I've kayaked with Trek&Trail three times! Love them. Well organized, good experience. The sea caves are amazing! read more

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Just returned from a fantastic four day three night trip in the Apostle Islands. Everything was wonderful including the food, the guide, the campsites and this time around even the weather was great. A perfect adventure with a very reputable company. Highly recommend. read more

I've used Trek &Trail multiple time for over a decade - consistent excellence pretty much sums it up. Did the half day today - Aidan was responsive and helpful for the booking since we were coming in from the Chicago burbs for the 4th - Izzy and Lexie were amazing and helpful guides and we had a great paddle on a perfect weather day. There's no competition or alternative when you're looking for rentals or a guided tour - Trek and Trail is the only choice. read more

Trek & Trail - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

Trek & Trail is a well run operation. They are reliable, likable and know their way around a kayak. We took a tour and our guide was fun, knowledgeable, and very safety conscious. We will use their services agsin! read more

Elsa and Mishree were amazing guides! They were so knowledgeable about the sea caves, the geographical history and the history of the indigenous people. Highly recommend! read more

AMAZING!! Abby & Hannah were so knowledgeable and fun! Going through the caves was absolutely beautiful. We had perfect weather, calm water and the best day! We will be back! read more

We had two young women, but experienced guides with cute personalities that guided us through our kayaking trip. The Apostle Islands are magnificent, so worthy of making a "Trek" up there to Northern Wisc. Easy for all ages. Trek and Trail, are an experienced outfit and I highly recommend them! read more

I began planning for this adventure in February. I am fortunate to have a group of friends that love wilderness adventures as much as I do. From the start Aidan, the owner of Trek & Trail, was responsive, kind and willing to talk on the phone & answer many questions. Our group of 4 women (age range 36-58) did a 3 day trip. We camped on 2 islands, (spent time on 4), made our way through incredible sea caves, saw a ship wreck, ate amazing food, camped in stunning sites, hiked to 2 light houses, picked on our sweet guide, laughed a lot, paddled 25+ miles & picked fresh blueberries to add to the pancakes! The only thing I would change is to add 1 more day, 1/2 hanging at the campsite and 1/2 doing a "day trip" paddle. Our guide Alex was a charming young man that put up with us with grace and humor. He shared just the right amount of history, local lore and geology to make us feel knowledgeable about the islands. The key to making all that happen was the fact that we felt safe the entire trip!! There is something so special and unique about Gichigami, I felt warmly wrapped in the vastness of the great lake! A little side note: For those hesitant to do the kayak flipping drill (I worried about it for months) it was actually quite easy! Not worth my dreading the event!! I actually had fun with it! I will be planning another trip (or 2) with Trek & Trail in the next few years! Thanks Aidan and Alex!! read more

Our family had a great time. Very organized and the guides Chuck and Isabel were so friendly and funny. The group became fast friends. The sea caves we kayaked to were absolutely beautiful. They space the tours out so you are not with other groups and it's not crowded. Highly recommend. read more

Highly recommend Trek & Trail. We would have never found or explored the caves without them. Great gear. Well organized. Responsive. Our guides were great teachers and prepared us well. read more

Guides were great, personable, and knowledgeable! Our weather was great so no hiccups.

We rented a kayak for three days from Trek and Trail. The safety course and the equipment set us up for a great excursion. The owners are wonderful people, and our experience with this outfitter was overall excellent! read more

Trek and Trail with guide Nora provided my group of six 60+ year old mix of experienced and novice kayakers with the perfect day... reasonable pace, great instruction and top notch equipment, a tasty lunch and hike to lighthouse on Sand Island. Nora was an informative and experienced guide with whom we felt safe and in control at all times. The views were incredible... accessible caves, roosting fledgling falcons and Loon chicks playing in the waves, crystal clear waters and sandy beaches. Met owners Aiden and Ally who treated us so well. Thanks for a wonderful day...5 stars read more

The tour was excellent, our guides did a great job explaining the history of the sea caves and how they were formed, etc. I would highly recommend using Trek & Trail. read more

Izzy and Stosh were great! Very knowledgeable. Great for experienced and inexperienced kayakers.

We took the 1/2-day Sea Caves tour. The experience was great. We had good weather which always helps. The guides, Nick & May (Mae?), were friendly and knowledgeable. For us the trip was easy. We kayak frequently - usually on inland lakes and rivers. read more

Our family had a great experience kayaking to the sea caves with our guide, Elsa. We did the full day trip. Lunch provided was excellent, wonderful conversation and great suggestions for things to do in the area. Highly recommend! read more

My group selected the 3 hour tour and unlike Gilligan, we made it back to our starting point! The kayaking was a step harder than my previous experiences. These sea kayaks had rutters that were controlled by my feet. Usually the waters around the sea caves are not calm, but we had a lucky day of calm waters. The instructors were fun and very safe too. read more

Took my parents on a half day sea caves trip at the end of July. Could not have asked for a better experience. Before we even got on the water, the two guides gave a thorough demo on how to kayak and safety measures. Since we had an odd number in our group, my mom rode with one of the guides and he took great care of her. She couldn't paddle much, but he made sure they were floating along no problem. On the tour, we got to paddle through 3 cave arches and closely along the rest of them. While going through the caves, one of the guides is close by to ensure they can rescue you quickly if something goes wrong. And if you didn't want to, you didn't have to paddle through them. They were both a wealth of knowledge and told us all sorts of fun facts. One of the guides was even kind enough to take pictures of everybody and send it to them after. Overall, a fantastic experience and I'd highly recommend Trek & Trail. read more

We had a great time on our half day kayak with Trek and trail out of Meyers beach. We were able to check in with the Office the day before so we could meet straight at Meyers Beach. Our wonderful guides were Tash and Sauri. We had a blast kayaking out to the caves, and they did a great job, giving us some history and allowing us to explore. The crevice and birth canal were probably my favorites. Thanks again for a great and easy experience! read more

I cannot say enough positive things about Trek & Trail. Paige and Abby were so friendly. Our group (as with most groups) had some snafus preventing us from all fully coming together but they tagteamed seamlessly to ensure the rest of us were educated and entertained while we waited for people to catch up. I suppose I shouldn't review how a loon swam under our kayak as that is not something that can be replicated, but the service was overall amazing. The day before, we had originally been scheduled, but a big storm forced us to change plans. The front office had us on the first tour the next day. I would definitely recommend for all skill levels! read more

Trek & Trail - Loon under our kayak - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

What an amazing trip! For a family of 5 this was a splurge for us but well worth the money. We went out on a choppy day after it had been storming for 10-12 hours the night before. My husband was in a triple kayak with our 10 and 12 yo. He is an experienced kayaker/paddler who has never been in a triple before. He said it was impossible to precisely navigate and as a result he wasn't able to go into the caves like he wish he would've been able to do. I was in a double with my 14yo. She was sea sick with-in 10 minutes of put-in. So some suggestions would be to go in a tandem and not a triple if at all possible and take some queasy meds if you tend to get motion sickness. Lastly, I wish there was a way to get group pictures or even boat pictures while we enter the caves. I brought a water sleeve for my camera, but it would've been nice to get some Pics of the boats entering the caves. Even with these hurdles, it was still amazing to get up and close to the sea caves. Probably our highlight of the trip! read more

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Me and my friend had a fun time :) The owners and staff were very friendly. Worth the trip!

Four of us took the half day sea kayaking tour from Trek and Trail on 6/30 with guides Porter and Nikki. Unfortunately our experience wasn't what we had hoped for: How it works: -check in at the store an hour or so early, do some paperwork and pickup wetsuit (excellent quality), life jacket and if you'd like, borrow a dry bag and even rain jacket-super nice, friendly and helpful-5 stars for this part of the day -tour leaves from a park 17 miles up the road so you take your car up there-meet 15 min prior to your tour-you need $5 cash to pay for parking. -get suited up and meet your guides -spend 30+minutes with land instructions (i.e. How to hold a paddle, etc.-very basic but lots of beginners in the group. -finally get in your boat (doubles only) and head 1mile down the shore to the sea caves. -see the caves paddle back -spend another 30 minutes hauling the boats up a flight of 25 steps to "help out the guides" So what's the problem? The issue is that they are geared toward all ages (which is in a way nice) and in fact on our tour (12 people, six boats plus two guide boats) there was a family with two young children and two grandparents on their first kayak trip. While I applaud them for being active, being constantly told by the guides (in a yelling voice to be heard) to hold up, wait and stop for a few kayakers made for a tedious trip. It's too bad that T&T doesn't segregate their tours and have certain times for young families and other times for groups with some experience. On our trip no one had fun-inexperienced folks felt pushed and the more experienced folks felt like they were on a kindergarten field trip. Not recommended (if you are an experienced paddled) read more

Trek & Trail - Storefront where you check in - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

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Took a small group of Boy Scouts on a 5-day guided trek to multiple islands. T&T was super easy to deal with on the planning side, and even better once out on the water. Our guides knew the islands well, were clearly well-trained, and were patient with our youth on and off the water. read more

The two women who guided our trip were very good Abby worked very hard helped carry up both heavy kayaks the other Womens went to the bathroom for most of the heavy lifting. I was shocked that I appeared to be the only one of my group of about ten or twelve to tip the women. When I asked about it at the shop he seemed surprised then offered a small amt to tip them. One serious comment the paddlers were expected to carry the very have kayaks up two or three flights of steep stairs. The men running the shop in my opinion should arrive to assist at the end. One of our group was having a hard time lifting the boats. Very dangerous to expect people to carry those boats without warning much harder on the heart than paddling unsafe end to an otherwise lovely trip read more

I will never recommend this business to anyone. We requested a refund on a gift card that my husband planned ahead of a year ago for my birthday due to a personal unexpected medical reason. They denied our request. They just took the money because they are a "small business "! This is not how you treat a customer, at least not in our view. read more

We had an awesome kayaking experience through Trek & Trail and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone. A group of seven of us booked the half day tour and we couldn't have been happier with our choice, to be honest. Both our tour guides were very helpful, super patient, and just really good at what they were doing. Small detail: I personally wasn't super pleased with the fact that they at the end asked everyone to help out with carrying the kayaks up 30 or so steps since we were the last group of the day... This may not be a problem for a lot of people, but I have knee surgeries and after holding my legs in an awkward position in a tight wetsuit for a good 3 hours, I wasn't going to risk my own knees and health to carry quite heavy kayaks up a bunch of steps. Due to my health I did not help out, but one of the tour guides kept looking and saying "come on guys you gotta help out". Again, this may be easy for a lot of other people, but the guides need to not judge those who aren't helping without knowing why they may not be helping. Considering I put this health concern down on my form earlier in the day, I could have done without the slight judgment. I considered giving 4 stars instead of 5 for this reason, to be honest, but I will just write it down and hopefully the owners and guides will see this. Do not judge or give attitude to people if they're not helping you carry kayaks at the end of the day (which they weren't told is part of the trip!), they may have health issues that are keeping them from helping. So aside from what I just said above, everything considered this is a 5 star experience if you enjoy kayaking and cool caves. Highly recommended! As other reviewers have also explained, you first check in about an hour before the tour actually begins. At check in you fill out a form that pretty much says what you're about to do is dangerous and you might die (standard liability language really) and you get your wetsuit and life jacket. They have a helpful wet suit guide that shows what size you should go for based on your height and weight, and they have changing rooms available for men and women (large changing rooms that are meant to be used by multiple people at once so wear year swimsuit underneath). You then drive to the actual take off point where you need to pay $5 for parking. Here you can find a public restroom as well. The next part is a lecture on how to kayak, in essence, and all the basics of what to do if things go awry, and it takes about 20 minutes or so. After that you're off to kayak and see the super cool caves! So here's where the tour guides are very patient and helpful. My friend and I never really kayaked before, and we weren't as fast as the rest of the group. So after letting us struggle for a bit, our guide actually tied our kayak to his and helped pull us forward. That was incedibly nice of him, and it could not have been easy (he made it look super easy). However, they did this to ensure we didn't fall too far behind from the group, and of course we were still paddling to help out and it worked out just fine! The caves are absolutely beautiful and I uploaded a few photos that don't do them justice. You then kayak back and that's the day! We thought it was a fun and relaxing experience, and the weather turned out to be perfect on the day we were here. Some other tips would be to definitely put on sunscreen, sunglasses are your friend, and wear a rain jacket if it's windy! read more

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I'd give them a minus 10 if that was possible. if you are considering traveling with them, run fast and run far. We signed up and paid for a for a week long trip to the Apostle Islands seven months in advance. After driving 11 hours and spending a night in a hotel, we arrive at Trek & Trail and gear up for our trip, that is when they tell us that my husband and I had been selected to paddle a double. I informed them that we would not do that and asked for the email showing where they said we would be burdened with that task. Surprise no such email. After threatening to begin an internet campaign against them, we received our refund. But still seeing that I was upset, the manager wanted to know what the "big deal" was. I informed him that had he told us the double debacle we could have chosen another trip and outfitter and worst of all we spent $1,000 and 20+ hours driving for a non vacation. Worst outfitter company ever. Stay away! Addendum Owners commented that doubles are used and necessary. Funny everyone else in the group were given doubles and after we left the group went out without a double. very poor communication. Again...stay away from this outfitter! read more

My boyfriend and I went on the sea cave tour and would definitely recommend it! Very nice tour guides and got to see and go in some beautiful caves! read more

Phil and Keagan were awesome guides. Very thorough, patient and fun. I would absolutely book our kayaking adventures with Trek and Trail again. read more

Trek & Trail - Sea caves - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

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I had a great 1/2 day trip out to Sand Island. I was concerned initially because all my kayaking experience has been on flat water and that's a big jump to Lake Superior. My concern was not lessened when I saw our guides, who both looked like they were about 15-no exaggeration. But it was an excellent experience which I enjoyed a great deal. Beware you will have to carry your kayaks down about 50 stairs (or up if you're the last trip of the day). read more

Terrific group of young adults run the shop and lead the tours. The 3 hour sea kayak tour of the Apostle island sea caves led by Quinn and Nick was both challenging and rewarding for us as newer paddlers. They worked to get us feeling confident on land, then in the water. read more

Our family of four embarked on a 3-day, 2-night stay to Sand Island. From booking to the final day, we had a very positive experience! Ally was knowledgeable in answering all our questions before making the final decision to book. Our guide Aidan was just as amazing. Professional, educated and intuitive to our family. We have a newly turned 14 year-old son and newly turned 12 year-old daughter. She is very shy but he was able to bring out her adventurous side! He was able to connect with both of them (he even had card games and banana grams)! He even gave us all a safety tutorial for kayaking in the future! A shout out to Coco's for the simply delicious catered meals! The desserts were on a different level! We all recommend this outfitter and highly recommend requesting Ally or Aidan for tour guides. We have lived in New Zealand and these islands were just as beautiful! The Neyer Family Bayside, Wisconsin read more

My wife and I were visiting the Apostle Islands for the first time and we were excited do some kayaking and camping in what was described to us as a very beautiful and unique place. We did not want to do a kayak tour, considering both of ourselves to be confident kayakers, having sea kayaked without a guide in the ocean in New Zealand, San Diego, as well as where I am from, Florida. Unfortunately our window was very small, we only had two days/one night being that our stop here was part of a larger trip. We began to monitor the weather about a week out and things seemed to be looking good but that would change a couple of days before our scheduled arrival date. Nevertheless, we decided to go ahead with our plans and rent two single kayaks at a cost of $70/each from Trek & Trail. Trek & Trail also required that we pay $50/a piece for a 3 hour safety course for those not familiar with kayaking in the area which seemed a little excessive for people with previous unguided sea kayaking experience but we obliged. We arrived the day before our scheduled safety class to less than favorable conditions. It was in the 50's (in mid-July!) and foggy with 20 mph winds and 4-6 foot swells. My wife and I decided that if the conditions were the same tomorrow morning, then we would ask Trek & Trail if we could be moved to a full day guided tour. Conditions were the exact same the next day so when we arrived in the morning, we asked Lynn if we could be added to a guided tour. She seemed flustered by our request and unwilling to make the change at first but then told us to give her 10 minutes to see what she could do. After standing outside for 10 minutes Lynn came out and said she would be able to accommodate us. We were to be added to their full day tour which on their website states that it goes out at 11am and returns around 5:30pm for $109pp. First, let me start off by saying what was right about this tour: 1. Our guides were fantastic. They really tried to make a bad situation good and were very knowledgable about the area. 2. The lunch was outstanding for this type of tour. They got it from a local spot called the Fat Radish where we actually had eaten at for dinner the night before. Now the tour itself: We arrived to the put in location (Meyers Beach) at about 11:30am. After walking down to the water, our guides deemed it too unsafe to take us out to the sea caves. I think everyone in our group thought the trip would be cancelled due to weather but the guides stated that we would be going Bark Bay, a bay somewhat protected by the wind. After a lengthy instruction talk, we put the boats in the water at Bark Bay a little after 1pm. The water in Bark Bay was completely flat. After paddling out one direction to the mouth of the bay where it meets Lake Superior, we had lunch on a little sand embankment for a half hour. Then, we paddled back to the dock. The boats came out of the water at 4pm, I checked the time as we were loading them. So a total of roughly 2.5 hours on the water, not what I would consider a full day tour. The water was so flat that it could have easily been done on a standup paddleboard without a guide, let alone a 16 foot sea kayak. We saw no sea caves. When we arrived back to Trek & Trail, I decided to ask for a refund for just the difference of what we already paid for our kayak rental and the cost of the tour, since it is actually more money to just rent kayaks and do the safety course as opposed to taking the tour, a difference of about $30. Lynn said that she could not do that and could only issue a store credit. I told her don't worry about it and give it to the guides as a tip. At this point I decided to voice my dissatisfaction with the tour in a very calm, non-combative way. Lynn immediately jumped on the defensive and said it was our fault for changing what we wanted to do anyway. Be that as it may, if we are strictly talking about what was offered for the full day tour, I feel that they did not come close to delivering on expectations based on what was described on their website. I understand that they can't control the weather but maybe Trek & Trail should have more options for people if bad weather does arise. And maybe if a customer voices their displeasure, as a small business owner, be competent enough to handle the situation with a little bit more diplomacy than how Lynn handled our situation. Although bummed about our experience, it just means that we have to eventually return to the Apostle Islands one day with our own kayaks in tow. I would even go as far as to recommend you use Trek & Trail when you are in the Apostle Islands. Just make sure its a perfect day and Lynn has the day off. read more

Highly recommend Trek and Trail- they have high standards for safety and provided a fabulous outing for us with a guided overnight trip to Sand island. Our guide Ali had a wealth of knowledge and experience and we were able to explore caves on both days as well as took a hike to lighthouse. They take care of all the details so we could enjoy kayaking and exploring! read more

Amazing experience! If you are in the Bayfield area, take the time to kayak Lake Superior and see the Sea Caves! Great guides! We had a calm day so it felt like a very doable trip! ALSO, If you are a gadgets person or need something for the trip... or camping...wait and buy it in their retail store. It's a mini REI! read more

Trek & Trail - Sea Caves up close and amazing! - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

We just got back from the 'Paddle Through Time' 2 night/3 days kayaking and camping excursion led by Bill, and had an amazing time. Most of the credit for the success is due to our guide's proficiency and great personality, although we definitely also lucked out with beautiful weather and good kayaking conditions. I really can't say enough great things about our guide and highly recommend trying to schedule your next camping/kayaking adventure with him. Most importantly, he has the critical survival expertise (weather, navigation, nautical) to lead a group safely, all without being bossy or overbearing. His calm demeanor, even during times of slight angst, put the group at ease and reconfirmed that we were in good hands. Bill has 18+ years of experience leading sea kayaking trips in the area and it shows. In addition to knowing the lake and the Apostles like the back of his hand, he also has an immense wealth of knowledge including geology, natural history, and local history. Even though I'm comfortable backpacking on my own and with novice hikers in black bear country, I wouldn't even think of attempting this type of trip until learning from a professional. The lake is a beast and acts like an ocean, sans the tide. Huge swells can come out of nowhere, it's much harder to get back into a kayak than you'd think (you have to do it twice to get through the safety course), and it only takes 15 minutes in that bad boy to get hypothermia. It's nothing to mess around with. As a novice kayaker, I completely underestimated what it meant to paddle 32 miles in 2.5 days. It was beautiful, and I'd love to go back, but if you want more leisure time and less open water paddling, then go for a trip with a base camp and lots of built-in hiking/relaxation time. We launched from Little Sand Bay, spent the first night on Sand Island after paddling through the sea caves, spent the next day stopping off at York and Raspberry Islands before spending the second night on Oak Island. From there we made our way back to Bayfield. In addition to our fantastic trip guide, the front desk staff were great to work with for scheduling, the gear seemed in top shape, and the catered food was very tasty. The shop is also stocked with a nice selection of gear. read more

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We chose to visit Bayfield, WI because of the infamous Apostle Islands Sea Caves. We made the wise choice to have Trek & Trail lead us through the caves on kayak. Ali and Kate took us on an all day tour (9-4:00 PM) in and out of the sea caves. They were both full of knowledge, willing to help, and answered all questions throughout the day. We had an incredible experience kayaking the sea caves thanks to Ali and Kate from Trek & Trail! read more

Trek & Trail - Snapshots from our full day tour with Trek & Trail. - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

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Margaret, who was on the phone, is super friendly and cuztomer-oriented. Porter, who was our tour guide, is funny, knowledgable, and knows what he's doing. We had a full day kayaking (9-4), which is super exhausting for beginners like ourselves, but we enjoyed it. Now it's time for that 5-hour nap! We recommend if you just want to see the sea caves, then do a half-day, that might be easier. Please check the weather before you come because even at the end of June, it is still around 50°F. read more