Aug 25th - Sept 5th

[DonNewcomb]

We just came off ISRO yesterday and are still driving south. I'll post a detailed report in a few days.

[DonNewcomb]

Trip report:
Start date : 25 August 2009
End date: 5 September 2009
Participants: Ward and Don Newcomb

Background: The goals were to see as much of ISRO as we could while keeping pack weight down and without killing ourselves. We planned two resupply deliveries via Voyageur II and a hop from Windigo to McCargoe Cove. I also wanted to check the ATT GSM signal on ISRO. I picked up a prepaid Iridium SIM on eBay and carried my old Iridium satellite phone. The idea was that this would permit basic voice communications and allow my wife to send nightly weather forecasts as text messages. The cell phones and Yagi antenna were left in the bag we checked at Rock Harbor.

Chronology:
24 August: Arrived Houghton. Checked into Country Inn & Suites. Started final organization check. Went looking for dinner. After looking at several restraunts and either finding them closed or rejecting them, we ended up having a slow, third rate, meal at the Pilgrim River Steak House.

25 August: Ate breakfast buffet at hotel. Checked out and drove to NPS dock. Ranger III departed at 09:00. John and Ann Mahan were onboard leading an Elderhostel tour of Isle Royale. 10:30 after briefing we filled out the backcountry permit. The ranger, Paul Anderson, was discouraging regarding cross-country travel. He said we could put both XC and campsites on the permit but made me promise to stop and talk with Robbie Bell, the ranger at Daisy Farm, before actually attempting any XC ventures. We received almost no information about XC and did not receive a copy of the XC zone map. In fact, the whole process of filling out the permit was not very well explained. 12:30 at 48.8 km from Eagle River my cell phone still worked on ATT’s signal from UP. This meant that ATT lied to me and they do have extended range GSM on Lake Superior. I continued to test the cell phone until just before we made the turn at Rock Harbor Light. After arrival at R. H. we put one small suitcase in storage and verified our lodge reservations for the last night. The 11 day bag storage came to $35 since they count every day, including the first. I noticed that the lodge office and ranger station both had what looked like 10-element, 850 MHz (cellular) Yagi antennas pointed back at UP. After looking around the store and asking about fuel alcohol (none available) and white gas (19c/oz) we headed out down R.H. Trail about 15:30. On the way to Threemile CG we pretty much gave up any idea of doing any XC exploring. We arrived at Threemile CG at 1730, took shelter #11 and had tacos for dinner. The first of many too-large meals.

26 August: 64° F and overcast. Started walking at 08:45. Watched RIII depart. We discovered what happens when two parties meet on a long catwalk. 11:00 arrived at Daisy Farm. Went to visit Ranger Bell but a note on his door said “Out of area until 9/1”. Unable to fulfill our promise to Paul Anderson we decided to give up any idea of trying an XC venture from Chippewa Harbor to Malone Bay. (This turned out to be a good decision, as you will see later.) Had lunch of noodle soup, tortillas and cheese. About 14:30 stopped at Moskey Basin to filter water and make tea. Arrived Lake Richie about 16:30. Took site #2. There were day hikers from Mosekey fishing and kayaks at the canoe campground behind Hastings Island. but no other campers at the campground. Heard and saw loons, jays and a harry woodpecker. Dinner of Thai red curry noodles. I dropped my bowl and it landed upright. That will never happen again. The weather forecast included a chance of thunder storms.

[DonNewcomb]

27 August: Left Lake Richie at 08:30. Encountered light rain but it turned out to be a warm sunny day. We stopped to filter water from streams a couple of times, particularly before the climb up Mt. Siskiwit. We arrived at Hatchet Lake about 17:15. Salmon-Pea-Wiggle for dinner. (n.b. bring less food, more booze) Visited with other campers and let a couple use our water filter, since theirs was not working well. I spoke with my wife who informed me that rain was now in the forecast. It began raining about 10:00 PM.

28 August: It rained all night. We left Hatchet Lake at 09:05 in rain and met one poor soul on our way to Ishpeming Point with no rain gear. He said that all the many times he’d been on the Greenstone he never needed it so he felt safe leaving it at home. We had not so much as a garbage bag to give him. He said he was headed for Chickenbone. We suggested he go to Todd Harbor, where we knew some of the good campers we met at Hatchet Lake were headed. At Ishpeming Point we met a couple from Seattle who were well equipped for rain and asked them to keep an eye out for Mr. Underprepared. About 10:00 we called VII and asked if we could get a ride from Malone Bay to Windigo on Sunday. They said, “OK”. We had considered using our XC permits to camp off-trail between Ishpeming and Malone Bay but since the rain was not letting up, we decided to push our way all the way to Malone Bay and see if we could get in a shelter. The trail down to Malone Bay was the nicest one so far, but all the rain gear was not working. I had on Gore-Tex socks, gaiters, rain pants, parka and “Seattle Sombrero” and from the waist down I might as well have been mother-naked, for all the good it was doing. My Gore-Tex socks were only waterproof when it came to holding the water in. Ward was doing a little better under his big red WSU golf umbrella. As we hiked along the edge of Siskiwit Lake the wind was blowing the rain horizontal and even the golf umbrella stopped working. Had we attempted the XC from Chippewa to Malone we would have been caught out overnight in this rain. We made it into Malone Bay about 17:15 and settled into shelter #1. This was a million dollar view. Noticed that our water filter had slowed to a trickle. Changed into what dry duds we still had. I had neglected to double-bag my sleeping bag and its head end had become wet. That night I used it as a quilt and slept with the head end over my feet. Spaghetti for dinner.

29 August: Woke to 55° F and drizzle. Left-over spaghetti for breakfast. Not in much of a mood to roam, we hung around the hut. We heard that VII might not be able to run Saturday but rather make the full loop on Sunday. A woman camper in shelter #4 had blown out her Achilles tendon. Paul and his dad in #3 had come across Siskwit Lake in that howling storm and narrowly avoided swamping. Paul’s dad had only cotton clothing and wasn’t risking getting wet by going out in the rain. At 14:00 the rain stopped after raining nonstop for 40 hours. A little while later a ranger dropped by in full rain gear, backpack and hiking poles for a brief visit. Said he had walked from Sikiwit Bay (20 miles) since that morning. (Later learned that this was Robbie Bell) The rangers let Ward use the running water in their house to try to back-flush the water filter. At 17:20 the sun returned. Woke at 02:00 and watched the moon set. I ached all over and resolved to look for a new sleeping pad, since the ultra light Thermarest wasn’t cutting it.

[DonNewcomb]

30 August: Clear blue sky and 55° F. Sun warmed everything rapidly. I wore my wet boots to dry them. German roggenschrotbrot (coarse bread) and muesli for breakfast. Spent the morning cleaning, drying and repacking. Called the wives forgetting it was Sunday morning and woke them up early. The local ranger visited and said that VII wouldn’t be able to take us to Windigo as it is not returning there. VII arrives at 16:20 with our resupply box. We send some postcards, excess gear (particularly a book on the management of acute care) and our trash bag on VII with Paul and his dad. We started hiking out planning to use our XC permit to camp off-trail on the way back to Ishpeming Pt. We meet an off-duty ranger en route. It seems that the Malone Bay ranger house, with it’s comforts (e.g. hot & cold running water) is popular with off-duty rangers. We camped off trail. Tried to call home but get no answer.

31 August: Get up early and start hiking. En route saw large birds at a distance in the marsh. Only their heads were visible above the grass and the made a loud warbling call. Later I asked about them and it seems they were probably sandhill cranes. Ate breakfast along ridge. Met no one. 10:00 beautiful view of L. Desor. Bright sunny day. The trail down to Desor was very muddy. It was also designed by a sadist, since you have to climb half way up Mt. Desor only to go back down again to get there. Lunch at Desor South, cheese tortellini with tomato sauce. Saw a solo camper. Left Desor S. at 13:00. A dead tree had taken out a section of boardwalk just before the Island Mine junction. Arrived at Island Mine CG at 16:45. It’s a dump. We wouldn’t have stayed there had we been able to make it on to Windigo. They should shut that site down, move it someplace else and sell the fire rings for scrap.

1 September: Left I.M.C.G. at 08:30. About 11:00 we spoke with a Dieter Wise, a NPS biologist. He was going to Lily Lake to check out loon chicks. Arrived at Washington Creek C.G. about 12:00. Took shelter #3. CG looked about 40% full. Sorted out our clothes. My brother had lost a wool sock which had been drying on his backpack. It fell off between Island Mine and Windigo. We went to the store and spent $19 for two showers, a load of wash and some postcards. Best $19 we ever spent. We discuss the miracle of modern pluming while waiting for the wash to finish. I was surprised that the washer was not a water-saving front loader but rather a standard Speed Queen commercial top loader. We ran it on hot but the water was only warm. The dryer takes 8 quarters and runs 40 minutes, which is just long enough to get everything dry. The towel & soap, if needed, are $2.15. While Ward tried again to back flush the water filter, I went back to the store and bought two Cokes and 8 oz of white gas and asked again about alcohol fuel, which I prefer for priming the stove. All they had was isopropyl fuel line dryer. They had 6 individual Mountain House freeze dried meals at around $6.50 to $6.90 each. They were out of ice cream and had been out of sandwich makings until VII arrived from R.H. I noticed that there are several 10-12 element Yagi antennas pointed at Grand Maris. About 19:00 I tried my Iridium phone and got a “Unregistered SIM” response. After this it became just an 18 oz paperweight for me to lug around. I am presently trying to sort this out with the guy who sold me the SIM. We attended the showing of “Fortunate Wilderness” by George Desort. Here we met Jim DuFresne. I had a little discussion with him about technology in the backcountry. He said he was against high tech until I pointed out his >$1000 digital SLR and said that I thought that the only photography allowed in the back country should be wet-plate collodion process and that charcoal or water colors would be better. Turns out that his opposition to high tech only extended to communications equipment. It got down to about 40F that night and I was all zipped up in my sleeping bag.

[DonNewcomb]

2 September: Got up about 07:00. Cold morning. Watch a cooper’s or sharp shinned hawk in tree across the creek. While waiting for VII I weighed my pack. 27 lbs with 1 ltr of water and only a little food. I discussed various subjects with the store manager. My brother talked with an ISRO regular, a small wiry guy named Fred who carries a too big pack and likes to talk about the evils of fluoridation. Everyone seemed to know him. VII arrived at 10:30. As we were loading our packs on the boat, Ranger Sean Curry started walking away with a box in his hands. He stopped, looked at it, looked at us and turned around. It was our second supply drop. “Good thing I knew who you were. I was going to store this in the office.” Had a very pleasant ride to McCargoe Cove but VII is noisy and most conversations are carried on at a shout. In particular the port side of the main cabin has a nasty vibration. We drank a couple of $1 Cokes which were 37c cheaper than Windigo but you didn’t get back the 10c deposit. We arrived at McCargoe at 14:00 and took shelter #7, which was the last one remaining. We had planned to hike to E. Chickenbone but since we had heard nothing good about it, we decided to stay at McCargoe. I helped kayakers Steve & Bryan from MN, who had also arrived on VII, get their boats launched. We day hiked up to Minong Mine. At dinner the misquotes were pesky but not terrible. Ranger Carl (from Amygdaloid?) dropped by and checked our permit. We filter water. It was slow but working. Good thing we had enough fuel to boil water if needed. A group of young men keep up the BS around the camp fire until 23:00 when Ward finally tells them it’s time to shut it down.

3 September: Up at 06:30. The mosquitoes are pesky and run us inside the shelter to eat. We left McCargoe at 07:50; arrived at E. Chickenbone at 08:50. The day turned partly cloudy and ~60F. Later the skies clear, it becomes warm & sunny. We met a backpacker at the Daisy Farm/Greenstone intersection. He was going to Daisy Farm via Mt. Ojibway, since that was the only trail he had never hiked. Arrived Daisy Farm at 13:00. Settled into shelter #13. From 16:00 to 17:00 I had a long conversation with Robbie Bell about cross country travel on ISRO. (More on this later) Later went with him to help gather the apples at shelter #11, which had attracted wolves in recent years and caused the shutdown of Daisy Farm. The theory is that if the apples are picked up the wolves won’t hang around.

4 September: Head out at 08:00. Made Threemile at 10:00 but missed the cross-over to Tobin Harbor Trail. Crossed over to Tobin Harbor at Suzy’s Cave. Tobin Harbor is a much nicer trail than Rock Harbor. Made it into R.H. at 12:00. Our room (housekeeping unit) was not ready so we ate lunch in the restaurant while waiting. Surprisingly, no one passed out or even gagged from our odor. After lunch we get checked in (Unit #214). When our checked bag was delivered, I pulled out the cell phone and Yagi. Since our unit was on the top of the ridge I just pointed the antenna south and got 3-4 bars. I called home. The calls failed about 50% of the time with a “Network busy” message. This is reasonable because an ER GSM cell only has four channels. No data service; voice & SMS only. Used the ½ day canoe rental included with room to paddle around Tobin Harbor, down around Tallman Island and back. Dinner in the restaurant; steak & pork tenderloin with two Bell’s beers.

[DonNewcomb]

5 September: Meet DuFresne again waiting for RIII. He was surprised we stayed in housekeeping unit. Him: “Why didn’t you guys tell me you had a room? I paid $6 for a lukewarm shower.” Us, “Why didn’t you ask?” Ranger at check out gets fussy about our cross country overnight. Even though we had registered for the particular XC zone, there was no way to be specific about the dates. What wasn’t explained to us is that your permit is supposed to work like a train ticket. You are supposed to be in exactly the place where you say you will be on each night in sequence. If you plan to stay two nights in one campground you are supposed to enter that campground twice. It seems that they don’t really care as long as you are in campgrounds but when you go XC they expect it to be on the exact day in the sequence on the permit. We had told the rangers at Malone Bay exactly what we planned on doing and that we had registered for that XC zone. What we didn’t understand is that we were supposed to have the rangers register the exact date on our permit. This is one of the down-sides of camping in a NP rather than a NF. They want to keep an excruciatingly tight grip on all activities. Onboard RIII we discussed our trip with Ranger Anderson and ate some chili. Lake Superior was flat as a millpond. GPRS cellular data came back about 37 km from Hancock. This corresponds to coming back into regular GSM range. We arrived back in Houghton and immediately started driving south, then east toward the Mackinac Bridge.

Remarks:
1. Things worked out pretty well. Most of the moving parts meshed. We got both our deliveries, even if one was delayed by 6 hours. We had no serious injuries or near-death experiences or notable illness. Nothing broke beyond repair and the only thing we lost was one wool sock between Island Mine and Windigo.
2. In the future we need to plan for less food and more booze.
3. Always carry a spare water filter.
4. I need to seriously shop for a better sleeping pad. I’m getting to old for the ultra light Thermarest on a hard wood floor.
5. Less curries and dried fruit, more cheese and bland food. Enough about that.
6. Don’t ship spare batteries in every resupply box.
7. There is a large sink in the laundry room at Windigo. If you think you will need to hand wash your angora sweater or silk undies, bring a cork or stopper for the 1 ¾” drain hole. Also bring Woolite since they don’t sell that in the store.
8. There is no bell, buzzer or other warning when your 5-minute shower is about to end. Keep track of the time or you may end up soapy, wet and cold.
9. A cell phone with a good high-gain antenna should work at just about any spot with a view of Lake Superior, or which would have a view but for the trees.
10. Understand how the backcountry permit works, particularly for XC camping. The rangers can get quite fussy over small details if they want.
11. Rangers are all different. Some are really on your side and want you to have an enjoyable experience and to help any way they can. Others are “bear on patrol” searching for any small infraction upon which to pounce. Unfortunately, you can’t ususally tell which is wich. The one group of rangers does not seem to talk to the other.
12. Mosquitoes were not a problem except at McCargoe Cove.
13. Discussion with Windigo store manager. She says that NPS charges them 48c/gal for water and 84c/kwh for electricity! This is easily 10x the average residental electric rate and at least 100x the rate for water. She also says that the store has to pay for the water and electric usage of the restrooms. Everytime a visitor flushes a toilet it costs them about 50c. If you do the math, they would have to be losing money on both the showers and laundry, even at $6. Most of their supplies come by VII which adds an additional 18% to their costs. One exception is ice cream. Only RIII has the ability to carry frozen foods and RIII only comes 3 times this year: once when the park first opens but before the store opens, again in June and finally when the park closes, well after the store closes. The store closed on Sept 7th. After that the rest rooms, laundry and showers are not available.
14. Discussion with Ranger R. Bell about cross country camping. Long story short, it’s doable but not recommended. It’s easier in the early spring (before the thimble berries get too tall) and better on the west end of the island. You need to plan your XC very carefully, trying to stay on ridges and out of marshes and thickets. You have to be willing to take your time, turn back and search for alternatives if your first route does not work. He related that he had XCed along the shore from Mine Point to Malone Bay. He actually suggested swimming the gut on the west side of Chippewa Harbor as it is only about "30’ – 40’ wide"! (No way this southern boy is going to get in that icy water.) (The air photos show it to be more like 100'.)
15. The Iridium phone did not work very well in most locations. The problem with the Iridium system is that, because of the configuration of the satellite constelation, you need to have a 360 degree clear view of the horizon to get a really reliable connection. The only places on ISRO that meet this criteria are also the same places were cell phones work. In other words the cell phone and Yagi antenna would have worked better in most places.

[jeastbur]

Great TR, Don.
Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet up on the trail, but it looks like we shared the 40 hours of rain on Aug 28/29.

I'll be posting my trip report in a few days once I get my pictures organized.

[upnorthjeeper]

Thanks a lot for sharing, much appreciated!

[DonNewcomb]

Great TR, Don.
Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet up on the trail, but it looks like we shared the 40 hours of rain on Aug 28/29.

While wandering around ISRO I kept thinking we should have some sort of recognition symbol, like a Forums ball cap or patch or something.

[fonixmunkee]

Hey Don, thanks for sharing!

Where are these people who forget their rain gear when I'm out there? How silly could you be?! You do know you're in *Lake Superior* right? When it's NOT raining is what you should be preparing for!

You have an Iridium cell phone? NERD!

Great TR, any chance of pics soon?

[DonNewcomb]

You have an Iridium cell phone? NERD!

A souvenir from another life.

Great TR, any chance of pics soon?

Working on it.

[Tom]

Great TR, Don. Very descriptive.

Cool that you met Dufresne. Next to Rolf, he's probably the next 'best known authority' on IR.
Funny you mention of 'two types of rangers' - Since there are. There are the law enforcement rangers (they get the guns, and post 9/11, the really nice boats), and the interpretive rangers. It sometimes does seem that one group is trying to press the rules while the other just wants to make sure you're enjoying your time on the Island!

Glad to know you survived the trip!

[DonNewcomb]

It sometimes does seem that one group is trying to press the rules while the other just wants to make sure you're enjoying your time on the Island!

It's not necessarily the enforcement vs interpretive rangers. It was one of the gun toting rangers who told us, "They don't really care what's on the permit. They just want you to report what you really did when you leave." It was one of the unarmed rangers who got fussy with us about departing from our XC schedule by a couple of days. "If you'd been caught you could have been hit with a huge fine."

Until this we didn't even understand that there even was a specific schedule. When we filled out the permit we asked if it was OK to just put down various possible campgrounds and XC zones and were told that it was OK.

It's unsettling to try to do do things right; to think you're doing things right; to ask a questions and get what you think are the right answers and then be told, after the fact, that you were all wrong.

[ScoutDad]

Great report Don:

I had to upgrade my thermarest to a thicker model, and that still wan't quite enough, so I bought a closed cell foam pad from Walmart for about $6 and cut two 12"-14" lengths from it. I bring those along with my thermarest, and place the foam pads above & below by hips (I'm a side sleeper) for more comfort. Works pretty well, and I use the pads to sit on for more comfort at the picnic tables & rocks, etc.