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 Nine: Sunday, May 12th

9:10 am, 34° in shelter, 29.35” steady, steady:
Brrr, it is cold! I just finished my first pot of coffee. It is totally cloudy with gusting wind. The same as when we went to bed. We have to pack up and paddle to Daisy Farm to meet the boat at 1pm. It is going to be fun. Not! It will be very cold unless the wind settles down. Anyway, I need to start motivating, but one more pot of coffee first. While heating the water, we will listen to the marine radio. Nancy says she does not even want to hear what they have to say.

Current conditions per the radio at Passage Island; Temperature is 32° and wind is north at 17 knots. The near shore marine forecast called for waves of 2-3 feet subsiding to less than two feet. So, based on this, there is nothing to prevent Don from coming out.

10:15 am:
I just attempted to call Mott Island on the radio and had no response. I want to make sure the boat is actually coming. I have no way of knowing what conditions are like on the north shore and the boat may be cancelled. I am going to keep the radio on in case they call. The wind continues to blow and we now have ice pellets falling to the ground. We have begun the process of packing up. I figure we will pack up everything and put it down at the dock to have it all ready to go and wait in the shelter until conditions improve and grab a window to paddle over if one opens up.

10:30 am:
I tried calling Mott again and after a few minutes received a reply from Marshall. I asked if they had heard anything from the Voyageur and he said they had not so it was on its way. I asked again about the time and they said 1pm and I verified Eastern Time and he said yes. So, we are on. We are just about packed up and are going to carry everything down and load up the canoe to be ready. Conditions are still windy with some choppy waves, but nothing we cannot paddle in. The shifting wind is more of a concern.

12:00 pm:
We are sitting on the shore on the south side of the dock out of the wind. The canoe and all loaded up and we are just kind of waiting to see if the wind may die down a little bit before taking off. The next time I write, I will probably be on the Voyageur.

2:21 pm:
We have just left Malone Bay after dropping Robert off. He is going to be the only one on the island besides the three rangers and Rolf and Candy Peterson until at least next Sunday. He offered to share some food with us if we wanted to stay, but I explained there was more to it than food and we could get by with the food we had. It sure was tempting though. I would have loved to visit a bit and get to Hay Bay plus, be pretty much alone on the island some more. This opportunity will most likely never present itself again. Anyway, we had to say no. We opened up a window on the Voyageur and I handed him his stuff through the window and wished him well. I was so jealous. He was going to be here for a total of 18 days. He also said this marked 50 years since he first came to the island in 1963 as a boy scout.

Before that, we were all packed up and ready to go at Caribou and sitting by the dock waiting for the wind to subside more when a boat pulled in and a guy yelled that the Voyageur was coming. It turned out it was Rolf Peterson, but I could not tell then. We were just starting to paddle across to Daisy Farm when the Voyageur came around the corner. Don pulled up slowly by us and asked where we were going. We told him we were going to Daisy and he said the park service (Marshall or Seth) told him we would be at Rock Harbor and he was on his way there. He also got there much earlier than we were told he would. They had to wait for us to paddle across. We had all kinds of people helping us and I didn't even get to carry the canoe.
Among them were Rolf and Candy Peterson plus Rob (Ranger) Bell, Robert Seeber and people from the study team that had been on the boat over with us. Robert later told us he had slept on the boat the night before and they left at 6:30am.

The wind has calmed down to almost nothing since we took off from Daisy Farm and we have mostly blue sky with a few white clouds right now. 
The lake is relatively calm with short, choppy waves.

4:10 pm:
We have been relaxing on the boat and enjoying some nice hot coffee. It has clouded up a little and we are watching the island begin to disappear after another trip. It is always one of the sadder moments as it fades away into the horizon. Thoughts begin to all mix together from looking forward to a warm shower and a dinner that is not in a bag to, reflecting on the trip to, thinking about the next trip. Every time I leave the island, I know I want to go back to it.

5:35 pm:
We are pulling into the dock at Grand Portage. The sky has clouded up quite a bit, but it really does not matter at this point. It is time to try to fit back into the world.

At the Hotel:
We are all settled into our rooms and I have cleaned off a week's worth of dirt and beard growth. We are going to go down and have a pop at the lounge then, go over to the restaurant for some dinner. Today is Mother's Day so, they are having a all-you-can-eat buffet in the restaurant and Nancy gets to eat for free. I guess that is one benefit for getting here early. After that, we plan on going to the lounge and Don is going to meet us there.

Summary - While on the Voyageur:
What a strange trip! We did not do a thing as it was planned. That has only happened once before and that was because I changed my mind and did the Minong instead of the Feldtmann. This time, there was no choice in the matter and we had to totally "wing" it. It turned out great for what we had to work with. Nancy got to stay at Tookers and Caribou and I got to go back to them which is fine because I liked them both and it had been 6 years since I was there. She also got to see the fishery, lighthouse and Cemetery Island and they were all a unique view for me with all of the snow.
There was no way to hike for sure. It would have been hell. This was definitely a once in a lifetime chance with all of the snow and have Rock Harbor totally to ourselves. Plus, paddling past floating pieces of ice! As for Nancy, she was as she always was, doing it all and not complaining. What a trooper! I love her more every day I am with her normally, but it multiplies when we are doing this. Especially with the snow, cold and wind we had. Man, I love her!