The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2020. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Travis Barningham is the kind of kayak guide you want leading you through sea caves so smallthat in order to get through them,youmustlie back flat against your kayak anduse your hands to scoot through.

Dont worry about your paddles! he shouted as my mom and I squeezed through a formationhe called thewormhole,in Lake Superior about1 mile north of Meyers Beach along the Bayfield peninsula in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

I was glad he had given us permission to not worry about our paddles, because I hadnt even thought about them since we had entered thetiny tunnel.I was solely focused on pushing against the rock that was 6 inches from my face and getting us the heck out of therebeforean errant wave smackedourheadsinto it.

We safely emerged from the cave to a larger one where we could sit upright again, and our relief gave way towhoopsand laughter.

I had kayaked these caves before, but without a guide I had no idea the wormhole existed.And Im not sureotherguideswould have takenusthrough it.

But Barningham, who owns the outfitter Rustic Makwa Den, offered the right mixture of safety and daring you want when youre exploring somewhere like the sea caves.Plus, as a member of the nearby Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, he provided a one-of-a-kind tour of an area that his people have lived in for hundreds of years anarea that holds special meaning to his tribe.The stories hetold shared some of that meaning and made our two-hour paddle more meaningful than just a fun, scenic trip.

Travis Barningham, owner of Rustic Makwa Den, paddles through sea caves north of Meyers Beach in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on July 20, 2020.(Photo: Chelsey Lewis/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

In February, I had gotten a taste of that extra meaning when I went on a snowshoeing tour with Jon Michels, wholives on the Red Cliff reservation and also guides for Barningham and Rustic Makwa Den in the summer.

Were trying to really develop a connection guides as people that can share this place in more than just a tourist way, more of a connected to the culture and the spirit of the place, Michels told me in February. I think most people have walked or been to a place where they feel something, and thats here. Its here and its strong, and its especially strong for us here, but I know that other people come here and feel that. Bringing people to special places and letting them have that experience is one of the things were trying to do. Theres more to this place than I got the T-shirt' kind of tourism.

Barninghamstarted Rustic Makwa Den in 2017 with fellow tribal member Troy Gordon.In addition to summer kayak tours of the mainland caves, theyalsooffer tours of the sea caves along the Red Cliff reservation on the east side of the Bayfield peninsula in the summer and winter.

Becausethat side of the peninsula is more protected from Lake Superiors brutal west winds, the ice freezes more easily in the winter, making it possible to access the caves even when the national lakeshore ones are not open. In the summer the waves are usually calmer,making it possible to kayak there on days whenit might be too dangerous to do so on the other side.

We encountered that situation on our scheduled tour date, when a strong northwest windwhipped up large enough waves to warrant a small-craft advisory.

Barningham moved our tour to the Red Cliff caves, but by the time I got his messageabout the new location, we were already at Meyers Beach.We walked down to the beach where two- to four-foot waves bashed against the shore.Only two kayakers who clearly knew what they were doing wereplayingin the choppy waterswhere there would normally be dozens of kayaks on a nice day.

Thankfully we were able to reschedule our tour for the next afternoon an important reminder to leave yourself a cushion if youre planning to kayak ordo anything else in the Apostle Islands. Lake Superior weather can be unpredictable and change quickly, and the lake is the boss.

Kayakers paddle through sea caves north of Meyers Beach in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.(Photo: Chelsey Lewis/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

The next day we pulled into Meyers Beach around 2 p.m. for our tour, andcars already filled the small parking lot and lined the road leading out to Highway 13.

Kayaking in the islands has become popular onlyin the last 20 years, and especially in the last five years after the ice caves went viral on social media in 2014 and made the areaand its cavesworld-famous.

Bob Mackrelworked as the parks west district manager atMeyers Beachin the 90s andsaid"you never saw that kind of traffic parked along thatroadback then, when the parking lot was even smaller. It was expanded about 10 years ago,and he said they thought that expansion would besufficientfor the future.

It wasoverwhelmedvery quickly. Nobody anticipated it, he said.

Barningham and his assistant guide, Ethan Gordon,were waiting by their van in the busy lot andoutfitted our group of seven with life jackets and spray skirts and helped us carry ourtandemseakayaksto the beach(where there thankfully werent as many boats as the traffic in the parking lot would have indicated).

After a safety lesson on the beach, we paddled into Lake Superior, which was much calmer than the day before, heading northeast toward the sea caves.

Downed trees line the sandstone cliff above a rock formation that resembles a skull north of Meyers Beach in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on July 21, 2020. (Photo: Chelsey Lewis/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Along the way, we saw evidence of an intense storm that had passed through a couple nights before.Downed trees lined the cliffs, some of which looked freshly eroded. The mainland trail that follows the cliffs had been closed since the storm and wouldn't reopen for a week. When we kayaked in the caves later, Barningham said it was weird to notsee people walking along the cliffs above. Sometimes they'll ask you to take photos from below, he said.

Before we reached the caves, Barningham searched the remaining trees for a large bald eagle nest he usually points out on his toursbut couldnt find it in its usual spot.The eagle is sacred to the Ojibwe, who consider it a messenger that carries their prayersto their creator.Barningham said he might hike the cliff top the following day to search for eagle feathers. While it is illegal for most people to keep eagle feathers they find, he said their treaty permits tribal members to keep anythey find.

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore off the northern border of Wisconsin.(Photo: Lou Saldivar)

Enlarge map

Like many people who live in Red Cliff, Barningham has ties to that treatybeyond the fact that it helped establish the reservation he lived on. His sons mother is a descendant of the tribal chief who made it happen Chief Buffalo (Kechewaishke).

I had never heard of Chief Buffalo untilMichels told me about him on our snowshoeing tour a sad whitewashing of the Apostle Islandshistory, perhaps, considering how instrumental he was in maintaining peace in the area and securinga permanent reservationfor his tribe.

If he hadnt been overshadowed by all the Indian wars, I think he'd probably be one of the most famous and respected native leaders in the country, Michels said.

For background, Michels shared some history of the area and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. He said Lake Superior made the area a great place to live, providing good fishing and a transportation avenue, as well as some of the best wild rice beds in the world. On land, the Ojibwe did prescribed burns on sandy soil, which provided habitat for the bison and elk that they hunted.

The French arrived in the 1600s, establishing a trading post on Madeline Island, which had been the spiritual and economic home for theOjibwe.They mostly had a good relationship, Michels said, noting that the French seemed to respect and assimilate to native culture rather than trying to bend the Ojibwe to their culture.

Things began to change in the 1800s. While the Indian Removal Act of 1830 affected southern tribes more than the Ojibwe, pressure for the tribe to be moved to Minnesota grew after Wisconsin became a state in 1848.

Michels said a cabal of characters(in the federal and local government)wanted the tribe to live in Minnesota so they could have access to the tribes annuity payments, issued in October. In 1850, the federal officials changed the payment location from La Pointe on Madeline Island to Sandy Lake, Minn. A group of Ojibwe went to Sandy Lake to retrieve the money and supplies, not expecting to stay long. But the payments were delayed until December, and 400 Ojibwe died of starvation, freezing or disease while waiting and on the journey home.

Barningham called it Wisconsins trail of tears, and it cemented the tribes resolve to stay on their lands.

As the area inched toward a possibly violent conflict,Chief Buffaloled a delegationtoWashington to convince President Millard Fillmore to rescind the removal order.The chief who was well over 90 years old at the time and others made their way from La Pointeto Sault Ste. Marieby birch bark canoe, then by steamship and trains to Washington D.C. There, a New York congressman got them in to see the president. They met for a few hours and smoked apeacepipeBuffalohad brought from Wisconsin.The presidentso enjoyed the meeting that he invited them back for another the next day, thenrescinded the removal order for the Lake Superior Ojibwe and ordered treaty negotiations to begin.

The 1854 La Pointe Treaty came out of those negotiations and established reservations including those for the Lac du Flambeau, the Lac Courte Oreilles and the Bad River bands in Wisconsin. The Red Cliff Reservation, however, was not directly established through the treaty. The land, known as the Buffalo Estate, was initially given to Buffalo for his work in the negotiations. The rest of the La Pointe people were supposed to move to the Bad River reservation, but many stayed with Buffalo at Red Cliff. In 1863 the U.S. government attached Buffalo's land to the 1854 treaty and established the Red Cliff Reservation.

Chief Buffalodied in 1855 at the age of 100 and was buried on Madeline Island. Two busts of the chief one marble and one bronze are in the U.S. Capitol building.

This marble bust of Chief Buffalo, created in 1856 by Italian sculptor Francis Vincenti, is on display in the Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol building.(Photo: U.S. Senate Collection)

He is also immortalized in the name of the bay that Rustic Makwa Den launches its kayaks from for tours of the Red Cliff caves.

This year, as the park service celebrates the national lakeshores 50th anniversary, they have shared bits of its history, including Chief Buffalo and the 1854 treaty, on their Facebook page.

But outside of that, his history is largely unknown by most white visitors.

For whatever reason, history was overshadowed by so much other stuff, Michels said. "All the relations with natives in history was all about warfare, and Buffalo did the opposite. He used the political process and was successful at it, and it just didnt catch historical traction.

Thats partially what Michels and Barningham hope to change with their tours.

We continuedoursalongthemainlandsea caves, paddling intoany openingsin thered-brownrockthat stood more than 40 feet tallin spots.

We had the caves to ourselves, including a narrow gorge known as the crevasse or the crack that Barningham said you sometimeshave towait for other tour groups to get out of before you can explore.

Kayakers paddle into a rock formation known as the crevasse or the crack on Lake Superior north of Meyers Beach in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.(Photo: Chelsey Lewis/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

It was unusualfor the caves to not be swarming with kayakers on a sunny summer afternoon, even on a weekday.

Part of that could have been due to outfitters choosing not to operate or offering fewer trips because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Barningham said hes decreased his offerings, opting for quality over quantity and having either himself or Michels lead all trips.

Fewer boats meant we could take our time inall ofthe caves, including one ofBarninghamsfavorites, which he called the singing cave for the noise the waves made bouncing and echoing off the rock inside.

Kayakers paddle through sea caves north of Meyers Beach in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.(Photo: Chelsey Lewis/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Hesaid the wormhole is also among his favorites, anddespite high lake levels making it an even tighter squeeze than usual, everyone in our group which included a young couple in a tandem kayak, and a father and his two young children in a triple managed to get through it. Only our assistant guideaborted on his attempt. Barningham saidits sometimes easier to get atandem kayak through because theyre heavier and sit lower in the water than single kayaks.

The beauty of our trip wasit was a choose-your-own-adventure trip with no pressure to kayak anywhere you werent comfortable.Dont want to squeeze through the wormhole? No problem. You could hang out along the caves outside and explore larger ones while you waited.

And if youre more adventurous than your kayak partner, you can do what I did and put herin the front so you can pretend to not hear her objections when you steer the kayak toward it. (Disclaimer: Not recommended for married couples.)

But adventure is about pushingyourcomfort zone, and under the safe guidance of an experienced guide,it wasworthpushingfor the reward ofexploring one of the most beautiful and unique natural features Wisconsin has to offer.

Kayakers paddle along sea caves north of Meyers Beach in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.(Photo: Chelsey Lewis/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

More information:A handful of Apostle Islands have sea caves, but the biggest and most popular are along the national lakeshores strip of mainland near Meyers Beach, about 15 miles west of Bayfield.

Lake Superior is cold and can be dangerous for inexperienced kayakers.Its much more like an ocean than an inland lake.Unless you havethe proper equipment(a sea kayak, not a sit-on top one)and experience(including the ability to self-rescue, since there is nowhere to swim ashore once you reach the caves), you should only explore the caves with an authorized guide.

Some outfitters rent kayaks, but they require you to pass a safety course that includes self-rescue techniques before you head out.

Rustic Makwa Denrents kayaks andoffers a variety of tours, including of the Meyers Beach caves.Thebeginner-friendlytwo-hour tours departat 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. daily throughthe beginning of October.Tours are weather-dependent and may be rescheduled ifconditionsare too rough on Lake Superior; leave yourself an extra day or two in the area in case you need to reschedule.Tourscost $110 for a tandem kayak (two paddlers) and $145 for a triple (two paddlers and one childbetween ages 5 and 12).For reservations and more information, seerusticmakwaden.com.

For more NPS-authorizedoutfitters, see the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore website, nps.gov/apis.

This is part of a series of stories about the Apostle Islands as the national lakeshore, the only one in Wisconsin, celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Related: Apostle Islands cruise is one of the best ways to see the national lakeshore

Related: No longer a Midwestern secret, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore celebrates 50 years

Contact Chelsey Lewis atclewis@journalsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @chelseylew and@TravelMJS and Facebook at Journal Sentinel Travel.

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Kayaking the Apostle Islands sea caves in 'more than just a tourist way' - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel