Isle Royale Forums

From the NPS:

Lake Richie & Intermediate Lake Water Warning

As of August 21, 2020 until further notice:

Do not drink, filter, or boil water from Lake Richie and Intermediate Lake. Filter or boil water prior to traveling to these lakes.

These lakes are experiencing a blue-green algae bloom. Some species of blue-green algae are toxic to humans. If ingested, it can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and damage to internal organs. Skin contact can cause irritations. Filtering or boiling water will not remove toxins and may add them.

Fish consumption, swimming, and cleaning dishes in Lake Richie and Intermediate Lake are not recommended at this time. Similar algae blooms have occurred at Isle Royale in the past. Blue-green algae occur naturally in the environment, but under the right conditions, it can form a toxic bloom.

Learn more about drinking water safety at Isle Royale: https://www.nps.gov/isro/planyourvisit/ ... -water.htm

The only surprise is that it took this long. It's been a dang warm year in the area (and sunny), and many of these lakes have witnessed blooms in the past, so I was waiting for when the report would come in.
I had the opportunity to get in a little trip/fishing this past weekend (TR to come, eventually) and I went for a swim at Belle Isle dock. While that's far more exposed/open than say, McCargoe, it was still no problem walking right in the water. Lake Superior surface around the Isle was reading in the mid 60s; what was interesting is that as we crossed the open water to Grand Portage, well.. it was still in the mid 60s. Even the buoy network seems to be reading warmth everywhere; the Mid-Superior buoy is reading 62F right now, and has been in the 70s... and this temp profile goes down almost 50' in the water column. It's a warm one for the big lake this year..

Tom wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 7:25 am The only surprise is that it took this long. It's been a dang warm year in the area (and sunny), and many of these lakes have witnessed blooms in the past, so I was waiting for when the report would come in.
I had the opportunity to get in a little trip/fishing this past weekend (TR to come, eventually) and I went for a swim at Belle Isle dock. While that's far more exposed/open than say, McCargoe, it was still no problem walking right in the water. Lake Superior surface around the Isle was reading in the mid 60s; what was interesting is that as we crossed the open water to Grand Portage, well.. it was still in the mid 60s. Even the buoy network seems to be reading warmth everywhere; the Mid-Superior buoy is reading 62F right now, and has been in the 70s... and this temp profile goes down almost 50' in the water column. It's a warm one for the big lake this year..

With the warm lake temps, guesssing ice development will not be as prevalent this winter. Looknig forward to the TR, any fishing? How did you get to Belle?

johnhens wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:41 am......With the warm lake temps, guesssing ice development will not be as prevalent this winter. Looknig forward to the TR, any fishing? How did you get to Belle?

Maybe, maybe not. Looks like there's a good chance of a La Nina setting up in the Pacific later this fall, which usually means below average winter temps for the Great lakes region. We shall see.

Any idea how long this might last? We had hoped to paddle through (and camp at) both lakes this summer, and had to put those plans off until next year.

The wolf program has now set a precedent and some of my recent studies in geology have taught me that snails love eating cyanobacteria so maybe it's now time to introduce more snails into the typically troubled inland lakes, Just kidding. One prevalent geology theory points to snail munching as the primary reason there are not more exposed Stromatolites in the world today. Others point to Thrombolites (another microbe) to the beginning of their demise. Stromatolites are sedimentary rock made from layers of the "blue-green algae" (actually the bacteria). This bacteria is capable of photosynthesis and is credited with starting and proliferating the creation of enough oxygen to allow other organisms that require it to evolve and yes, including snails that led to the demise of much of the cyanobacteria. To observe exposed Stromatolites that are not stratified in other rock you'll have to travel to places like Australia or do some scuba diving in the Caribbean (They're often mistaken for coral.)

Stromatolites almost 2 billion years old can be seen in and around Copper Harbor today, mostly around Horseshoe Harbor just east of Copper Harbor. Horseshoe Harbor is located in the Mary MacDonald public access preserve. It's an easy walk from a close by parking lot.
.
Horseshoe Harbor .
Hunter's Point Park - Copper Harbor .
Shark Bay in western Australia