NE/WWF-Day 10-Goodbye Isle Royale, It Was Fun!

We had quite the storm early this morning. The thunderstorm started about 5:00am. It wasn’t too bad until about 6:30ish. Then the rain really came down. Since my tent was set up on dirt, I knew it was going to be a mud ball. Well, not only was it a mud ball, but I had a lake in the vestibule on one side. Yes, lucky me, I now had waterfront property! I also had a wet floor of my tent. My sleeping pad island kept my quilt dry, and the thin closed cell foam pad kept most of my Thermarest dry, but not the lower third. I put my quilt back in the stuff sack, and folded the bottom of my sleeping pad up out of the wet. There were a few dry spots on the floor, thankfully where my battery bank had been laying. 

It quit raining around 8:30ish. I still put my rain pants and jacket on (everything outside was wet). I walked down to the park office to check the weather. It was for Copper Harbor. Thunderstorms were going to continue until about 11:00, but it had already moved away from Isle Royale (I could still hear thunder, and saw the occasional lightning). 

Fortunately, our boat to Copper Harbor didn’t depart until 2:45. Things could dry out if we just got a bit of sun. And we did, but a lake takes a long time to dry up. I got out my Swedish dish cloth, and started sopping up the muddy lake. I should have taken a photo. It was so muddy! When the cloth would get black with dirt, I would go rinse it out, and continue on (than heavens for easily accessible water).

Finally I got as much of the lake drained as possible. The picnic table had started to dry out, so I was able to move things out of my wet tent. I got my sleeping pad pretty dry, and packed it away. 

The sun had dried the rainfly, so I took it off. There was no way the tent floor was going to dry being stuck to the soaking wet footprint, so I took down the tent, leaving the footprint and poles, then turned the tent over and laid it on top of the poles. Once the tent was dry, I packed it and the fly into the bag. I took down the poles, and laid the footprint on top of the bushes to dry. Periodically, I would shake the dirt that had dried off of it. Even when the footprint was dry, it was still very dirty. I found, rubbing the dirty parts together loosened more dirt. In the end, I got it pretty clean. 

Lani pretty much had to do the same thing, except her muddy thing was her Tyvek. When she took her stuff down to the dock, she washed her Tyvek in Lake Superior. 

I had to make two trips to get my bags to the dock. 

Goodbye wet muddy campsite. 

Goodbye repurposed wolf crate (which, by the way, is not waterproof…everything was wet inside it, fortunately all in waterproof bags).

Lots of people were waiting for the boat. The boat was already here, but they didn’t board until 2:20. We had met many of the hikers in the last two days. 

The Isle Royale Queen IV…a much bigger boat than the one we took from Grand Portage. 

The store was even open (they open when the boat comes in, and gets ready to go). I got an ice cream bar, and a bottle of juice. Billy was waiting on the dock, along with my bags. 

We have the guys our bikes. Once again, they are up top. I couldn’t see Billy, but Bumblebee is on the railing. They also loaded several kayaks. Once we had given the captain our names, we handed up our bags, and boarded. 

Seats with tables!

Such a luxurious boat (compared to the Voyaguer anyaway)!

We set off about 10 minutes early. 

Underway! Fairly calm water, but we did do some side to side rocking. This boat also had a snack bar! Lani and I both got some Ginger Ale. 

Finally seeing land. 

We went out on the bow to watch our arrival into Copper Harbor. 

Interesting clouds. 

The lighthouse. 

Copper Harbor Dock for the Isle Royale Queen. 

Billy being off loaded. 

For this boat, the crew did all the off loading of the backpacks, kayaks, and a couple of bikes. No bucket brigade for this operation!

We loaded up our bikes, and headed for our campsite. It was less than half a mile. We are at the Fanny Hooe Resort and Campground. There are quite a number of RVs here, but we are in the tent area, which is very quiet. 

We took showers, and did laundry. Tomorrow we will go to the grocery store (and perhaps a bakery stop) before we head out of town on this, the Keweenaw Peninsula. We’ve heard this is a good place to see the Northern Lights, but It’s nearly a full moon, so I doubt it. 

NW/WWF-Day 9-Doing a Bit of Island Exploring

We had our first bit of rain overnight. It wasn’t much, and the day ended up being gloriously sunny and warm. We did our morning stuff, then set out on a little hike. First we checked out the Smithwick Mine site. 

Info if you want to read about it. 

The mine? Looks like just a hole. 

Next we headed out on the trail to Suzy’s Cave. Officer Seth had given me the intel on the trail. 

Nice trail. 

Fungi. 

The harbor where the seaplanes come in. 



Suzy’s Cave. It’s not a big one, but cool. 

This little tunnel at the back of the cave…we didn’t crawl through it. 

Perfect snack rock!

Seth had told us the return trail along Rock Harbor was more rock scrambling. I was wearing my sandals, and Lani had her bike shoes. Still, we are loath to go back the same way, so we braved it. Yes, there were more rock slabs, but it was fine. 

Photo courtesy of Lani. 



Photo by Lani. 

Much sunnier and drier on the Rock Harbor side. 

Now we are in the auditorium where, believe it or not, they have WiFi! Unfortunately, with the WiFi came some bad news. A good friend passed away doing what he loved most, riding his bike. A bit of a dark cloud on the day…

NW/WWF-Day 8- Just Sit Right Back…

…And you’ll hear a tale…

Good morning from Grand Portage. 

Yes, we were up before the dawn. Lani woke me from a deep sleep at 5:10. We quickly packed up our gear along with our soaking wet tents (still no rain, just dew), and headed, in the dark, to the ferry dock. It turned out to be 2.6 miles from our campsite. We arrived at 6:20. We were the first ones there. 

When the skipper (Ben) fired up the engines (warm them up?), I went over to ask how much needed to come off our bikes. He said probably just on one side, to be able to lash the bikes to the railing…up top on the back of the boat. I said, “Oh, the bikes have to be lifted up there? Then all the bags need to come off.” I asked if we would have help. Ben said he could “lend a hand”. Okay, this might be tricky. 

More people arrived (all backpackers), and Bob (the first mate) had them start bringing over their packs. We then handed up our bags. Then it was time for the bikes. Ben was up top, and Bob was on the dock. Ben told Lani she had to help Bob with the bike, but then Bob picked it up and said it wasn’t heavy! He handed it to Ben. Next came Billy. Bob just picked up Billy, no problem!

Billy and Bumblebee secured!

This boat is about twice the size of the boat I took across Lago O’Higgins. On that boat, there were 11 bikes, and 3 hikers. On this boat, we were the only 2 bikes, and the rest (maybe about 20-25) were hikers. That makes sense, considering there is no biking in Isle Royale National Park. 

We were underway at 7:33.

Inside the boat. Little did we know the seats we chose would be right on top of the engines. It was very loud. 



Lani looking out the window. 



The bikes have the best view!

Skipper Ben

The sun coming up over Lake Superior

Calm water!

Our first port o’ call was Windigo. Several people were getting off to start their hike there, but everyone had to get off the boat to have the Isle Royale orientation. 

Seaplanes…another way to get to the island. 

Windigo

Ranger Andrew gave the orientation talk. Every time he said, “Isle Royale is so wild.” We had to say…you guessed it…”How wild is it?” It’s so wild that it is the least visited National Park in the lower 48. It is so wild, it is the most revisited National Park in the lower 48.

After the orientation, those of us continuing on to McCargoe Cove and Rock Harbor reboarded the boat. We made our way along the shoreline to the next stop. 

Lani and I got seats outside. It was much quieter. In this photo we don’t have our jackets on. Once we were out of Windigo Bay, it was a little more chilly. 

Isle Royale shoreline 

We pulled into Mac-something, and let off 7 more people. We added 3 (even though Bob said we weren’t picking anyone up there). Interestingly, there was a Park Ranger Police boat, and three rangers there. So, don’t know what the deal was with these three hikers…

McCargoe Cove

It was another hour plus to Rock Harbor. Lani took a nap.

First mate, Bob preparing for our arrival in Rock Harbor. 

Ahoy Rock Harbor!

The process for disembarking and unloading the boat was interesting. Since the dock was kind of skinny (considering the number of people, including those two weirdos on the bikes…who brings a bike to an island where it can’t be ridden??? Oh, wait…that’s us), we all lined up, and did a “bucket brigade” with the packs to the shore. I couldn’t believe how heavy some of those packs were! Lani was smart. She was at the far end of the line so most people were just grabbing their packs before they got to her. Some of the guys did come and grab their packs before they had to go through the line, saying they were heavy. Our bags came off last. Then the bikes. We wheeled our bikes to the bike rack, then went to the Ranger Station to get our permit. I got to use my America the Beautiful pass for the first time! Free entry to National Parks!

Rock Harbor Campground has a one night stay maximum (until Sept 17th). When I got up to the ranger, and said we had to stay 2 nights, she asked if we were planning to move to another campsite for the second night (nearest next campsite is 3 miles away, and we can’t take the bikes). I said we had no way to carry all our gear that far. She then said, “You knew there was a one-night limit, and you didn’t bring the means to carry your gear?” I told her we didn’t have space to carry backpacks. Then she says she will have to get the Law Enforcement Ranger to come give us a special dispensation to stay two nights. In no time, Officer Seth was there. When I told him we had to stay two nights because there is no boat on Sunday to Copper Harbor, he said, “Absolutely no problem! You can stay two nights.” He filled out and signed our permit, and even helped carry my bags to the campsite! Officer Seth was very nice! As we were walking to the campsite, I looked ahead and saw a most beautiful fox. Seth said her name is Charlotte, and she is a bit of a pest. He let me take a photo (but it wasn’t very good) before he “hazed” her to run away. She mostly sauntered. 

We got to the campsite, and Seth headed back. Who should come up the trail to the water spigot near our campsite? 

Isn’t she beautiful? Just look at that tail! 

We piled all our stuff on the picnic table. 

We set up our soaking wet tents. I threw all my stuff into the tent, put my food bags into the repurposed wolf crates (Isle Royale’s version of a bear box), and went back to Billy to retrieve the stuff out of my frame bag. We locked the bikes to the flimsy bike rack, and came back to the campsite. 

No bikes here!

So…wolf crates…there are 27 wolves on Isle Royale. A success story, as they transported something like 10 when the wolf population got down to two. However, with that success, comes a price. Wolves have been getting into hiker’s stuff. Poor food storage, not keeping a clean camp, etc. they have places the crates in the campsites where the wolves have been a problem, and have been hazing them to deter them from coming around humans. Mostly, it’s nothing different from good bear practices. Except, due to also the fox population, you don’t leave anything (even shoes) outside your tent. I’m grateful for my 2 person tent. Plenty of room. 

Now, we sort of have three days off the bike. Yes, we had to ride 2.6 miles this morning, and we’ll have to ride to the campground in Copper Harbor on Monday, but that’s nothing. 

Stay tuned for more adventures on Isle Royale (and it’s pronounced “Royal”…even though it should be Roy-al). 

Oh, and one more thing…apparently we are in Michigan now (and the eastern time zone)!