Mini TR and Pics

Reports or links to reports on trips.

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Backpacker534
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Mini TR and Pics

Post by Backpacker534 »

My buddy (Hikerken) and I were on the island from May 15 - May 20 this year. I will be working on the official trip journal for my website, but since it usually takes me quite a while I thought I'd share a "mini trip report" with everyone here first. This was probably the best hike we have ever had, at least in terms of the weather. It was between 60 and 70 degrees every day, bright blue, cloudless skies, between 35 and 45 degrees at night, no rain and almost no bugs the entire time. Couldn't have been better if we had scripted the forecast ourselves.

We left my house on Friday, May 19th at 9:00 am and arrived in Grand Portage, MN about 1:30 am (Saturday, May 20th). On the way north I got a phone call from Tom who filled me in on the weather and bug conditions during his hike. We had a good conversation and it was nice to actually talk to someone who I've seen so much here on this forum. The boat ride over to the island was the best we've ever experienced -- the captain announced that the waves on Lake Superior were calm to two feet. The lake was like glass. The boat was renovated over the winter with a couple new engines which made it a bit quicker than before so we arrived at Windigo in just over two hours.

We got our Leave No Trace speech, registered our itinerary with Ranger Lucas and hit the trail shortly after. There were only 9 people on the boat ride over with us and 9 people with us when we came back. Of the 9 people on the boat, none of them took the same route as us so we had the trail, and what seemed like the entire island, to ourselves. About 15 minutes or so into our hike toward Feldtmann Lake we passed a father and son going in the opposite direction. They said they had only passed a husband/wife team during their hike that morning and that they were probably going to be at Feldtmann Lake by the time we arrived there. We didn't see anyone else until we arrived at the lake. Ken talked to them for a couple minutes, but that was all we saw of them. We fished the lake for quite a while but didn't get anything. The other couple said they had done this loop before and always had excellent luck catching pike here like we had a couple years previous, but he figured the warm front that came through the previous day had probably pushed them further away from shore.

Sunday we took a side trip to Rainbow Cove in the morning (without our packs) before heading out for the day. We hiked the Feldtmann Lake Trail down to Siskiwit Bay where we saw the same couple we saw at Feldtmann Lake the day before. We only said hello to them as we walked up to our shelter and then we didn't see them again for the rest of the trip -- they were very early risers and liked to be on the trail by 7:00 am.

Monday morning started off a little overcast, cool and gray, but within the first 30 minutes of hiking the weather cleared up and it was sunny and warm the rest of the day. This was was a rather long day of hiking as we decided to go all the way to Washington Creek. The mosquitoes were rather pesky at Island Mine when we stopped to refill our water bottles so we didn't stay there for long. Later in the evening, at Washington Creek, we were making a trip to fill up our water bottles. I walked into the shelter to retrieve my containers and Ken waited on the planked walkway behind the shelter. Little did he know he was about to have a close encounter of the Alces alces kind (moose). He was looking at the sky and the trees to the west and thought he heard me walking through the woods. As he turned to the east he discovered that the noise he was hearing was a full-grown moose running full speed through the woods. He said it was probably only 30-35 feet away from him when he noticed it and it was heading right for him. Since they don't have good eyesight at a distance he yelled and the moose made an abrupt 90 degree turn and ran south away from him. I came outside just after the incident took place and got quite a laugh out of it when he told me the story.

Tuesday we hiked about 4.5-5 miles out to Huginnin Cove. We had never been there before but have heard over the years that it's a beautiful spot. I would have to agree. I would place Rainbow Cove and Huginnin Cove in my top 5 most scenic places on the island. Since it was a short hiking day we had a lot of time to explore the rocky shoreline and the remains of an old dock. On the way out to the cove we took some extra time to explore an old mining area. We saw a dilapidated log cabin and some pieces of railroad tracks used to haul out copper ore.

Wednesday we had another short hike of about 4 miles and we ended up back at Washington Creek. We had some time to fish off of the dock near the ranger station a couple times throughout the day, but once again, we didn't catch anything.

Thursday, Valerie appeared at our shelter and told us the Voyager was going to be arriving about 30 minutes early so we should head down to the dock. The boat trip back was just as nice as on the way over -- waves were calm to 2-feet, blue skies, and a few puffy clouds.

Here are a few of my more favorite photos from the trip.

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Waterfall along the Feldtmann Ridge


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Reflections in the Big Siskiwit River


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Small stream entering Siskiwit Bay


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The beautiful Huginnin Cove


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Huginnin Cove sunset


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More Huginnin Cove at sunset


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My favorite sunset photo from Huginnin Cove


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The only moose I saw was running away from our shelter at Washington Creek
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Re: Mini TR and Pics

Post by johnhens »

Thanks for the TR, for those who have not been. Beautiful pics of Huginnin Cove!!
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Re: Mini TR and Pics

Post by fonixmunkee »

Great little trip report. Makes me sad I'm not making it out to IR any time soon. I've never been to Huginnin, so your pictures were great to see.

Thanks for sharing!
JonG
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Re: Mini TR and Pics

Post by JonG »

Thanks for sharing the TR and photos. H.C. is one of my favorite campsites on the island too. The photos are great, the sunset pic is just beautiful.
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Re: Mini TR and Pics

Post by kfinnguy »

Nice pictures! Makes me excited for my trip in 3 weeks. I will post pics too.
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Re: Mini TR and Pics

Post by BlackCoffee »

Thanks for the mini report to read before the more detailed one is up. Your Huginnin Cove photos are gorgeous! Sounds like you had great weather and a really good time.
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