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.