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 Seven: Friday, May 10th

11:50 am, 37°in shelter, 29.45” steady, steady:
It is a wee bit chilly this morning. I woke up at 8:30 and unzipped the tent a little then closed it up, got back in my bag and went back to sleep until 10am! There is clear blue sky, but the north wind is still blowing and it has quite a bite to it. With the wind chill, it is certainly below 32 degrees.
It makes your face hurt. I just finished my first pot of coffee and another is steeping. I have both panels outside charging the battery packs.

We didn’t do much yesterday. Just went on a moose hunt that was unsuccessful and we did not go to the point because Nancy was not feeling too good. We did gather wood and, once we moved the table to the side of the shelter out of the wind, we were able to sit outside until the sun almost went down.

2 pm:
It is warming up, the wind has died down and we have a blue sky. We have decided to paddle over to Edisen Fishery, walk to the Lighthouse and then paddle to Cemetery Island.

2:45 pm:
We were just about packed up when a Park Service boat pulled into the dock. It was Ranger Seth. He walked up and we exchanged greetings. He said he had some news regarding the Voyageur. My first thought was that Don was coming on Saturday instead of Sunday, but I was very wrong.
They were cancelling the Wednesday/Thursday trip next week because all of the passengers had cancelled (or were told to cancel I am thinking) and we had a choice to either go back to Grand Portage Sunday, or stay all the way to the next Sunday. Wow, I was not expecting that. I told him we had to talk it over because we were not sure we had supplies for it. Nancy and I walked up to the shelter and we talked about our supplies. We determined we could get by with what we had if conserved and skipped meals here and there. That was not going to be a problem. The problem
was going to be that we were expected back in town and I was expected back at work on Monday. But, it was going to cut our trip nearly in half and, cut out the part I at least was really looking forward to. Nancy (of course) said it was up to me. Seth came back up and we told him of our thoughts and he said we could use the satellite phone, which would have helped. But, we did not have the phone number of Tami, who was watching our dog so, we could not contact her, but I think that would have been fine. Anyway, it was a lot to take in. I told him we were going to stay until Sunday and asked him what time the Voyageur would be here and, if it could pick us up here instead of Daisy Farm. He was on the radio for a while and came back and said they could not get ahold of Don and they would let us know. He walked down and got on the boat then came back and said it would be coming in at 1:00 pm and it could not pick us up at Caribou. I asked Central or Eastern? And he said Eastern Time. I said fine and he went to go. I told him I would give them a yell on the radio on Sunday morning to make sure everything was still on schedule and he said fine and pulled away.

I was kind of, well, I was, beside myself then and a bit angry, but we kept on going and got ready to go to the fishery. However, I was a bit saddened and depressed. It was a big difference. I know it was only 3 days, but Thursday versus Sunday makes a big difference when it is a two day drive home; especially when it comes to work. We can go home this Sunday or, wait till the following Sunday. That sucks!

3:45 pm:
We are pulling out of Caribou to go to the fishery.

4:00 pm:
We arrived at the dock at Edisen Fishery then walked the south trail to the lighthouse.

middle islands passage from the lighthouse (stitched together).

the lighthouse from indian point and me on indian point.

5:30 pm:
Leaving Edisen Fishery.

6:00 pm:
At Cemetary Island.

8:30 pm:
We are back at the campground sitting on the picnic table. We got back around 7 and proceeded to get water and get into our comfy clothes. We are just waiting for the sunset and then we are going to have a fire. We have also made our dinners. I am having Lasagna for dinner tonight which is a meal I have not had in a while due to it being messy to eat. We are most likely going to leave our dinners in the oven and eat them by the fire later.
     
We have further discussed staying or, not staying and we have determined, once again, we have to go. It is just too much to stay until then; enough on that for now, as I just get upset when I think about it.

It has been another good day. It was good to do something a little more adventurous compared to staying put due to the weather. The trip to the fishery and other places went great. The lake was relatively flat on the way there and back and we have had a beautiful blue sky all day.
What luck! Especially when compared to the conditions we had yesterday.
     
We listened to the marine forecast and it did not sound good for tomorrow, rain with some snow showers and increasing wind. Hopefully it is good Sunday morning when we have to paddle over to Daisy Farm to meet the boat. I am 99% positive Don can pick us up here. I think the park service just does not want to say because it is out of the "norm".

9:00 pm:
We are going down for the sunset. It has clouded up and we have lost our blue sky, but the wind is calm and it is relatively warm.

sunset.

9:30 pm:
We are back from the sunset and are going to start a fire. When we got here, you could not even see the fire ring (see day five picture). I “borrowed” a half dozen small pieces of split wood from Edison Fishery’s wood pile so we should have a decent fire. It looked like the wood had been sitting there for years, so I do not think they will miss it. I wonder if Pete himself had cut it. This is the first night it has been possible to have a fire due to the wind.
We have been prepared since we arrived here to have one and, have been looking forward to it. The timing is right since this is our next to last night. Plus, our bodies have been chilled for the last couple of days.