TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

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TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

The wife and I took our 3 big kids with, for some easy miles. The oldest had been a couple of summers ago, so only two first-timers. Taking the Queen so, we stayed at Fort Wilkins the night before and it was better than sleeping on the street on trying to time your long-distance night road trip just right. The boat over was calm and 70ish% full but not showing extra tickets available so they might be running reduced. The ranger speech version 2021 was quite lame and did not even mention micro trash. We took the Tobin harbor trail up to mount franklin towards Lane Cove. This was the second time taking some newbies on this opening hike and for whatever reason seem to be a rather demoralizing climb for them. Kids enjoyed counting boardwalks so there were 7 boards up to Mount Franklin and 10 down to Lane. We did pass some boater out hiking who said they were at campsite 3 and would be leaving when we got back, which was nice as we had heard the all sites were booked the night before and people had to double up. When we got there the only site 1 was full and took site 2 but by nightfall all were full and a solo came in and was looking for some level ground, we offered her a look around but nothing would have really worked for a 3rd tent. This log jam at Lane made us worried that the rest of the trip would be packed too.
Packing food for five was new to me. So I made a bag for each day the contained a similar assortment and each carried one with someone carrying the partial day meals as well. This was nice for planning and packing and for dropping weight in the right person's bag each day, but really bad for food variety. Even though there were a few different flavors and some bartering between the group it all started to taste the same by day six.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

Day two was another shorter day and were out of camp by 7:39 and we saw a moose in one of the beaver ponds. The climb up to Mount Franklin has 14 switchbacks and some are starting to wash out and becomes a little vague as to which "path" is the path. It also was so dry the traction became a little of an issue as the gravel slide around. The Lane Cove trail has had no visible trail maintenance this year and had many downed trees. The kids all thought the view from mount franklin was much better than Ojibway tower, but that might have been because the top section was locked up and you couldn't walk the deck this year. The deck being locked was a big disappointment but I still love the view. The trail from Franklin to Daisy had 5 boards. We made daisy early enough to get the second best shelter and were down by the lake and the "old" trail as the bridge by the info board is washed out and closed. Everyone went for a swim and the boy jumped off the dock for more than 2 hours.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

On day three we got out of camp a 7:25 even earlier than the day before a trend that continued. Heading to McCargoe was going to be a harder hike than the days prior and we crossed 30 boards. We stopped for our long break at East Chickenbone and the kids realized why we did not stay there when they saw the water distance from camp. We arrived at 12:09 which I consider a great time for their age and all shelters were open. We took the one with the best view 8 I think. At least one shelter was open all night at daisy, McC, Chippawa, and Moskey. (we will hear about Rock Harbor later). Two groups of boaters were at the dock but they didn't stop all of us from swimming and jumping off the dock. The youngest even earned a vote for president whenever he runs by his respectful treatment of the boaters and funny responses. They had been catching their limit on trout and had some smoked from the day before they were willing to share which was great and maybe a beer or two. One other hiker complained about the boaters, and how she would not "ruin" nature like that, but I did not understand as they were in no way loud, annoying, or disrespectful. Also, East Chickenbone was open and if she didn't want boaters she could have stayed there. The boaters then offered us a spot at their fish fry later on in the evening. We ate our rice side and then filled up on fresh trout. ahhh. A pair of loons and their chick swam the cove for hours practicing their dives. There was a community fire in the ring and things went dead quiet at 10 on the money.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

Day 4 was going to be the hardest. We got going at 7:22 and was a little muddy until Chikenbone. Bugs were a little bad too. 36 boards to Lake Richie and there is a waterfall just south of the campsites that you could drink out of if the algae bloom sticks around and you still want to stay there. 25 boards to Chippewa and the youngest turned out to be a 9-mile kid. This was a bit more than 9 though and he started to feel it. We kept reminding them that you could have done that hike with a canoe. Yikes. A couple of eagles flew the harbor all afternoon and the kids swam for many hours as the water was warmer and they swam out to the island. The youngest also had a business idea for a local diner that is for sale back home. He thinks we should buy it make good relationships with all the regulars and then drop the price to build trust and base. I liked it. We talked with a frequent hiker but first time Isle guy who compared the Island to summer camp. Which resonated with us. I hiked up to the Mason overlook for the sunset with the youngest and the wife who got distracted talking at the group site and never made it. But it was nice and we saw a bull moose chomping dinner. We played many hours of euchre and the kids starting getting use to the bowers by this point which was nice.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

Day 5 was not a zero-day but Chippewa to Moskey is almost that nice. I left a little early to hike the Mason lake trail and the rest got off at 7:16 meeting back at the junction. 8 boardwalks from lake Richie to Moskey and we finished in just over 3 hours. Most of the sites were still full of campers from the night before only site 4 was open. We waited around for a bit and #1 opened, waited still and shelter 8 opened. 8 is my favorite site on the island so we were thrilled. Two different families of ducks swam around the back of the cove and the beaver came out a few times too. We laid on the big rock face for hours. The kids jumped off the dock and swam to the massive boulder that is just submerged to the north of the dock. The lake was much colder but that rock was only a foot under the surface. Shelter 7 never filled up but someone was in a tent site so I wasn't sure why. There was one insect that I had never seen and will need to lookup. It was only a wisp and floated around like dust. Six legs, black fading to white.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

Day 6 Moskey to Rock harbor with its 38 boards. It was a Wednesday and the Queen wasn't running but I didn't know if that would help or hurt the number of people in Rock Harbor shelters. Without prompting everyone hustled and we were on the trail by 6:59. Lightest pack and much practice loading them helped. Knowing the little was only good for 9 and we had 11 plus we went light on water and he basically has his sleeping bag and our empties. It helped but he still got some blisters and we took a couple of extra stops to patch him up. Moskey to daisy also had a lot of downed trees but they might have only been from the recent wind storm. We had no dinners packed for that day and had a promise of Pizza at the grill and we plowed ahead. A moose was in the path for 10 minutes just outside of Rock harbor and would not really move on, so we waited. We got in at 1 and all the shelters were full and the kids ran around and asked if anyone was leaving they all claimed to have just gotten in and we headed back to the tent sites and grabbed one with a water spigot which would be nice at least. Headed down for pizza. It was great and after eating headed back up to set up camp. We just happened to check on shelter 1 and it was vacant now. I think they had gotten on a flight back for Wednesday instead of waiting till the morning. Yay. We met back up with the boaters from McC who invited us to the Wednesday night fish fry as well. (What great friends to make at summer camp). The discussion that night turned just slightly to the politics of the island and the island management which was interesting and contained some strongly held opinions across the tables. Overall pleasant evening, we closed the camp store with some ice cream and headed back to euchre till dark.
Last edited by TopCarrot on Sat Jul 17, 2021 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

Day 7 - Overall the weather was amazing it never rained and only looked close the night at Moskey. Great temps and the bugs were bearable. it might spoil the kids. We did Scoville point with it 10 boards and had pizza again for lunch. The Queen started to load at the normal time with the lodge luggage then waited and "cleaned" the cabin for twenty minutes in the middle. As a former efficiency engineer, I could hardly believe it. As some who has to follow the sometimes ridiculous guidelines imposed by federal agencies I completely understood. It did put the boat behind its normally prompt schedule and delayed our arrival in Copper Harbor as well. As we departed the island a cow and calf saw us off from the water's edge. I stayed on the stern and watched the island until it was small, half longing to return and half not knowing when I would see it again. We have been driving straight home from the boat for a bite now and it takes about 10 hours. I still have a plane ticket leftover from Covid last year and I might already be planning a September stroll.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by dcclark »

What a wonderful trip report. I like using boards as a measurement for a hike. But is it a measure of length, or of how much effort the park puts into a trail?

I don't know the last time the Ojibway balcony was open to hikers, but it was before my time for sure. Would make for some funny views on the Ojibway webcam, though!

I am amazed that shelter 7 at Moskey stayed open. It is my absolute favorite site on the island -- a great combination of shade, view, and a sunny "dock" out into the lake.

I'm envious of the possibility of TWO trips in a year. I haven't been to the island in two years. Enjoy!
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by backwoods doc »

Always fun to hear about kids enjoying backpacking on IR.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by torpified »

Thanks for the outstanding trip report and the boardwalk census! We should add, and crowdsource, a sticky for a " distance between campsites" type grid, only reporting boardwalk counts instead. Have you figured out what your wispy bug was?
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

dcclark wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 6:27 pm What a wonderful trip report. I like using boards as a measurement for a hike. But is it a measure of length, or of how much effort the park puts into a trail?

I don't know the last time the Ojibway balcony was open to hikers, but it was before my time for sure. Would make for some funny views on the Ojibway webcam, though!

I am amazed that shelter 7 at Moskey stayed open. It is my absolute favorite site on the island -- a great combination of shade, view, and a sunny "dock" out into the lake.

I'm envious of the possibility of TWO trips in a year. I haven't been to the island in two years. Enjoy!
Ojibway tower was open when I stopped by in 2020 and 2018 and closed 2017.

As for boards, I assumed it was a measure of how muddy that section was the year the park had extra funding and staff.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by dcclark »

TopCarrot wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 6:35 am Ojibway tower was open when I stopped by in 2020 and 2018 and closed 2017.
That's really surprising -- I know it was closed in 2016 and 2019 when I visited. Are we both talking about getting all the way up to the deck around the observation area (not just climbing a few flights to the various platforms)?
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by TopCarrot »

torpified wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 6:31 am Thanks for the outstanding trip report and the boardwalk census! We should add, and crowdsource, a sticky for a " distance between campsites" type grid, only reporting boardwalk counts instead. Have you figured out what your wispy bug was?
Yes on the Bug. I am pretty sure it's a Phantom Crane Fly. Here is a video of them wispin by, start at 39 seconds (i tried to link it then).



Yes, on the crowdsource distance grids... it should have stepping stone sections and corduroy sections too.
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by Kelly »

Thanks for the trip report!
TopCarrot wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 5:02 pm There was one insect that I had never seen and will need to lookup. It was only a wisp and floated around like dust. Six legs, black fading to white.
We saw those last year—they are mesmerizing!
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Re: TR: 7/9-7/15, 2021 [Hiking] [An east-end itinerary: RH > LC > DF > McC > CH > MB > RH]

Post by hooky »

Great trip report. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I'm missing those days where you hike and then swim off the dock for 2 hours, multiple days in a row. I'm worn out just thinking about watching them do that.
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