Isle Royale - An Extra Day in Camp

We'd decided yesterday to hike to Chippewa Harbor rather that camping at Lake Richie, and as a result, would stay an extra day in camp there.  So Tuesday morning, September 18, we had a very relaxed morning.  For one thing, it was about 42 degrees, about 25 degrees cooler than the prior morning.  So it was tough getting out of that warm sleeping bag.  Jenni, who had tented, regaled us with a story of hearing a moose walking near her tent during the night.  That scared her a bit, and she kept telling Donna, sleeping in her tent nearby, to get up.  But Donna was thinking "What can I do about it?"  I remembered from my trip here when I was 20, sleeping on the ground and listening to the moose walk right through the woods just feet away!

The sky looked a bit ominous for a while, although it had the feeling that it would be a nice day eventually.

I liked the sunbeam shining through on this one.

My group of six ate breakfast and talked about what we might do during the day.  The first thing we did was snag a second shelter when the people in it hiked out for their next spot.  There were only 4 shelters here, and we resolved to give it up if all of them were full and more people came in, which they didn't.  Then two of us decided to go for a hike for a few hours, and the other four decided to hang out in camp.  So Barbara and I headed towards Lake Mason, which from the maps, looked like a potential spot to see moose and other wildlife.

The trail to Lake Mason was short, about a mile each way.  Along the way, I admired the mushrooms and fungi on this tree.

We saw minimal wildlife at the lake, which is long and narrow, and disappears around a bend.  We did see a pair of some kind of falcon, perhaps a merlin.

We decided to hang out for a while here, and eat lunch.

Panoramic view of the upper part of Lake Mason.

One thing I love about the northern lakes is the wetland fringe along the edge that many have.

On the way back, we hiked about a mile or so up away from camp, just looking for things.  In fact, our little day hike was four miles long.  This bracket fungus was really interesting, and colorful.

And, as I said before, I love the white birch trees.

Back at camp, Rick and I took a short hike to the top of the ridge above the camp.

The big excitement was when a USNPS boat arrived.  They came with the news that the Thursday morning ferry was coming Wednesday afternoon instead.  One of the ferries, from Grand Portage, Minnesota, circles the island, dropping off people and picking them up at different spots, Chippewa Harbor being one of them.  A big storm was moving into Lake Superior Thursday, a gale with projected 12 foot seas, so the ferry was coming in 12 hours early.

We got the ranger to snap a photo of the group on the dock.

After that, it was time for dinner,

and then, a great campfire (this was one of the few camping areas we had seen where fires were allowed).  Before we went to bed, we poured two buckets of water on it to make sure that it was stone-cold dead.

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