Trip Report for the Three Yakker Pals

Saturday, July 27th 2002
The early team arrived at Grand Portage and stayed overnight at Rydens. Dinner 40 miles south in Grand Marais was great fish. Plans were set for the parking and loading in the morning at the Wenonah at 8 AM. The third amigo (me) rolled in at 5 AM Sunday and caught a quick nap. My car had been “hot” with a burning odor for the past couple of hours – after driving 12 hours from Waterloo, Iowa. When I woke at 6AM I smelled smoke and jumped to the window expecting to see my car in flames. The smell was from a mosquito coil burning on the floor of our room. I was relieved, and didn’t have trouble oversleeping.

Sunday, July 28th 2002 - 12 miles
After a quick breakfast at Rydens we headed south to board the Wenonah with what looked like too much gear to fit in 3 kayaks. No phone service for my cell phone so I was pleased to meet a couple that would return the same day and would call my wife with my status when they returned to MN that evening. How kind!  Our arrival in Windigo was simple and smooth. We formed a bucket brigade to help unload the Wenonah and then received our IR orientation. By 1:30 PM we were paddling into the mild breeze out of the harbor. A low fog greeted us before we reached Rainbow. The limited visibility (300 yards) added to our paddling distance as we had to keep the shoreline in sight. At our afternoon break, we discovered only 2 of us wanted any liver sausage; one of us ate more than a serving and this is not to be recommended.  As we passed the Head we enjoyed the tail wind out of the west that carried us most of the remaining 65-70 miles we traveled through Thursday morning.  By 5 PM the fog was thinning and Long Point was in view. We came ashore there and found a very suitable backcountry campsite.  Cold cut sandwiches hit the spot for din din. At dusk and dawn we were visited by moose as they made there way to the shoreline and drank from  Lake Superior.

Monday, July 29th 2002 - 24 miles
Woke up to a light rain and pulled a tarp over my sleeping bag. Seeing the rain wasn’t done by dawn, I stowed my warm dry clothes and bed roll and donned my paddling garb – then of course, the rain let up. Just in time for a fine breakfast of bagels and cream cheese and hot coffee. Our lead liver sausage consumer was back to normal by now, leaving his past behind. We began our longest distance day around 8 AM and arrived for lunch at Houghton Point. The rest of the cold cuts made lunch and apples and oranges were handy snacks for the afternoon break.  The clear sky and steady breeze was just beautiful. We began our Siskiwit Bay crossing adrift. Later as we observed the anvil-shaped clouds forming to the northwest we decided to pick up the pace and headed towards Wright Island.  As we paddled through these islands in Malone harbor we passed two fishermen in an aluminum johnboat and a sailor returning from shore in his dinghy.  That was the extent of our human encounters for the day, other than observing the ranger’s boat, the ferry, and a sailboat all from good distances. Around 5 PM we began to search for a landing site. A bit further we found Little Greenstone Beach. There aren’t many choices for coming ashore on the main island near here – but the evening skeeters were killers here.  As it turned out, this was the only place we had a skeeter problem. I’d try the Malone campsite if I had this part to do over. A hobo stew of Kielbasa, potatoes, carrots and onion made for a great dinner.

Tuesday, July 30th 2002 - 20 miles
Once the morning sun subdued the skeeters we enjoyed (too much) coffee and packed up leaving shore around 9 AM. More overcast and rolling fog continued this morning along with mild swells that began to rock my confidence. Weaseling in between my pals I gingerly paddled along. As the caffeine overdose wore off I got my sea legs back. Maybe a bit of a sugar low, not sure – but OK by noon. After we explored the next harbor we stopped for lunch on the lava-gray rocks at the mouth of the harbor. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches were delicious. Still chilled from the wet suit and too much coffee I donned my sleeveless neoprene wetsuit for the remainder of the day. Of course the sky cleared and the temps rose 10 degrees instantly then. But the nylon spray skirt was not to hot and I kept my arms and head wet often – allowing the breeze to pull off my excess heat  - and wa-la, I was able to stay warm but not hot.  Later in the afternoon we turned the point to see Rock Harbor in the distance – that was very motivating. We had traveled far and now had our final port in sight. At this point we knew we had a day and a half to explore the northwest end of the island and that was an exciting thought. As we came upon the lighthouse we stopped for a stretch and planned our search for an evening campsite.  Passing Mott Island we came upon Tooker’s Island. Fortunately, there was a site open and this was home for Tue & Wed. With a shelter and an outhouse we were really feeling fortunate.  Now our cuisine had to turn to freeze-dried – but our appetites made up for any shortcoming there.  A solo evening paddle was enjoyed by our lead yakker, while two of us read briefly and crashed by dusk.

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 14 miles
First thing this morning a group of Yoopers were packing up to return to Escanaba and shared their remaining OJ with us – How kind! We enjoyed oatmeal and coffee and a bug free site as we slowly made our way out to explore by 9 AM or so. First stop was the hot shower at Rock Harbor for one of us. While waiting on the bather two of us trekked a full eighth of a mile to view Tobin Harbor.  Our plan was to paddle around the point and dock in Tobin Harbor’s west side then climb up to view Canada from the peak.  By the time we left Rock Harbor, the fog rolled in again and we knew we might as well scrape the hiking plans. But we continued to let the breeze carry us up to Tobin Harbor and were pleasantly surprised when the winds shifted and we had a tail wind back past Rock Harbor and on to Tookers Island in the afternoon.  Another evening paddle sounded alluring so I joined in this time.  On the water after sunset on the lee side of the harbor islands. What a great place to solve the problems of the world with a friendly conversation and a mild cigar.  Back to camp for the night – we were so lucky to have the sheltered site as a major storm rolled through in the night with heavy rain and thunder. It was quite breezy but not a problem behind the screened wall in our shelter.

Thursday, Aug 1 2002 - 2 miles
We woke early and packed our gear for the 2 mile paddle across the bay to Rock Harbor port. The lightning continued as we left the shore but we had a schedule to make and there was no letting up in sight. It turned out fine – but not optimal from a boating perspective. We boarded the Voyageur II in Rock Harbor as planned and had a pleasant trip to the intermediate ports and eventually to Windigo and Grand Portage. 11 year old Tyler from MN taught me Gin Rummy again and we enjoyed a few hands with a handy marked deck.
The range of weather was all good from clear sunny skies to fog to overcast to storms (while in a shelter!). It was a treat to have seen the moose and loons and watch the crazy gulls as they checked out each boat for the prospects of fish scraps. We met folks on both ferry rides and at the Tooker’s Island campsites – the friendliness and sharing, cooperative nature of everyone was such a treat.  I hope this opportunity continues to be available to people to experience for many, many years to come.

NOTES:
Cell Phone- no luck in MN until about 30 miles north of Duluth.

Mosquitos-  No real problems except at Little Greenstone Beach – and that was a bloodbath.  We used deet products and found them to work well.

Mileage distances are just rough estimates. Without the tailwind from the west we would have taken all four days to reach Rock Harbor from Windigo. At Windigo we had the opportunity to speak with the Captain of the Voyageur II on Sunday around 1 PM.  We made backup plans for other ports in case we didn’t make it to Rock Harbor by Thursday at 8 AM.

Water- we used our PUR filter and enjoyed cool water from Lake Superior daily.

Written by Bob Lundeen
(C)Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved