ESCANABA – The nice fall weather that we’re experiencing in the Upper Peninsula right now is a good time to get out and enjoy the outdoors.

Michael Olson of Ford River said this is his favorite time of year for kayaking on the the Great Lakes.

“In a kayak you can go out in those nice calm conditions and just experience life at a slower pace, which is good for all of us, I believe. But you can also go out on the the waves like we’ve had in the past few days. You can take a kayak out in that and play, if you will, to have a little bit of an adrenaline rush,” he said.

Olson has kayaked downed Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River and kayaked around Lake Superior. As far as he is concerned, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is the most scenic place on Lake Superior to kayak.

“Unlike the tour boats that stay a couple of hundred feet or a couple of blocks offshore, the kayaks get to intimately paddle up along the cliffs. You can get right up close and touch and go in and out of the caves. It’s a really great experience,” Olson said.

Fall can be beautiful on the Great Lakes but Olson said you do have to watch the weather becasue it can get rough.