Duncan Bay/Tobin Harbor Portage

[Ingo]

I dug these up and scanned them from a 2001 family trip. That's my 16 yr old daughter under the #4 Duluth pack. She's 5'1", was maybe 95 lbs dripping wet, and had multiple ortho surgeries on her legs growing up. I'm still proud of her! I always think of this pic when folks talk about "can I do it." In the 2nd pic her little sis is "helping" her get up after falling (obviously not badly). Note the attitude

[jerry]

Amen to that!

[MikeT]

Love it Ingo! I don't remember smiling like that myself when I did it. I did laugh when I got to the end. Especially when I saw this hanging on the tree on the Duncan Bay side:

[Ingo]

I haven't seen that sign before, it's great! I told them that the portage would make them wish they'd die and they'd hate me for the rest of my life for making them do it, etc, etc. But when we were done they said "That wasn't SO bad, Dad." (so my psychology worked!) Of course after portaging the 2 canoes I wasn't feeling that happy myself--more relieved everyone made it and I didn't have a heart attack . Other than that it was an easy trip from Belle Isle to R.H. over 4 days.

[bergman]

Incredible smiles that must reflect the trip in general, more so than particular enjoyment of the portage; of course, they hadnt gotten to the main switchback yet, to watch/hear Dad run into the cliff wall with the nose of the canoe, and thereby expand their vocabulary of 4-letter words!

When descending from the ridge down to Tobin Harbor, about 3/5 of the way down, u have to step thru a very narrow opening in some very tall rocks, requiring u to take a giant downward step with the 2nd foot to reach level ground. This is very tricky with a canoe (solo portage), and resulted in a pulled hamstring on my tall strong buddy one year (he was just carrying gear) and then i fell victim to it the very next season on a solo canoe trip! The only time i've pulled a hamstring in my life- boy it took a couple years to heal completely.

U cannot easily walk around that spot to avoid it. So remember it's there, plan accordingly, and avoid an injury there. Walking UP thru it is no problem.

Anyway, those are the best 2 simultaneous smiles i've seen in a long time, on the island or otherwise. Pretty cool.

[Ingo]

... they hadnt gotten to the main switchback yet, to watch Dad run into the cliff wall with the nose of the canoe, and thereby expand their vocabulary, as far as 4-letter words go!

We had 2 brand new never used kevlar rental canoes, so "NO" I didn't do that on this trip. But plenty of other times "Yes", you're right on! When I worked at R.H. I paddled/portaged to Belle Isle multiple times on my days off--then back the next day. The only good thing about that switchback is that you know you've made it to the top !

[colvinch]

had to add mine

[Ingo]

had to add mine

Which reminds me of another hazard: gear/boat rolling/sliding into Duncan Bay
I see your canoe is nicely set between the trees

[bergman]

I stood at that signpost and watched the sunset. Just prior to that I had extracted my canoe from Duncan and walked up the portage trail a bit to set it down in a decent spot where i could hoist it back up. As i walked back to the portage take-out, where the rest of my gear was all strewn about, there "nosing" my gear was the tallest fox i've ever seen. His chocolate brown socks were impressively tall. I stopped about 20' away and we looked at each other. Then he proceeded to walk up the trail directly towards me, as if playing a game of chicken. I stood firm, all the while thinking what does he have in mind, and after he closed nearly half the distance, he abruptly turned to his L and disappeared into the woods. Pretty cool. Then i watched the sun go down and disappear.

Then I began the portage (solo)! First, i took my heavy pack up to the greenstone ridge trail, and dropped it there. I was sure to pack my headlamp just in case, but I left it in the pack up on the ridge, then made my way back to Duncan to grab the canoe.

When i got to the ridge with the canoe, i didnt want to put the canoe down to grab the headlamp, but rather just keep going the rest of the way to Tobin, and i figured i could get back up to the ridge again without the lamp. Oops! I made it to Tobin without putting the canoe down, and then made my way back up the portage trail in the twilight. I was lucky because i managed to lose the trail a few times after getting half of the way back up or so, as the trail tended to disappear in the darkness. I wasnt carrying anything at that point, and probably had 1/2 qt of water atop the ridge with my pack. Pretty dumb.

Once i made it to the ridgetop and grabbed my pack, i descended with the headlamp on full power, for good measure and to put myself at ease, as i had definitely experienced a bit of panic.

I paddled across tobin in the pitch dark, no headlamp, and using the lights from the housekeeping cabins to guide me to the seaplane dock. By the time I made it to the rock harbor marina, it was 11 pm. Standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, i let out some hideous laughter at my disheveled appearance, and just then a guy and his 13 yr old son walked in on my "Mr. Hyde" moment. We chatted a bit.

10 minutes later i was sitting exhausted on the bench outside the visitor center door, planning simply to crash there for the night, when the guy and his son show back up and invite me to share their shelter #5. At the beginning of that same trip (1st night on the island) a guy and his old highschool female pal (they were backpacking together) had invited me to stay with the two of them in that same #5, and i had gladly obliged. That final night we must have stayed up for a good 2 hours telling stories. That sort of experience of other's generosity is what helps to make isle royale the unique place that it is.

That's not the last time that I got "in trouble", hiking from the top of the Greenstone Ridge to the Rock Harbor shoreline after sunset. On many a dayhike/dayfishing from Daisy Farm campground, I've stayed too long up on the ridge and ended up on the trail in the dark by the time I got back to Daisy Farm. When you are on the north side or atop the ridge, you forget that when the sun sets, it's gonna be a heckuva lot darker on the south side of the Greenstone Ridge. The forest is so thick on Isle Royale, that once the sun sets below the nearby treeline (wherever you are in the park), it's amazing how difficult it is to see (the trail surface); that phenomonen is only compounded when you are on the south side of the Greenstone. There's probably lots of folks who have done dayhikes up to the Ojibway Tower, and know exactly what I'm talking about. The view is so nice that you hang out up on the ridge quite a while longer than you should. If you forgot the headlamp, then you may be rushing a bit to get back to camp before it gets too dark on the trail.

I did exactly that this past June 21, as I figured it was the longest day of the year, arriving at Daisy Farm at 11 pm EDT. It was so dark when I arrived that you couldn't tell if there was a permit on the shelter without approaching near a bit. In comparison, on the north shore at Lane Cove at that same time, people may have still been playing frisbee. Oh yea, I forgot, that's against the rules.