Daily Log 8/10/19

Yesterday we arrived! We drove all night on Friday 8/8 after Mette got off work. We made it to Houghton at ~2:30am and scoped a place to park and sleep for the night. Luckily with MIT, Houghton is a bit of a college town and a Jimmy Johns was open till 3am. We used the restroom, grabbed a bag of chips, and looked on Google for a nearby shopping center. We drove to the back of a well lit wall mart, lowered the seats forward and slept in the back. It wasn’t half bad.

The next morning we caught the Ranger III at 9am. Mette was both teary from her childhood memories and nauseous from the 2-4 ft waves on Lake Superior. The food was good, and I had taken a motion sickness pill beforehand so all was well.

When we arrived at rock harbor it was full up! We ended up having to share a campsite with a father and his daughter. They were very sweet. We saw 2 Pileated woodpeckers (possibly a couple?) on the trail and stood to watch.

That night was a chilly but not bad. We could hear the loons well into the early morning. After coffee and oatmeal, Mette stayed back to pack while I headed to the dock attendant to rent a canoe. He was very nice but very busy. It took an hour and by the time I was heading back, Mette was walking down the trail to check on my status. We finished packing, donned our packs, and headed to the dock. We weighed our bags on the scale they provide before leaving (35 and 30 pounds if the scale can be trusted) and got our canoe.

We paddled for 7 miles!! Past Three Mile, Mott Island, Caribou and the lighthouse reaching Dairy Farm at ~1:30pm. We had a wide selection of lean-tos to choose from. We chose #5- shaded, not close to too many others and right by a beautiful small creek. After a dip in chilly superior (could only go waist deep) we headed back to rest until dinner and a program tonight where Carolyn Paterson (Rolf’s wife) is giving a talk. Mette is playing cards as I write. Hope to update tomorrow when we make our way to Moskey Basin. Until then!

Daily Log 8/11/19 Last night we saw a program by Carolyn Peterson and she brought her husband Rolf! They also brought a collection of moose skulls and bones. She talked about the hot topic of reintroducing 12 new wolves to the island recently. She had so many facts about moose and wolves like moose have a hard time in belly deep snow but wolves can run on the ice sheet above, wolves go after the back side of the moose to fell it and the moose will try to bump into things to get them off. Moose that are ill or injured will run, that’s how wolves know they are vulnerable. So much! We had dinner- three sisters stew and it was surprisingly good. We turned in early for the early morning departure to Moskey Basin. We paddled for aprox 2 hours and got lean-to #8, the best one in my opinion. We pulled the canoe up right at our site. We took it all in, took a nap when it started to lightly rain, and then set out to visit a bog we were told had many moose sightings. We even saw tracks on the way. We walked a bit to the bog but no moose greeted us. Back at our site, we took a dip in the chilly basin followed by a shower. The portable shower heated in the sun that finally came out and was nice and toasty. After drying off and dressing, we took the canoe out at around 3pm for what we thought would be a fishing excursion. As we rounded the corner of the bog, we saw a Moose!! She was a cow and, I think, a decent size. She would submerge her head under water and come up with mouthfuls of seaweed. We watched her for about an hour, including docking the canoe and watching her from the boarded overpass of the bog. We were so close! Then a family of about 6 otters swam by and as the moose departed, they came up right under the overpass. The noise they made was not expected, like a deep quack/grunt. We had a shot of whiskey to celebrate at our return to camp. We are now making dinner as it’s nearing 5pm. Good day all around, hoping to end it with a good show of the Perseids. :))))))

That day, as we canoed to Moskey, the water refelected the sky like glass. It felt like we were padding in the cloud.

Daily Log 8/12/19 Last night was cold! And we were super tired. A wandering moose near our shelter woke up both up and I saw a huge shooting star on the horizon looking out of the shelter. We were too uncomfortable to be bothered with stargazing last night, but have a better plan today. This morning the sunrise was beautiful and a light fog was lifting off the basin. I saw the two beavers head towards their dam near our camp. We moose watched most of the day and tracked the daisy trail for a bit before doubling back. I also saw a toad that was bigger than my fist. Mette took a nap and I sunbathed, read, waded in the lake, and battled some black flies in the afternoon heat. I went to check for moose at the bog and saw another cow!! I went back to tell Mette and we returned to find her still eating. She watched us intently and eventually headed towards the trail ahead of us. She was right there! I got to see a whole moose up close and personal. We headed back and hung out until the ranger checks in tonight after dinner. We are hoping she has an updated weather report and maybe a pen. We’re taking it easy today and heading to Lake Richie with our packs tomorrow when we wake up.

Daily Log 8/13/19 The ranger never showed and we had a lasagna packet for dinner. It was really good. Later we saw another moose in the bog. Another shot of whisky to celebrate! 🥃 That night we learned what we thought was a moose the night before was actually beavers! They woke us up again tonight cutting the small trees down next to our camp. When we woke and made noise, they slapped their tails angrily on the water. It was so loud! The sky was cloudy so no stargazing tonight. We woke up this morning at 7:30, packed and left promptly at 8am headed to Lake Richie. We didn’t even make oatmeal or coffee, just grabbed some bars and water and huffed it. Right at the start, there was a moose directly next to the trail eating leaves. So much for our early start! We headed into the woods to give it a wide berth and were soon on our way. The trail was spruce for about a mile and then opens up to the rock face. We followed the worn pink trail and eventually saw Richie in the distance. A camp fox greeted us at the campground sign post and followed us to our site (#2). I’m sure he was keeping tabs on where and what snacks to find for later in the night… I read, we got water and Mette fished a bit. She had a big pike on the second cast but it broke the line! It took the lure and all. Luckily we have a spare, but it may not be as good as the 5 diamond spinner. We’ll try again this evening. I’m happy to have backpacked for the first time! 35 pounds wasn’t as bad as I thought. About to take a whisky shot to celebrate.

Daily Log 8/14/19

We didn’t see moose or catch fish last night, but we did see a swan couple land in sync on the lake. We had chicken Alfredo which was so good since we were so hungry. We made hot chocolate too before dozing off around 8pm. Mette was up until 11pm reading her romance novel 🙄. We shared a site with back packers that rolled in late and they snored.

Today was a big day. We got up at 6:30, packed and hit the trail at 7:15. As we neared Moskey we stumbled upon a moose cow and her calf! 🥃 They quickly departed which we were thankful for. Would not want to get in the way of a 900 lb mother’s instincts. The hike back to Moskey took about 1. 5 hours and we immediately jumped in our canoe that we left there overnight. Somehow, someway, the wind was against us on our way back. We were both looking forward to having the wind at our backs. The waves swelled as we made our way to the fishery to access the lighthouse.

Something really cool happened when we made it to the fishery. Carolyn and Rolf live right across from daisy farm and next to the fishery. There were two paths, one to the lighthouse and one that boasted about moose and wolf bones. Guess which I picked. It led to Carolyn and Rolf’s home where all are welcome. Their granddaughter was playing the violin as we got there. They weren’t kidding about the moose bones! Stacks and stacks. There were two spines taller than me. Carolyn invited us to sign the guestbook inside. Upon entering we were offered watermelon and zucchini bread watermelon. It was an encounter out of a fairy tale. The house was small and filled/covered with pictures, paintings, posters and memorabilia. It looked just as you’d think it would. We chatted with Carolyn a bit about the current political climate, carrying the torch for the next generation and “feeding the good wolf”. She is something special.

We left and made our way to the lighthouse next. It was pretty and you can go right inside. We climbed to the top for an awesome view.

It was hard making our way to Caribou. The waves were big, wind blowing and we were open to Lake Superior for most of the paddle. But we did it! The island is beautiful and as of 12:00pm we are the only ones here. We chose the second shelter nearest the bay (#3). We are making our dinner for lunch since we’re both exhausted and hungry.

A buoy in Superior rocks in the waves and sends a melodic bell ringing through the air here. Perfect to fall asleep to along with the sound of the waves. After a well deserved nap, I explored the island a bit. The trail takes you to a beach looking out at Superior and other small, private coves surrounded by rock face. It’s beautiful here, quite the place. Green stones dot the shoreline and many signs of moose including bedding areas and poop surround the campsite. We are still the only ones here at 4:19pm, making this the most secluded I’ve felt so far save for paddling and some back trails.

We made a fire in one of the only fire pits on Isle Royale. While we were burning, a couple sailed up on their boat. We made some small talk and he (Phil) mentioned that he could play the weather at the bottom of the hour on his radio. I headed down at 8:20 and saw he was getting ready to make brats. He offered us some! We spent our dinner at the dock picnic table with Phil and Laura swapping stories and talking about our travels. We felt so good getting a heavy, real meal in our stomachs. The magic of aisle Royale strikes again! We’re sleeping now at 9:43pm. Tomorrow we paddle to Tookers. The weather update said the waves, temp and wind should be in our favor. Until then!

Notes I took while listening to Phil’s weather radio:

Northeast wind

1ft waves, 8 knots

66

5-15

SW late

SW 15 knots slight chance showers midday

Waves calm 1-2 ft

Slight chance that night

Sw calm

Daily Log 8/15/19

This morning we got up at around 8am. I was up a little earlier and made coffee. We left caribou around 9am and headed for Tookers. All was calm until we hit the opening just before Tookers island. Big swells from Superior along with boat taxi waves made it a pretty scary trek the last 20 minutes. But we made it to the very small and unoccupied island. We’re the only ones here and have been making the best of it. We’ve spent a long time on the dock sunbathing and we warmed up some water for a much needed shower. The beach cove here is nice and I think it would be a great place to watch the sunrise. It’s been a slow day, which has been nice to sit, chat, and just be. We made dinner and it was sooooo spicy. Mette tapped out early and I could barley finish. We were so hungry it was torture. Don’t go with the Alpine Chicken Gumbo. We are about to make hot chocolate as it cools down. We’re both a little worried about the waves tomorrow so we’re aiming for an early start when all is (usually) calm. We’ll have to cross rock harbor from Tookers, so it could be tricky.

Daily Log 8/16/19 This log is a bit of a lie, as my last entry on the trip was the 15th. If someone had found my journal, they’d have thought me and Mette died making our way back to Rock Harbor. Once we made it to Rock Harbor, I had a burger and a beer at the restaurant. Me and Mette walked to Tobin Harbor, where the water planes land and saw another moose, this time a bull! We had to turn around for sometime on the trail to give him space. We also climbed up a trail nearby to look out over the island. The views were stunning! We caught the Ranger the next day. That’s about all I recollect, but I’ll ask Mette if she remembers more and update accordingly. Until then!

Isle Royale

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