We beat the sun up in the morning but by the time we were ready to go, it was light enough for us to see the view from our hotel room. We were directly on Lake Superior with a bench right on the shore outside of our door. There was a colorful sunrise in the works but we wouldn’t be able to stay and watch it for long. The older I get, the more trouble I have dealing with time deadlines. I knew we had ferry reservations but I wasn’t sure of the exact time because Isle Royale is in the Eastern Time Zone AND Minnesota is in the Central Time Zone AND I get antsy as deadlines approach AND I’m not a morning person AND I wasn’t exactly sure where the ferry dock was in Grand Portage. Do the math. I was overly nervous (turns out for no reason). We made it with plenty of time to spare. We even had time to take a picture of George’s camera sitting alone on the dock while we were boarding.
Since we were getting off at Windigo which is the first stop, our gear was the last to go on. The ferry ride on Voyager II is almost 2 hours. We got a table in the galley and played cards while drinking coffee on the ride out. We saw a few lighthouses in the distance and got what pictures we could. Lake Superior has the highest concentration of lighthouses in the world, but even that didn’t help the Edmond Fitzgerald. Gordon Lightfoot is alive and doing well in MN. We must have seen 20 billboards advertising his concerts on the drive up yesterday.
Isle Royale is the largest island in the largest great lake. Isle Royale National Park is actually made up of several islands. As you get to the park, small islands start popping up and the boat slows as you approach Windigo at the far end of Washington Harbor. As we slowed down, we stopped our card game and went topside to see what we could see.
Included in the ferry fee is the NPS fees based upon the length of your intended stay. Even though our fees have already been collected, we needed to stop in at one of the ranger stations to get our permit and tentative itinerary for our stay on the island. There are 36 campgrounds distributed on the island (all first come first served) and the NPS would like to have a general idea of where you plan to be, but they aren’t sticklers about it because this is one of the least visited national parks because of its remoteness.
Once we arrive on the island, everyone on the boat gets off to get a “leave no trace” discussion by a ranger before proceeding. Considering this was our departure point, we waited while everyone else got their permits before we got ours. This gave us a chance to weigh our packs and discuss our plans. I was hoping to keep George’s pack weight between 30 and 35 pounds—we missed that mark; 45#. Likewise with Pam’s pack weight, 30# max—42#. I’m going to be hearing about this for quite some time. The only thing that kept the belly aching down was that my pack weighed in at 62#.
Overpacking mistake #1: At the Grand Canyon, we were the only ones that didn’t carry alcohol down into the Canyon. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. I wanted to surprise Pam and George with some treats along the way. I had 3 bottles of wine and a bottle of Schnapps in my pack (there’s 10 pounds!) Not actual bottles, but collapsible 750 ml bags. I’m thinking we’re going to be drinking sooner rather than later in the trip.
As luck would have it, the ranger that helped us with our permit had just been transferred from Olympic NP so we talked to her about the Gray Wolf Loop we were going to do in September. She thought this was a great backdoor into Olympic and that we would not be disappointed. Our plan on Isle Royale was to hike the length of the island in the next week to meet our return ferry in Rock Harbor next Sunday—about 50 miles, or roughly 8 miles a day average. Not too aggressive but a challenge for George with this being his first backpacking trip in over 4 decades.
The hike for today was a steady climb from Windigo to Sugar Mountain where we’d gain about 800’ over 5 miles. It didn’t seem too daunting to us since we had just done the Grand Canyon in February, but this proved to be pretty tough for George. Let’s throw in a few more challenges, muddy trails, flies in full frenzy, too heavy of packs, and, in the interest of full disclosure, a little more extra body weight than desired (this is one of the reasons that motivated us to get him out here). We tried going slow. From my Boy Scout days we would put the slowest hiker in front to set the pace for the group. This didn’t work with George. If we put him in front, he was like a blood hound on the scent of a rabbit that would run himself to death. I couldn’t keep up with him because he felt he was holding everyone else up so he’d go all out but then have to stop and rest every few minutes. If we put him behind, he’d drop back out of sight and we had no idea if he was just going slow or had experienced the worst case scenario. We finally settled on Pam out front and me in back with George in the middle. Pam is a slow but steady hiker so her pace was just about right for George.
After we crested Sugar Mountain, there is a side trail to the right that leads to Island Mine Campground. This side trail was a muddy mess that was difficult for all of us. We had a huge downhill and then another slippery uphill before we got to the campsite. Island Mine Campground doesn’t have any shelters so we just picked an open site. There was only one other couple in the campsite and they were already set up and in the tent to get away from the flies. It had taken us almost 6 hours to hike 6.9 miles. George was dragging and Pam’s whine meter was running a little high.
We set up camp as quick as we could and cooked supper. This was the first time I had taken only my BioLite campstove and no backup. The wood in the area was damp, but we managed to get it fired up and going. I didn’t carry the stainless steel pot that BioLite makes for the stove but just had my lightweight aluminum coffee pot. After a bit, George and I developed a routine for keeping the stove fed and going strong. While the men were cooking and getting water, Pam set up our sleep system (inflated the Thermarest neoairs and got our Big Agnes double bag laid out. We boiled a couple pots of water, one for drinks and another pot for the dehydrated meal and cleaning water.
After supper, I suggested some hot chocolate with peppermint Schnapps as a nightcap. George said he didn’t want to drink any alcohol on the trip and Pam said she was too tired and just wanted to go to bed. WTF? I’ve got 3 bottles of wine and a bottle of Schnapps and no one wants a drink. I acquiesced and went to bed without any alcohol. Fortunately, I didn’t need the extra kick to fall asleep. As soon as we got in our tents, it started to rain.
