7/19-7/25
Day one: On day one we got up at 3 am at Upper Peninsula bible camp in Little Lake MI. (about 30 miles south of Marquette)
We drove up to Copper Harbor, one of the most scenic drives I have ever been on. We made the Queen and headed off for the island. Before we even got on the boat I saw my first two loons of the trip and knew this was going to bee a good trip.
Lake Superior was probably the smoothest I have ever seen it. There weren't even ripples on the flat water. It was very cool for a first timer to see the island slowly get larger and larger. When we were about 2 miles out the captain started telling us what everything was. Going into Snug harbor docking and the first step onto Isle Royale were something I had been dreaming of for 5 years so it felt so good to finally step on the island.
I was amazed at how small rock harbor was. like 20 buildings and a big tall green thing was like it, and this was supposed to be like the civilized outpost of Isle Royale. Our group of 10 milled around and impatiently waited for the rangers preaching on leave no trace to end, then we had lunch. We had booked a water taxi to take us to Moskey Basin and drop us off, we did this in 2 groups as the boat was not large enough to accommodate 8 teens and 2 counselors. Probably the coolest boat rise of my life. It was really cool to see the rugged shoreline of lake Superior with all the scraggly pine trees trying to grow out of the bare rock. We saw like 5 more loons In Moskey Basin before being dropped off a the dock.
All the kids decided to climb up the rocks. It was really easy to get up, but I found out later, not so much to get down. We found one of those big pretty orange Lilys growing right out of a boulder. Getting down I slid and whacked my tailbone HARD on a rock. That hurt like heck but I was still able to hike fast the 2 miles to Richie. My pack that day weighed 50 lbs. I weigh about 110, do the math. It actually wasn't even that bad though and I was still the fastest
We got to Richie and set up camp. I decided to see if I could catch a pike out of the lake with no luck, all though I did catch several perch. When our other group finally made it me and 2 other guys decided to swim to the island nearest the campground. surprisingly we didn't get any leaches. When we were exploring the island I happened to look down towards the south shore. I saw 2 eagles on a tree doing their weird, but cool eagle sounds. We watched until they both flew off over the trees.
When It was time to swim back I noticed a loon that was really close to us, I mean like 30 feet. All of a sudden I here the guy behind me go oh cool, some eggs. I turned around and saw him reaching down to touch them. Luckily I screamed at him before he got to the eggs and later we saw mommy loon back on her babies. Honestly I think loons are cooler than eagles. Especially when you see them close up.
After that we ate dinner which was actually really good. Then had Devotionals (being with a bible camp group has its benefits) Which were a really good way to talk about god with each other. Then I started to make a spork out of some pine wood that I vowed would be finished by the time we left the island.
Day 2: After waking up and having breakfast we got packed up and started heading for West Chickenbone. I was kind of disappointed with the fact that we had not seen a moose yet so I kept a sharp eye for moose this hike. I did see lots of moose signs but no moose. 2 uphills in particular where tough, one was the assent of the Greenstone Ridge. My group of 5 left about 45 minutes ahead of everyone else, and made the 4.1 miles in about 2 hours, not bad far a 13 year old, 2 14 year olds and 2 15 year olds. When we were deciding which group campsite we wanted we found a moose antler in the bushes at group sight number 3. We ended up at number 1.
When everyone made it we had lunch, then went for a swim. The water and air weren't to bad at all. The leaches however where horrendous. I got 5 big ones and about 30 little ones in about 10 minutes in the water, the guy swimming with me got 0. He must smell bad or something
We then decided to go on an "Adventure Walk" all the way around Chickenbone lake. Right at the start our leader said "Lets see what god has in store for us" not 1 minute later I saw a moose wallowing across the lake.We got some of the guys over to see it the kept going. I have to say that I think it would be very difficult to get a canoe through the Chickenbone outlet. We got lost at East Chickenbone and accidentally took a dead end trail and ended up cross country hiking to find the real trail. We saw a mother moose and calf at the top of a ridge however, not even 20 feet away. She snorted at us then ran down the ridge away from us.
After finding the trail we ended up running the mile to West Chickenbone to get there in time for dinner.
After dinner I went fishing in the lake and managed to pull in a 26-28 inch Northern pike on a Rapala X-rap It was a really fat fish that probably weighed about 5 lbs. I wanted to keep it but wasn't sure if anyone else would want it so I let him go to swim another day. Over all I have to say I was disappointed by the fishing in the park. It probably doesn't help that I was on shore and didn't know what I was doing.
After that it was time for devos, then I went back down to the spot where we saw the moose, and saw another big bull moose! Not bad 4 in one day, and I was expecting not to see any. That night we heard lots of loons and wolves. I am 100% confident we heard both It was probably the coolest sound I have ever heard.
to be continued...............
