Apostle Islands Sea Kayaking - Lost Creek Adventures — Hotel in Town of Bell

At least we didn't die or had to be rescued. They took our money but i will give them two stars for getting us back safely. Tues July 22nd 4 pm was our scheduled departure time. I was worried about storms in the area and could clearly see them on the doppler and so our group leader called them in the morning and Lost Creek assured there is no problem with the weather. I was quite surprised. I wondered what doppler image they were looking at. 2 pm rolled around and we were getting ready to depart for a 1.5 hour drive to their location. I was staring at this big blob of red/orange storm on the doppler headed to duluth on a direct west to east path. Our group leader called again and once again was reassured by Lost Creek that the weather was fine. I was quite astonished. I didn't want to be buzzkill and tell the group we shouldn't go because they were all so excited to go. However, I do guided raft trips in the midwest for the last fifteen years and the group of people that I take out onto the river is my responsibility and if the weather is bad and flooding eminent, i cancel the trip. I take safety pretty seriously. Soooo.....i figured id be a good sport and take the long drive. I figured Lost Creek were professionals and if the storm was eminent and conditions dangerous they would cancel the trip. Upon arrival I fully expected the trip to be cancelled. You could see the looming dark sky to the west of us. Again, we were reassured that it was no big deal. I even asked our guides if they were concerned about the storm over duluth right now heading our way. He said "oh, we see storms all the time dissolve as soon as they hit lake superior". That seemed total nonsense to me. I got the feeling that our group of 12 people, each paying $85, that this company was in no way wanting to lose $1000 cash on something that "might" occur. We got to the beach, got into our kayaks, got ready to shove off. One of our guides pulls out his phone, looks at the doppler, leans into the other guide and says "thats going to push north of us, right?" as if looking for false reassurance. Neither seemed convinced but at that moment in time it seemed taking our money was more important than our safety. Nonetheless, again i figured these guys were pros and they do this all the time and i was just being alarmist. We headed off to the east following the shoreline. The water was glass smooth and aside from the black clouds on the horizion, it was actually a nice paddle day. My wife took this picture, attached. This was the last picture that we could take as minutes later the lake conditions went to hell. There was this giant wall cloud bearing down on us. You'd think at this point we should have turned around. This cloud was scary and moving fast. It wasn't until the waves got choppy and white-capping where the guides gave us the order to turn around. We were 25 minutes into our paddle trip. The seas got to be about 3 or 4 feet. The white cap waves were crashing atop our kayaks and with each wave a small amount of water would push past my waist and get through the spray skirt. I was soaked and knew the kayak was slowly but surely taking on water. Our lead guide almost lost control of his kayak as a giant wave hit him from the side and he struggled to stay upright. I knew if the waves got to be about one foot more, 5 feet, there would be kayaks flipping and in these conditions there was going to be no "rescue" possible by our guides as they were doing their best to paddle to safety as well. I'm confident they could rescue one boat in calm conditions but if several boats flipped in rough seas hopefully they would have the ability to call the coast guard. We paddled to shore, it was chaotic, but we all made it out. We had walk a quarter mile down the sand to get back to the bus. I was angry that our guides made such a poor decision. EDIT: i've heard they refunded our rental so i'm going to upgrade my review one star, from...

We had an absolutely fantastic experience with Lost Creek Adventures. Everyone was super friendly and very helpful. We did an overnight camping/kayak trip to Sand Island. Our guide, Genevieve, was spectacular! She was always positive and encouraging at every point. We started out with our safety kayak training that morning. This will allow us to rent from them on our own in the future. Then headed over to Little Sand Bay launch and go over one more set of safety lessons. We launched around 1:30/2:00. We had a bit of rough lake with West winds, so we were going against the wind with what Genevieve called kitten paws, not quite white caps all over. It was tough, but definitely doable. We also had a good group. We made it close to the island and then turned our kayaks toward the sea caves so we could get the shelter of the island waters instead of the west wind waves. That was a spectacular view. As we made our way around the point and light house to the camping spot, we met the west winds again and that was another very hard paddling experience, but we made it. The camp was very primitive, but worked out good. Be aware the bathroom situation was a path to a steel toilette on a dug out hole that sat in the middle of an open spot. It was still private enough tho. We had 5 meals and they were yummy. A light breakfast the first day, sammies for lunch, whitefish, veggies and even brownies for dessert, egg & veggie frittata with bacon and fruit for breakfast and pb&j bagels with fruit and chex mix for lunch. This was a lot more food than I expected for sure and it was all good. The lake was very calm the next day and paddling was better, but I wouldn't say completely easy either, probably because we were tired and a bit sore from the day before. However Genevieve was encouraging at every point and an absolute joy to be around. Also be aware you have to use team work at several points of the trip. We helped load and unload the kayaks from the trailer, carried them to and from the beach and helped to pack & unpack them appropriately. It takes team work to do this trip and we were happy to work together with everyone from our group. Thanks for our great adventure! We'll definitely recommend Lost Creek Adventures to any of our friends and family that want to do this trip. My only complaint is that there are hardly any places to stay overnight in Cornucopia. We had to stay in Ashland the night before. Someone should take advantage of that and set up more accommodations. There were a lot of people in town that weekend, so it seems like it...

Our trip was canceled just 10 minutes into the lake due to dangerous waves. The guide explained on the way back to the office that the wind and waves were extremely unsafe, and according to their policy, we should receive a 100% refund. However, the staff at the counter falsely claimed that we didn't follow instructions, so they refused to refund us. Their attitude was extremely rude and aggressive. This company is clearly only interested in scamming customers out of their money. I will pursue all legal avenues to get my refund.

(Update): While they claim to appreciate honest reviews, their response is far from the truth. The staff in the office room are not the lead guide, yet they distort the facts. During the entire process, the guide never mentioned anything about no taking photos, not following safety instructions, or boats colliding. None of these incidents happened from the start of the trip to our return and request for a refund.

There was never a single instance where we failed to follow safety instructions. When we were forced to return to the office, we explicitly confirmed with the guide in the vehicle if the trip was being canceled due to high waves and unsafe conditions. The guide confirmed this and provided a detailed explanation of the weather and water conditions on the return trip.

The staff at the counter was extremely uncooperative and dismissive, showing a blatant unwillingness to take responsibility and shift the blame. Their attitude was arrogant and confrontational. Now, they have the audacity to lie publicly and twist weather-related issues into customer negligence to avoid issuing a refund. This response further proves the malicious attitude of the entire administrative and management team towards customers.

Additionally, assigning a guide with only one year of experience who couldn't effectively lead the group is a management issue, not the guide’s fault. You mentioned hiring three more staff to retrieve the gear. This is a basic part of your job and should not be used as an excuse. We followed all of the guide's instructions and left all equipment and boats in the designated area, which further demonstrates how your company treats...