TR: June 2023 trip

[jerry]

I'm an old man, so forgive me. I'm going to post this as best as I can:

On Friday, June 16, 2023, 3:04 PM, Jerry Pesch <ojibwa_jjp@yahoo.com> wrote:

I left Dayton before 3 a.m. on the first of June (Thursday). About 12 hours later, I was in my old college town (Winona, Minnesota). I visited where my paternal grandparents are buried. Then a short visit to my college. When I got to my campground, near the Mississippi River, it was 89. After a short rain, I went for a walk along the river. Reading and a few brews were included before bedtime.

June 2 (Friday): Up early and on to Wisconsin. To get to Duluth, one needs to go due north (thru Wisconsin). As I headed up north, it warmed up (low 80s). About 20 miles south of Superior, Wisc. I noticed it was getting cooler. When I got there, it was 52 and foggy. Leaving Superior, I crossed into Minnesota and Duluth. It was 49 there. I had a nice pleasant drive up the shore (Lake Superior is to my right). After awhile, I turned left (north) and headed to a campground. After passing thru Finland (yes, that is a town), I saw a moose a few minutes later. The lady moose are called cows and that is what she was. When I got to the campground, I found a very nice site for the evening. When I got out of the car, I was attacked. They held me captive and sucked a lot of blood out of me. I decided I had enough of the mosquitoes and returned to the shores of Lake Superior. When I got to Grand Marais, I decided a two night stay was in order (camping again) at the CG near downtown. It was in the 50s and the wind was blowing in from the lake (good no bugs anymore). Lots of nice folks here. Some shared food and/or brews. I left this town of 1,300 the morning of June 4 (Sunday).

June 4 (Sunday): When I got up at 5:30 a.m. it was 51 and sunny. A 36 mile drive up to the Grand Portage Indian Community was another pleasant drive. I went to their store and bought some stuff to keep the mosquitoes off me. It was 59 and sunny. I camped at their Marina. During the day many nice/friendly folks arrived and they also put up their tents. One guy rode his bike in. After talking with him, I found out he had ridden in from Ely, Minnesota (143 miles). It got up to a warm 71 in the afternoon. I'll talk about Dan, who put up a tent next to me in a little bit. His daughter dropped him off. There were 2 guys from Iowa (I'll call them J & J, one a 6th grade teacher and the other an administrator at a college). More on them later. A brother and sister arrived later in the afternoon, plus scouts and their leaders. We all were going to take a boat to Isle Royale NP the next day.

June 5 (Monday): I got up early @ 3:30 a.m., 54 and mostly cloudy. Dan woke up as I was taking down my tent. Dan was planning to walk 2 miles to catch our boat. I told him, I had made room for him and his backpack in my car. He was about 15 years younger then yours truly and walked as if his hip or leg was not 100%. Arriving early we took our gear to the dock. They wanted to put our stuff on the boat starting at 6:45. We left 10 minutes early @ 7:20 and arrived at 9:20 at the park. Dan, J & J, plus lots of folks got off the boat and started hiking. Lazy me. I took the boat for many more hours and later got off at an island (Belle Isle). I was able to get the last shelter on the island. They are 3 sided wood and screened in front. Most of the folks were using either a kayak or canoe. Three guys were using an outboard boat and fishing. I had actually thought I might be the only one there. There were 9 of us. I had decide to bring some beer with me. Oh no. No frig. I used Lake Superior to cool off the brew.

June 6: Yesterday, when I arrived @Belle Island, it was 66 and sunny. The trouble was, it cooled off all evening. I got up to 43 and sunny. Lucky me, I brought long johns with me. Of course, my clothing for the day did not include pants. Only shorts. Getting out of the sleeping bag, on with the shorts, hood-e, and pull over. My legs were not cold, only my back. During the day, I took a few walks (especially down to the Lake). My fishing paid off (cooling off the beer). I caught quite a few cold 12 oz. brews. The guys (who actually were fishing) liked my idea of fishing. They had smoked lots of fish. And shared a couple of pieces with me for my p.m. meal. It only got up to 57 that afternoon. Reading and walking took up most of the day.

June 7 (Wednesday): Everyone was leaving me. Another cold a.m. I cleaned up and packed my gear for the next move. I had noticed lots of evidence of Moose on the island, but did not see one of them. If interested, ask why. I went out to the dock and read until the boat would pick me up. The skipper thanked me for being ready, yet asked for my assistance with a line to keep the boat firmly against the dock. Off we went to Rock Harbor. This is on the east end of the island (ISRO NP). It has a lodge, cabins, two places to eat at, a store, a ranger station and a campground. I found a nice place to sleep for the night, it included a picnic table. The shelter was uphill from the camp trail.

It was time to eat. Its about a half mile from the campground to where I planned to get something to eat and get a draft beer. Now back to the guys (J & J), they had walked across the island in three days. The National Park is about 45 miles long and about 8 miles wide. They were smiling at me as I arrived at the grill. They had seen Dan slowly walking. I hope he was able to get to Rock Harbor (I never heard if he had). They indicated, that they were going back to the west end of the island tomorrow. I told them they were greyhounds. After dinner, I went back to my site.

I came across a woman on my way and she indicated that a moose was beyond my site. So I went to look for the moose. Folks were taking pictures of this cow (female). After a few minutes, I went back to my site. A few minutes later that cow came up the hill, eating as she came. She ate her way behind my shelter. Then around it. I was reading at my picnic table and she appeared about ten feet from me. I moved to the other side of the table. I did notice that her eyes were covered in a white milky covering. I think she could smell me, but not see me. She kept eating. Another camper indicated another cow was nearby. So again, I went to check it out. This time, the cow had young twins with her. She didn't pay attention to us, but the little ones kept looking at us. 4 moose in less then an hour (go figure). Back to getting ready and then I needed to get some rest before my next boat ride. Up early the next a.m.

June 8 (Thursday): After a pleasant sleep, I headed down to the dock for a trip to the west end of the national park. It was cool (low 50s) and the sun was shining. There were two stops on the way to the Windigo. The boat picked up folks with canoes at Chippewa Harbor and Malone Bay. In the past I've spent time in both places. These are many of the nice spots in this park. After more then 4 hours we arrive at the west end of the island (Windigo). I hiked about a half mile out to the campground (Washington Creek) and was able to get the last shelter.There were folks in tents as well as the shelters. Several people during this and the next day would catch fish in the creek or see a moose.

June 8 (Thursday) & 9 (Friday)-My plan was to read and hike in the general area. A new store was finally open this year. Pizza and various food items, plus a beer, milk, soft drinks, OJ, etc. are available. Clothing and other tourist items were part of those items for sale. During the day a boat from Minnesota arrived with visitors for a few hours. One of visitors came to the store and proudly announced that he had just visited all the U.S. National Parks upon his arrival. After about 4 hours he left to return to Minnesota. Many of us said that we wondered if he ever stayed long enough in any of the parks to understand what each park is all about. I know from experience it takes awhile to know a community or country. Living in an Asian country thanks to the US Army and moving from Maryland to Minnesota to Ohio has taught me it takes some time to really experience an area. In spite of this guy, I must say almost all the folks that I've met again on this trip were people that you would like to have for friends. Reading, talking with hikers and just relaxing took up most of these days.

June 10 (Saturday): I went for a before dawn hike out to dock and back. Close to my shelter a cow (moose) snorted and turned away from me. She then ate her breakfast. My 5th moose of this trip (most ever for me). Six counting the one in Minnesota. The weather was nice Thursday in low 60s. I woke up to low 40s Friday. I wore long underwear Thursday and Friday evening. However, I woke up to 61 and cloudy weather Saturday. Then the temperature dropped to the low 50s and light rain started. In the early afternoon it was almost time to board our boat. Guess who arrived from their second trip across the island park (J & J). They told me that they enjoyed their adventure and might return for another one in the future. We all enjoyed a quiet trip back to Minnesota. I prefer the V2 which I took around the Park this year. I had to stand up on their other boat on the way back. Had a nice conversation with the other folks.

I'll try not to bore you any more. I did stay at a CG just south of Two Harbors on the way to the Twin Cities. I did stay with a good friend from high school and was able to visit with my sister (who lives in downtown Minneapolis). After 3 days in the Twin Cities I headed south to a campground in Illinois, followed by my return to family in Ohio.

[backwoods doc]

Thanks, Jerry.

I've been thinking about a trip to Belle Isle. Anything else to recommend it, other than access to cold water? Any trails? Nice beach?

[jerry]

There are minimum trails. Some of the folks went off trail, up a hill and I believe north thru the woods. There are old broken down spots, one not far from the dock. There was a stairway to an overlook spot. Maybe a regular visitor can tell you which shelter is near that stairway. The guys that caught the fish, smoked them near the shelter that is for gatherings. I think the smoker is for general use. There is a brick oven type structure at that shelter. There is a long piece of concrete, that might have been for shuffle board games. The beach where I threw my beer in, is good for parking a boat or canoe/kayak, plus probably swimming. The guys that got off the V2 with me, had a canoe. They put it in near the dock and paddled over to the beach. The folks that were fishing seemed to have lots of success. Not sure why I saw tracks and scat from moose, but not one was seen during my stay.

[Ingo]

Thanks, Jerry.

I've been thinking about a trip to Belle Isle. Anything else to recommend it, other than access to cold water? Any trails? Nice beach?

With or without a canoe/kayak? Without, yeah, I'd still spend a couple nights there, although there's only about an 1/8th mile trail between the campground and the dock, actually 2 routes, so you have not much more than 1/4 mile of trails. Bushwacking is a little tough (typical), but there are cliffs on the north side of the cove that provide a nice view, although no established trail. The campground is on the beautiful little cove with a rock beach. There's a pavilion with a fireplace in the middle, and an old shuffle board court as Jerry speculated. Shelter 1 is the only one with an open view now, although 40+ yrs ago the whole middle of the campground was an open field and all six shelters had views of the cove. Shelter 6 is also close to the beach and where the small trail leads to the point on the south side of the cove (complete with very old concrete steps). The point is great for hanging out, stargazing, and catching the sunrise, as you're sitting on open rocks up over the water.

For my last trip my brother and I spent a week there (moving to Pickerel Cove for a night to comply with the stay limit). We had a canoe, so went out fishing every day for a couple hours, and made a trip over to Crystal Cove on Amygdaloid Island. It was rather windy all week so we didn't explore as much as we planned, but were happy just to hang out. Caught several lake trout from the canoe, but got skunked fishing from the shore and dock. On this trip, there were a few fishing boats that beached on the beach while camping, which was a little distracting, but that was the first time out of many that I've seen that.

[torpified]

Thanks for the report on what sounds like a very soothing visit! Just reading about it lowered my blood pressure. Until I got to this, which sent my heart racing with excitement:

There is a brick oven type structure at that shelter.

Could Belle Isle be the location of my oft-fantasized IR pop up brick oven pizza parlor?

[backwoods doc]

Yes, I believe a brick oven pizza parlor was buried in one of the new Wilderness Stewardship Plan options. But only in winter. If the lake doesn't freeze.

[S_R_L]

Could Belle Isle be the location of my oft-fantasized IR pop up brick oven pizza parlor?

We've brought pizza dough and toppings on 2 backpacking trips but not to the Island yet. A place to cook would be ideal