I drove up to Minnesota's north shore on Aug 31. I only found time for the trip in early August, so my planning was a bit hurried. It being labor day weekend, all of the hotels were booked up, or they were requiring a 2 night stay minimum. I ended up staying down in Beaver Bay, which is a small town on MN 61, about 100 miles south of Grand Portage. So I was up early on the 1st to make sure I made it to the Wenonah before she left. I got there an hour early, just in time for the
thunderstorms to roll in. The waves were around 4-5 feet on the lake, which made for a fun ride over. I'll spare you the details, but will tell you that several people put the buckets to use. I made it with the contents of my stomach exactly where they were supposed to be, but I was starting to get green around the gills.

    The skies started clearing a bit as we pulled in to Washington Harbor. I got my permit, and headed out to Huginnin Cove via the East Huginnin Cove Trail. That was my first stay there, and I found it to be beautiful (in spite of the light rain that fell for a portion of the evening.) My original plan was to head down the Minong Ridge Trail, taking the Hatchet lake cut-off and the back down the Greenstone. But Sunday nights rain, and the supposed chance for thunderstorms on Monday convinced me to take a more lesiurely route (I was on the Minong in the rain last year, and it was a bit challenging.)

    The next day turned out to be nice. The rain had stopped overnight, and a stiff breeze picked up. This helped me get on the trail early, for things dried quickly. I had a nice easy hike down to Siskiwit Bay, and the trees sheltered me from the strong wind that was blowing. I stopped and poked around the 2 Island Mine spoil pile areas, and really enjoyed the walk down the long meadow that was the former road to the mine. I saw an pileated woodpecker and what I think was a red-tailed hawk on the way down this meadow. I passed a few hikers on their way to Island Mine/Windigo, and was lucky enough to get shelter #4 at the site. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, with a short walk around Senter Point. That night, 3 guys that were in the other shelter, and 3 girls staying at one of the sites and I all sat around the campfire. They all turned in early, but I stayed up to star gaze, and was provided with my first views of the Northern Lights! They were not colorful, nor intensely bright, but it was still quite a show. It dropped off around 11pm (CST) so I hit went to bed.

    I decided to stay at Siskiwit Bay an extra night. Everyone left the campground by 10am, and no one else had arrived by 6p.m. and it turned out I would have the place to myself on Wednesday night (the 4th.) I did laundry (which involved dunking my clothes in the water and hanging them out to dry...no soap necessary) and decided a "bath" was in order. So I stripped down to my birthday suit and dove off the end of the dock. And yes, that water is as cold as it looks. After a frantic swim back to the shore, I dried off. It was quite an invigorating experience. After that, I made a small fire and cooked dinner. My sunset was ruined by some clouds approaching from the west. These clouds turned out to be the start of a nasty little weather system. The thunder and lightning started at about 9pm CST, and continued until the next day. I was glad to be in the shelter that night!

    Thursday morning I woke up around 5am, heard thunder, and went right back to sleep, until about 7. There was a break in the thunder and lightning, so I ate a quick breakfast, packed and hit the trail. The rained varied from light to heavy for the hike from the bay to the fire tower on Feldtmann ridge. It finally let up for good right before I got to the tower. But it was windy up on the ridge, so I didn't stay for lunch at the tower as planned. After leaving the fire tower I met 3 seperate small groups (two groups of 3 and 1 group of 2) in a race for the shelters at Siskiwit Bay. But the day actually turned out pretty nice. The weather cleared up by afternoon, and it was a sunny evening at Feldtmann Lake. I had been warned that a fox at Feldtmann Lake was being exceptionally deivious this year, so I kept my gear stowed and an eye out for him. I was not disappointed. He showed up around 4pm, poking around my campsite (site #2.) The previous campers had carelessly discarded some food right at the site in the weeds, and he made quick work of it. In the meantime, though, he posed for some great pictures. Around 6pm, I spotted a cow grazing on the shore about 200 yards north of the site, and I ran over and grabbed some good pics.

    I was up early on Friday, hoping to catch some early morning moose on the trail back to Windigo. I didn't see any until I got back to Washington Harbor. The hike was ok, but other than the Grace Creek overlook, it's a pretty drab hike from Feldtmann Lake. But the weather held, and I made excellent time. I was in Windigo by 11am. I had considered catching the ferry back on Friday, but with the weather so nice, I couldn't leave. So I rented a canoe, and paddled out to Beaver Island. I camped there for the night, and would have been alone had it not been for the boaters that showed up around 6:30pm. The campground is ok, but there was quite a bit of garbage around.

    I woke Saturday with the intention of paddling out to Grace Island Campground, just outside of Washington Harbor. I made it all the way to the end of the harbor, but the wind started picking up out of the Southwest, and the water started getting rough on the open lake. I decided not to risk it, and turned back in. I took my time getting back to Beaver Island, broke camp and got back to Windigo at Noon.

    While kicking around Windigo, I took a survey with a cute ranger named Ann. Apparently there have been some complaints about crowded campsites in the peak weeks. They are considering some changes to park policies, and some changes may be coming. If you love the park, I would stay plugged in to what's going on over there. Changes could include limiting permits, adding campsites, requiring fixed itineraries (no thanks!), and potentially even a site reservation system (hopefully that is the worst case scenario!) Anyway, I answered along the lines "It ain't broke, so please don't fix it!" as best I could.

    The ride back was sunny and uneventful. I stayed at the casino, and broke even on the blackjack table. The drive home was equally uneventful. All in all this was a great trip, and am starting to plan one for next year!

Written by Keith M. Lawler
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