Isle Royale Info

Isle Royale Journal - Spring, 2013

This journal details a trip to Isle Royale National Park, in the Spring of 2013, through words, pictures and videos.

This is a preliminary outline of what I hope to be a full movie one day featuring videos, pictures and narration of the trip. This was truly a unique trip and, most likely, a once in a lifetime experience on the island due to the conditions.

Day Three: Monday, May 6th

10:20 am, 45° in shelter, 29.40” steady, steady:
It is a beautiful morning. I just put on a second pot of coffee. Once it is ready, I am going to go outside to drink it on the picnic table.

11:20 am:
We are sitting outside. I setup one of the cameras to take a time lapse of the meadow and the snow melting. I should have done that yesterday as much of the snow has already melted. I also setup both solar panels to charge camera batteries. We have a clear blue sky today with no wind to speak of. I going to fix some oatmeal and eat it here at the picnic table.

2:15 pm:
We are leaving to paddle around Tookers Island.

3:15 pm:
We are back at the campground. We paddled clockwise around Tookers and went to Heron Island where we stopped in a small cove for a little bit. We did not get out of the canoe though. We then paddled to the west end of Heron by the rocks and where the waves were breaking before going back to Tookers. The wind was a lot stronger when we came around the east end of Tookers and the waves were bigger. They were not a problem, but we had to paddle a bit harder as we were going into the wind coming from the southwest. Coming back was easy though.
     
There has not been a single boat going to Rock Harbor the entire time we have been here. We would have heard one for sure, it is nice not hearing any boats. I find that strange. You would think they would be going there and trying to get things cleaned up and open.
     
There is quite a bit more wind here now and the waves are loud along the south shore. We are going to go down to the north shore for a bit to enjoy the sunshine there.

5:37 pm, 61° outside:
We are sitting at the picnic table just basking in the sun. We walked and sat down on the north shore of the island, then walked to the south side for a bit, but it was quite windy there. It is beautiful out. I am only wearing my silk long underwear and I am perfectly warm. I know this weather cannot last so I am enjoying it while I can.
     
We are preparing for our daily contact with the outside world in the form of the marine radio forecast. Ok, the near shore marine forecast is for light southeast wind and waves two feet or less tomorrow (Tuesday) and wind changing to northeast and waves less than two feet with isolated
showers and thunderstorms after midnight for Wednesday. The forecast is not including Isle Royale this time. It seems it did last spring, but I could be
wrong. However, it was always similar to the Grand Portage near shore forecast. Based on the long term forecast, the temperatures are going to be cooler after Wednesday with highs in the upper 40’s and low 50’s.

As of now, we plan on staying here one more day. We talked about going to Three Mile Campground, but that would be a lot of work and we have spent enough time there. Plus, it would still be hard to walk in the woods. So, we will go to Caribou on Wednesday, spend three days there while going to the fishery, lighthouse and Cemetery Island then, catch the boat to Malone on Sunday and go to Hay Bay Campground to finish our trip. It is time to heat up water for dinner.

6:53 pm, 29.30” steady, steady:
It has been an absolutely beautiful day. I put chicken and potatoes (well chicken) in the oven 6 minutes ago. My plan is to let it sit for 10-15 minutes and just add the potato mix. We will see how it goes. Nancy is trying something new. She is having a potato salad. It is made with cold water and takes longer to re-hydrate. We are sitting at the table, but have switched sides to get the sun in our faces. It looks like it will be another nice sunset.

8:10 pm, 48° outside, 29.30” steady, steady:
The sun is now behind the trees and the temperature is dropping. I just changed into the rest of my comfy clothes and put my Sealskin dry socks on over my wool ones. It feels much better. Also put on my “Yooper Chook” hat which always makes me feel much warmer. We have eaten dinner and are preparing to go down to the dock for sunset.

9:45 pm:
We are back from the sunset and are sitting at the table listening to the loons. They are quite loud right now. The lake calmed down to almost flat by the time we went down and there was no wind.

10:50 pm, 37° outside, 29.30" steady, steady:
We are in the shelter sitting on our sleeping bags in our nice, warm and snuggly tent. We have actually almost stayed up all the way to 11! The latest we have been up the entire trip. It was a wonderful day, perfect in every way. It is totally quiet except for the loons in the harbor who are quite boisterous tonight. There is not even the sound of wind. We have talked about it and I think we are going to stay here one more day. The weather has been so nice and it is great having this lovely meadow. Plus, there is no hurry to get to Caribou as the next place to go from there is Daisy Farm to catch the boat on Sunday.