COLD and CROWDED!
Of course those are both relative terms, but the temperature hovered in the 50s and 60s, and often dipped in the 40s at night (despite the "perfect" forecast given in the days leading up to the trip, including the one given on the ferry ride over). And we have never seen as many people in previous trips as we did on this one: At Lane Cove, every tent site was claimed. On our night at Belle Isle, there were TWENTY people in eight different parties at the campsite. Everyone we met of course was friendly, respectful and welcoming, but as we all know, Isle Royale is known for its isolation. Not quite as much the case this time. But we did meet some interesting people!
Our trip route was basically planned to start in Rock Harbor, paddle around Blake Point and through the Five Fingers area, down to McCargo Cove and take the Voyager II back to Rock Harbor. This route was a nice change from previous trips in that our daily destinations were of a shorter distance apart, allowing us more freedom to explore and take our time getting to the next campsite. (As we found out though, it was better/safer to get to where we were going, claim a shelter or campsite, and then venture out.)
Here is a sampling of pictures and comments. The rest are here: https://plus.google.com/photos/10973272 ... pC0o_vr5AE
Breakfast at the Pines Resort in Copper Harbor - our last "real" meal. (The Tamarack Inn, where we had eaten before our previous trip from Copper Harbor, was strangely not open until 8:00 AM. So the Pines Resort is the only restaurant option now for breakfast in Copper Harbor before catching the ferry.)
Loading up the Isle Royale Queen IV
Leaving civilization behind
Packing up the boats in Rock Harbor
My IMPROVED portage rack - now with a collapsible frame that fits inside the boat hatch when not in use. We were starting our trip in Tobin Harbor so first off was a short portage to Tobin.
Wish they were all this easy
Paddling Tobin Harbor
A cool looking cabin on Bob's Island
Rounding Blake Point on the far northeastern tip, conditions seemed pretty calm...
...only to roughen up as we rounded the point. It got pretty hairy so no more pictures for a while.
Eventually made our way to Duncan Bay Narrows campground. Original plan was to go all the way down to Duncan Bay campgroun, but this campground was open and we were sick of fighting the wind and chop so we stopped here. Plus we had seen a few boats heading down the bay so we figured it was pretty full down there.
Had a nice view of Duncan Bay from here...
...and a nice sunrise the next day
Heading towards Locke Point
Took a short break in Five Finger Bay
We decided to walk up the portage trail that connected back to Duncan Bay to see what we passed up the previous day
By the time we got back to Five Finger Bay the sun was finally breaking out
Good spot to have lunch
Heading back out into Five Finger on our way to Lane Cove
We had some time to kill that afternoon so we decided to portage over into Stockly Bay
Fishing Stockly Bay (I caught nothing). My initial plan was to portage over into Lake Ahmik, but we paddled up and down Stockly bay and found no where that it would be possible to land and carry a boat through - the bank was just too steep and vegetation too thick.
Spread out in our campsite at Lane Cove
Nice sunset over Lane Cove
We paddled down to the far western tip of Lane Cove
Keeping our eyes out for moose - saw none the whole trip!
As soon as we left Lane Cove for the short paddle over to Belle Isle, things turned nasty quickly. (Only one pic - this was no time to reach for a camera. Kind of like texting and driving...)
So in the process of fighting the wind and waves, my rudder was under so much pressure that the cable end broke, and just when I needed it most. We were able to land on tiny Cork Island so I could pull in and try to McGuyver it up to work. Here I am trying to reach the end of the foot pedal to reattach the cable.
That is Belle Isle right there - just had to make it that far (before it turned worse).
Not an hour later, the weather did a complete 180. Hard to believe it was 45 degrees, windy and rainy just a short time earlier.
We decided to venture out to explore Belle Harbor and Robinson Bay. Paddling through the Keyhole into Amygdaloid Channel:
The Voyager II came passing by on its run along the north side
We stopped on Amygdaloid Island to hike the hidden trail. Here is the sea arch:
We climbed all the way to the top of the ridge on Amygdaloid. Great view from up there:
Lots of ripe blueberries this time of year.
Sunrise at Belle Isle
Leaving Belle Isle we had enough of a tailwind to break out the Windpaddle.
Paddling through the "mini-keyhole" south of the real Keyhole in Robinson Bay
Herring Bay. This is wide open exposure to Lake Superior and conditions turned about as rough as we've ever dealt with so the camera didn't come back out until our next stop at Birch Island.
Birch Island
Fished in Brady Cove and finally managed to snag a few northern pike.
Lunch AND dinner
After things calmed down later that day we ventured back out to explore some of the small coves in Herring Bay.
After dinner we went out on a moose-sighting hunt in Brady Cove. Never saw any. The temperature was dropping down into the 40s so maybe the moose weren't that interested in coming out of the woods.
The next day we made our way down McCargo Cove to meet our ride on the Voyager II that afternoon.
We had some time to kill before the Voyager was scheduled to pick us up so we hiked the Minong trail up to the Minong Mine.
Some remnants of the old mining days
Although we so NO moose, we did find evidence that they are there somewhere
Here comes the Voyager II to take us back to Rock Harbor. On the ride back we met a guy who was at the start of a 30 DAY solo backpacking trip! He said he had been planning it for five years. Pretty cool. I wonder how he's doing now... Wish we had gotten his contact info.
After landing in Rock Harbor, we paddled down to Tookers Island for our last night.
Purchased at the Rock Harbor camp store. We'd been roughing it for five days; no need to hurt ourselves.
Sunset at Tookers
Sunrise at Tookers
Our last day was spent weaving around the islands south of Rock Harbor.
Rounded Mott Island and started heading back to Rock Harbor.
Back where we started.
Here is the track of our route from my GPS receiver. 62 miles total.
Wish we had better weather but all in all it was a good trip - no injuries or major mishaps. Rest of the pics are here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10973272 ... pC0o_vr5AE
