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| Julian Bay Beach on Stockton Island. NPS photo. |
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| Julian Bay Trail map. Click for larger version. |
The 1.8-mile round trip trail sits on Stockton Island, a popular summer destination in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Stockton is northeast of Hermit Island, directly north of Madeline Island, and northwest of Michigan Island on Lake Superior.
Stockton Island boasts 14 miles of maintained day hiking trails that head along beautiful bays, through majestic pines, and across the singing beach. To reach the island, you’ll have to charter a boat or sail your own. There’s a dock at Presque Isle Point near the Stockton Island Visitor Center. From the dock, the Julian Bay Trail heads northeast past interesting rock formations along a cliffside.
Be sure to pick up a trail booklet at the visitor center to learn about the variety of plant communities you’ll pass. Despite the island’s small size, it sports a diverse array of flora and fauna. More than 430 plant species has been identified here. For wildlife, expect to see at least signs of beaver, black bear, fox, otter, and whitetail deer.
On the trail
At 0.1 miles from the trailhead, the dirt path heads through a stand of 200-year-old yellow birch. To survive so long, the birch first had to escape the lumberjack’s ax and then elude several forest fires on the island.
Thanks to the forest canopy, the trail is mostly shaded. The lack of sunlight allows ferns to dominate the forest floor at about 0.2 miles in.
Sugar, red and mountain maple all have replaced the white pines that stood here before they were logged off decades ago. It makes for a colorful autumn walk.
Past the maples, the elevation dips a bit and enters a marshy area. Balsam fir, cedar, and eastern hemlock dominate the wetter soil.
When the trees switch to spruce and white pine, you’re close to the beach. These hardier trees are able to withstand the fierce storm winds blowing off the lake from the northeast.
Julian Bay Beach
The trail turns rocky as it descends and passes a bog. The bog is slowly filling in, allowing blueberry, huckleberry, laurel and rosemary to take root at its edges.
On the other side of the bog is a forested sand dune that has stabilized. A stand of red pine rises from it.
The trail next arrives at the beach. You’ll want to take off your shoes as the sand “sings” when walked upon.
Exactly why the sand makes a high-pitched squeaking sound is unclear, though there are theories. What is known is that sand grains must be fairly spherical, between 0.1 and 0.5 mm in diameter, contain quartz, be at a certain humidity, and be pollution-free. If you don’t want to take off your shoes, no worries – you also can create the sound by rubbing your palm against the sand.
Wisconsin's only tombolo
Julian Bay Beach actually is the convergence of two sand bars for two separate islands that joined thanks to Lake Superior’s wave action. Presque Isle used to be the southeastern part of Stockton Island as recently as 3000 BC., about the time construction of Stonehenge began and the ancient Egyptians starting using papyrus. Today the beach stretches 1.5 miles around the crescent-shaped bay.
The sand bridge beach between the two islands is called a tombolo, and Julian Bay Beach is Wisconsin’s only one.
In the distance beyond the sands are great views of two other Apostle islands. To the southwest is Madeline Island, and to the southeast is Michigan Island.
To return to the dock, take the Anderson Point Trail along the edge of the former Presque Isle. The trail heads through 1.4-miles of old growth hemlocks that parallels the point’s rocky shoreline. The dark red sandstone you’ll see along the way is called brownstone, which once was widely quarried in northern Wisconsin.
