Right now, Thursday; August 1st, we are in Thunder Bay, Ontario. This may be my last blog for almost a month. We leave tomorrow for anchoring along the North & East coast of Lake Superior, where there is not any big Marina's. We may have spotty cell service but no Wifi.
Back tracking to catch up:
Left Grand Marais on Sunday morning, July 21 @ 7:15 AM. Jacque & Garry saw us off. Hugs all around. We wish them a safe & comforting journey. They plan to be gone for a week, visiting & helping Garry's Mom. Super calm today with blue sky & sun!
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| Rock of Ages Lighthouse |
Air temp 49, water temp 38. The big lake Gitchee Gumee is being kind to us another day. Clear skies, can see 25 miles and super calm water but cool. We r in the pilot house again. We have only had 2 bridge days this whole trip so far.
We arrived @ Isle Royale & entered Washington Channel to Windigo Harbor. A Ranger named Steve Martin helped us in, (already a family thing, one of Doug’s bro is Steve Martin). There are 2 boats @ the dock, one is a Bertram, park boat. The other a visitor from Red Rock Ontario. We registered for 8 days for a total cost of $64.00, $4.00/person/day. That charge is for just being on the Island, whether docking or anchoring. The lodge/office has 2 big framed pictures of Doug's maternal great grandparents O'Neil & grandma Blanche. We told them Doug was related & they were excited & wanted to know more. Doug's grandma Blanche was the first white woman born on Isle Royale, back in 1890. His Great Grandfather was a copper miner there for 2 years. This is a Doug Martin's family tour.
We put our kayak together on the nice big wide dock. The dock is where a couple of ferries come in at different times. There is the ranger station, bathrooms, pay showers, laundry & a small store. A fuel with pump-out dock is also nearby. There is a camp area w/ lean to's close & quite a few trails that leave from here. There is not much room on the big dock for transient boats.
After we looked around, got the kayak up on the bridge, we left & anchored behind Beaver Island. We could see the Windigo dock, but not any detail from our anchorage but it has good holding & is nicely protected. We kayaked after dinner back to the bathrooms & saw a loon. Have been hearing them & our up north bird since arriving.
The moon was almost full, it had warmed up once we arrived, up to 70, but the evening was quite cool. We sat out & watched the sun set & the moon rise. Then we went in & played sequence. Doug beat me 2 games.
Rained during the nite. Slept in. Had big breakfast, showered & kayaked over 2 dock & hiked for 5 miles. Saw a loon right near shore, big & beautiful. There is a nesting loon nearby. Saw a scrawny fox, squirrels, butterflies, one turning into a butterfly. Doug saw an otter yesterday. The thimbleberries are getting closer, the flower petals have fallen off & I saw some starting a pink tinge. We sampled another type of berry. This island does not have any poison weeds or berries, that's nice to know. Our hike was fun, we were high enough @ one point to have a view of a small river & a distant view of superior. There are many species of trees & plants. We saw a moose print in the mud.
We kayaked home & had a leisurely cocktail hour on the bow, where the sun was. Had a great dinner of lamb chops & sweet potato. After dinner we watched the full moon rise, mosquitoes were pretty bad, Doug got his net out, it worked great. Played Rummikube, Doug won.
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| covered by thimbleberry bushes |
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| ripening thimbleberries |
Hiked 6.5 miles to another lookout area. Forest was beautiful. We kayaked 2 miles. Total hike & kayak @ Windigo was 11.5 miles hiked & 6 miles kayaked.
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| ripe thimbleberries-yum |
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| Mama with her leg out to baby |
Weds morn 44 degrees out but sunny. Pulled anchor @ 7:30, headed to a different spot on Isle Royale. Cruised 4 hours along the northwest shoreline.
We entered Mc Cargo cove, a bit tricky. We are by ourselves except for mom dad & baby loons. Hiked 2.5 miles to mining pits. Total of 14 miles in 3 days. There are a lot of hiking trails from this spot.
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| Minong mine pit |
Thursday, we started out by dinghy, we hoped to go to Lane Cove & Belle Isle but it was too rough on Superior plus the fog was moving in. We explored the channel & Birch island & lake. A loon came very close & then began to sing/laugh/cry. Not sure which. Later we were entertained by 4 loons hanging out together, Doug thought it was boys night out. We were out a couple of hours. It is cool and over cast. The rest of the day & evening we stayed in the boat.
Fri. Still cool & overcast. Actually used our indoor shower. We are running the generator 2.5 hours in morn & 2.5 hours in evening. Doug has resorted to sleeping in pj's. & me too. We hiked 6.5 miles today around Chickenbone Lake. Watched movie, Moby Dick with William Hurt, weird movie.
Sat. See some blue sky today & even a little sun. 57 degrees. We kayaked the channel & Birch lake. 4 miles. No moose but Doug saw 3 huge dark fish along the bottom in about 4-5 feet water. About 4 feet long. Prob pike or sturgeon & no he didn't have his fishing pole with him. He has casted some from the boat using a lure. Watched Tinker, Taylor Soldier, Spy movie. British spy movie, took lots of concentration.
Sunday, rained all nite & is still raining @ noon. 50 degrees. We feel very lucky to be warm & comfortable in our super boat. We have things to do & plenty to eat. Today definitely called for grilled cheese & tomato soup for lunch. It did stop raining mid afternoon so we put the kayak & dinghy away in prep for moving tomorrow. Just at sunset, the skies cleared & we had a beautiful pink sky. The stars came out & it was sooo calm. Doug thinks this is the most protected calm anchorage we have ever been in. Every day we were visited by Mom & Dad & baby loon. We heard the song of the loon echoing up & down the channel even through the night. Spoke by Sat phone (Garry gave it to us, so we could communicate & hook back up), Mille, Garry's Mom had quite a substantial stroke with her right side & speech affected. She is now stable & currently in the hospital rehab for intensive therapy. Garry & Jacque were able to take care of details & feel good about where she is. They arrived back to Grand Marais today & plan on heading to Isle Royale in the AM.
Monday morning, pulled up anchor @ 7:30, 42 degrees air, brrr. Sun & clear blue skies & calm waters. We will meet up with Waterford back in Washington Harbor, Windigo dock area @ the Beaver Island anchorage, where we started out last week. We have been conserving water in order to see if we will be able to make it through the North & East shore for possibly 25 days. We are averaging 13-15 gallons of use per day. We hold 300 gallons. Hopefully as it warms up, we will be able to use the lake water for bathing some, use more paper products, so less dish washing & we will buy some 5 gallon water jugs for drinking. That should do it. We have been @ anchor 8 nights so far. We will anchor 2 more nights, then head to Thunder Bay, Ontario for water, supplies & do laundry.
We pulled up to the fuel dock for a pump out, even thou we called ahead, no one was there to meet us. We did a great job of docking ourselves. We anchored back behind Beaver Island (still haven't seen a beaver here).. We are by ourselves till Waterford gets here this afternoon. The sun is heavenly. We layed up on the bridge & read. Waterford arrived, got their dinghy down, came over & picked us up & we went to the Rancher Station so they could register. $4.00/day/person. Some campers had spotted a moose in the stream.
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| Hopefully, not the only Moose we see |
Tuesday, we kayaked 6 miles to the wreck of the America ship that ran from Duluth to Isle Royale to Thunder Bay in the early 1900's. More about that when I have a good connection. Got to 60 today.
Hiked 4 miles (total 24 miles @ Isle Royale) (15 miles kayaked total) along the shore, into the forest & to a lookout of a small pond & long stream, we were hoping to see a moose in the stream, but to no avail. We did find some ripe thimbleberries, so Garry & Jacque were able to sample the real thing. I'm sure they were tired of me raving about them. We each found a handful of ripe ones, there is a ton to ripen yet. Someone spotted a moose with twin calves last evening, not far from our boats, but we didn't see them-Drat!
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| Just missed seeing the Mama Moose & twins |
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| Isle Royale |
Wednesday, we pulled up anchor & headed to Thunder Bay to reprovision, do laundry and get ready to be out for possibly 25 days without wifi, marina or civilization. So if you don't see an updated blog, not to worry. Please don't give up on us, I will catch up when we hit the Soo Locks & civilization.
Love & miss you! Doug & Jan
We put our kayak together on the nice big wide dock. The dock is where a couple of ferries come in at different times. There is the ranger station, bathrooms, pay showers, laundry & a small store. A fuel with pump-out dock is also nearby. There is a camp area w/ lean to's close & quite a few trails that leave from here. There is not much room on the big dock for transient boats. 
Rained during the nite. Slept in. Had big breakfast, showered & kayaked over 2 dock & hiked for 5 miles. Saw a loon right near shore, big & beautiful. There is a nesting loon nearby. Saw a scrawny fox, squirrels, butterflies, one turning into a butterfly. Doug saw an otter yesterday. The thimbleberries are getting closer, the flower petals have fallen off & I saw some starting a pink tinge. We sampled another type of berry. This island does not have any poison weeds or berries, that's nice to know. Our hike was fun, we were high enough @ one point to have a view of a small river & a distant view of superior. There are many species of trees & plants. We saw a moose print in the mud. 
We entered Mc Cargo cove, a bit tricky. We are by ourselves except for mom dad & baby loons. Hiked 2.5 miles to mining pits. Total of 14 miles in 3 days. There are a lot of hiking trails from this spot. 
Monday morning, pulled up anchor @ 7:30, 42 degrees air, brrr. Sun & clear blue skies & calm waters. We will meet up with Waterford back in Washington Harbor, Windigo dock area @ the Beaver Island anchorage, where we started out last week. We have been conserving water in order to see if we will be able to make it through the North & East shore for possibly 25 days. We are averaging 13-15 gallons of use per day. We hold 300 gallons. Hopefully as it warms up, we will be able to use the lake water for bathing some, use more paper products, so less dish washing & we will buy some 5 gallon water jugs for drinking. That should do it. We have been @ anchor 8 nights so far. We will anchor 2 more nights, then head to Thunder Bay, Ontario for water, supplies & do laundry. 
Tuesday, we kayaked 6 miles to the wreck of the America ship that ran from Duluth to Isle Royale to Thunder Bay in the early 1900's. More about that when I have a good connection. Got to 60 today.
