Trout Bay

It takes good binoculars if you're going to get a good look at Miner Castle 4 miles east of Trout Bay Overlook, It's not much more that a white blob along the surf in this photo.

This is where a tombolo or sandbar connects the main part of Grand Island to what was another, smaller island on the southeast, now called the "Thumb." There's a beach and, on the Thumb, colored sandstone bluffs and sea caves, like Pictured Rocks only not as high. Powers-of-the-Air, protagonist of A Face in the Rock, was born at Trout Bay. Now six primitive campsites are here.

Trout Bay is an ideal place for kayaking, and a wonderfully evocative one, says Dean Sandell, former recreation planner in the DNR Forestry Division. "In the sea caves the water comes in in swells, making wonderful sounds — higher-pitched than other sea caves. It's quite a treat. The wet rock smell is very organic. There are tiny beaches of pearl-like round stones. The water over those stones, perking down through them, makes subtle sounds. It's a place that slows you down to absorb those great experiences. I could spend a lot of time on Trout Bay." (—May, 3008)

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