a group that has gathered in these islands for years, forging new friendships around campfires, on the water and along the trails. We were paddlers sharing an adventure in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
As we packed up Thursday morning, I suspect more than a few of us were already thinking ahead to next year’s clinic.
*Back in 2022 we held our TRR sea kayak clinic in Door County, Wisconsin
