TR: 8/8/19 - 8/16/19 Dad and daughter kayak trip

Reports or links to reports on trips.

Moderator: Tom

Post Reply
User avatar
booyah
NewbieCake
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:33 am
Isle Royale Visits: 2

TR: 8/8/19 - 8/16/19 Dad and daughter kayak trip

Post by booyah »

After Bobcats prodding, here goes :oops:

8/8: Thursday morning 6:30AM, left Lansing area Copper harbor bound. Had two kayaks up top, two people inside, and two backpacks in the back and a long haul ahead of us.
Pit stops in St Ignace (Gotta stop at Clydes), Marquette, and Houghton, we got up to Copper Harbor around 6:00PM. Checked into the Fort Wilkins state park campground, pitched the tent, and made use of the free wireless at the bathrooms to say hi to the family back home. Had hoped to do some kayaking in Lake Fanny Hoe, but the winds were pretty crazy and it just didnt look very inviting. Checked out the fort for the rest of the evening, and grabbed dinner at the Mariner North Resort, awesome pizza!

8/9: Friday morning, broke camp early (5:45 ish) headed to the ferry dock. Grabbed muffins at the bakery at the dock and got everything loaded up on the Queen. Dramamined up about a half hour before leaving. Queen staff were claiming 4-6 ft waves and a fairly rough crossing. Winds were 15-20knts.
Crossing wasn't easy, but not the worst, it was hard to stand unsupported on the boat though. Got into RH on time without incident. Kid was feeling pretty out of it, so we scrapped our initial plan of heading to Duncan harbor. We got a tent site in Rock Harbor, put the boats in the public boat rack, and headed out for a day hike to the America dock, Scoville point etc. Headed back to the campsite to find we had new neighbors (no issues there), they were an awesome couple from Grand Rapids, and we ran into them a few more times over the week. Made dinner and went to bed.
P1070484.JPG
8/10: Kid was finally over the dramamine, so we made breakfast, packed up, and headed down to Snug Harbor around 10 to head out in the kayaks. Took our time packing up and didnt actually hit the water until close to 11. Had nice easy paddling and made it to three mile in time for a decent lunch. pulled in and made use of a shelter to have lunch, filter water etc.
Headed back out around 1PM with Caribou island as our intended stay for the night, and as we came around Starvation point got smacked by the wind. head first 10-15knt (ball park) solid 2-3 ft chop whitecapping and breaking all over us. We didnt have skirts on, and I got a bit soggy. Daughter was in the bigger boat (she stole my 17' Perception Eclipse, and left me with the 14' Necky looksha sport) and she was dry save for paddle splash. We ended up cutting over to Mott Island to try to get away from the wind/waves but didnt have any luck. The crossing across rock harbor was a bit nerve-wrackign for dear old dad.
After Mott, we crossed back over to the mainland and stuck really close to shore, and powered on to Daisy Farm instead of caribou (kid didnt want to cross the harbor again). Nabbed the last available shelter (#8, lovingly dubbed the poo house due to its proximity to the outhouses) and collapsed after a hard day.
Filtered water, ate food, scrounged berries, and made it a better day.
Saw Rolf and Candy that evening do their program on the wolves/moose study (Huge fan, I geeked pretty hard), had dinner, took pics and called it a day. Said hi to our neighbors from Rock Harbor again!
P1070605.JPG
8/11: Day hiked Mt Ojibway, regained strength, and let Dad berry hound some more at and around Daisey Farm. Had to do a spot repair on the Perception Eclipse, the rear carry handle had a bolt come loose, we couldnt reach to repair it, so we taped over the hole to seal the rear compartment and made due. Also spoke with the ranger at Daisy Farm to schedule a water taxi for our last day tto give us a lift back to Rock Harbor so we could spend more time down at daisy farm. Kid decided that the origianl plan was too aggressive for her tastes.
P1070802.JPG
8/12: Left bright and early for Moskey, water was absolutely glass. made awesome time down to moskey grabbed a shelter (7) and pulled the kayaks up. Wont let me add any more pics :(
Ate lunch, and headed out for a hike to Lake Richie to fish a bit. Ran into our old neighbors again (they were in shelter 8). On the hike to Richie, we spotted a moose in the bog fromt he board walk, got some nice pics!
Got to richie, forgot the tackle box back at the campground! Did a little sight seeing ate some snacks then headed back. Guess what we saw about two thirds of the way back? yeah, a wolf running down the trail away from us. :shock: Only saw it for about 2 seconds, but did our duty and filled out a report when we got back. After that, we wandered around Moskey a bit more, what a wonderful place!

8/13: The kid slept and I read. No really she got up for breakfast, went back to bed. Got for lunch, went back to bed, got up for dinner, I got her to wander around the camp area a bit, saw another moose, play some cards, then she went back to bed. I sat in our pack chair and read. A good day was had!

8/14: We got up a bit early, broke camp and got down to the dock after exploring a bit more of the basin. Our water ferry was expected around 10, we were told by the ranger to be early so we were ready at 9. Made pancakes on the dock and chilled out. Around 11 we stared to worry, planned on paddling out at 12 if we didnt see the boat. Boat showed up at 11:30 :D. Took the ride back to Rock Harbor. Grabbed a shelter (#3) and wandered around looking for Bruce (no luck). Checked out Tobin harbor a bit, but the kid was still feeling too wiped out to do much paddling. Hiked Scoville again and had dinner at the grill (Oh you wonderful fatty burger....)

8/15: We got up, broke camp, headed down to the docks and gathered up all our stuff (after meeting Bobcat!) and took the queen back to the mainland. Hopped in the car, grabbed awful fast food in houghton and stayed the night in a hotel in Marquette (HOT RUNNING SHOWERS! YEAH!).
8/16: DROVE FOR EVER until we got home

Overall a great trip, I will try to put up some more pics below....
Last edited by booyah on Wed Sep 11, 2019 6:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
booyah
NewbieCake
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:33 am
Isle Royale Visits: 2

Re: Dad and daughter kayak trip 8/8/19 - 8/16/19

Post by booyah »

P1080061.JPG
P1070882.JPG
P1070807.JPG
User avatar
booyah
NewbieCake
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:33 am
Isle Royale Visits: 2

Re: Dad and daughter kayak trip 8/8/19 - 8/16/19

Post by booyah »

P1070514.JPG
P1070518.JPG
P1080143.JPG
User avatar
booyah
NewbieCake
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:33 am
Isle Royale Visits: 2

Re: Dad and daughter kayak trip 8/8/19 - 8/16/19

Post by booyah »

Apparently if you click on the images they will rotate correctly, not sure why they uploaded that way ah well...
bobcat
Bushwacker
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 11:39 am
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Dad and daughter kayak trip 8/8/19 - 8/16/19

Post by bobcat »

Nice report! Thanks for sharing.

The week was pretty windy, you were one of at least three kayak groups dodging around in Rock Harbor with revised plans because of the wind! I’m glad we got to meet briefly.
User avatar
dcclark
May actually live on IR
Posts: 385
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2017 1:39 pm
Isle Royale Visits: 4
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Has thanked: 156 times
Been thanked: 133 times
Contact:

Re: Dad and daughter kayak trip 8/8/19 - 8/16/19

Post by dcclark »

Congrats on being one of the lucky few to see a wolf. Hope you come back soon!
torpified
IR Expert
Posts: 594
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:06 pm
Isle Royale Visits: 6
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Has thanked: 238 times
Been thanked: 120 times
Contact:

Re: TR: 8/8/19 - 8/16/19 Dad and daughter kayak trip

Post by torpified »

thanks for the report! And kudos for achieving the rare Rolf-Wolf double sighting!
User avatar
hooky
IR Expert
Posts: 791
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:26 am
Isle Royale Visits: 2
Location: Central Indiana
Has thanked: 138 times
Been thanked: 54 times

Re: TR: 8/8/19 - 8/16/19 Dad and daughter kayak trip

Post by hooky »

Thank you for the report and pictures. Nothing like time with a kiddo on the island.
User avatar
booyah
NewbieCake
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:33 am
Isle Royale Visits: 2

Re: TR: 8/8/19 - 8/16/19 Dad and daughter kayak trip

Post by booyah »

hooky wrote: Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:31 am Thank you for the report and pictures. Nothing like time with a kiddo on the island.
I'm a lucky one, I have four daughters from 15-3 who are crazy unique and amazing!

Each year I bring each one (above age 5) on their very own daddy daughter vacation, so from age 5 until they decide hanging out with dad isn't cool any more. Only rules are it must be a road trip, and it must be something new. Budget constraints factor in as well, but ya know :)

This years trips went from Chicago to Tawas to the Isle, hopefully next year will be as varied.
User avatar
Ingo
Forum Moderator
Posts: 1944
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 1:11 pm
Isle Royale Visits: 14
Location: Hillsborough, NC
Has thanked: 257 times
Been thanked: 158 times

Re: TR: 8/8/19 - 8/16/19 Dad and daughter kayak trip

Post by Ingo »

booyah wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2019 11:23 am I'm a lucky one, I have four daughters from 15-3 who are crazy unique and amazing!

Each year I bring each one (above age 5) on their very own daddy daughter vacation, so from age 5 until they decide hanging out with dad isn't cool any more.
I love it! Have always found that the one-on-one experiences with my kids are special. I've done daddy daughter IR trips with both of our girls, now in their 30s. The biggest problem becomes time and schedules as they grow up and live their own lives.
22: BI-PC-BI-RH, 21: RH-ML-DF-MB-DF, 18: MC-PC-BI-DB-RH-DF, 17: WI-IM-SB-FL-WC, 16: RH-CI-TI-RH, 14: BI-ML-CI-CH-MB, 13: RH-PI, 12: MC-CB-HL-TH, 11: WC-HC-WC, 09: MC-BI-DN-RH, 05: MI-CI-MB-DF-RH-TM-RH, 02: MC-LR-WL-CH, 01: BI-DB-RH, 79: worked RH
torpified
IR Expert
Posts: 594
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:06 pm
Isle Royale Visits: 6
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Has thanked: 238 times
Been thanked: 120 times
Contact:

Re: TR: 8/8/19 - 8/16/19 Dad and daughter kayak trip

Post by torpified »

I love seeing father-daughter teams in the wilderness. I don't think I'd be doing this if my own dad hadn't shared his love of the outdoors when I was too little to appreciate that, technically, I wasn't cut out to be a mountain man.
User avatar
thesneakymonkey
May actually live on IR
Posts: 357
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 5:43 pm
Isle Royale Visits: 3
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 36 times
Contact:

Re: TR: 8/8/19 - 8/16/19 Dad and daughter kayak trip

Post by thesneakymonkey »

awesome! Way to get a kid out to the island! She has a cool childhood ha. Also pretty darn neat that you saw a wolf. I would love to some day.
Post Reply