Isle Royale Journal July 2018

By Len Bierlein

Monday, July 9, 2018

My friend and I are on the Voyageur II, heading around Isle Royale. Trip up went well, about 5 hours to Grand Marais. My friend does not like his name used so from here on it he will be Canoeing Partner (CP). We stopped for a late lunch. I had a sandwich and CP got smoked fish from the Angry Trout. We then headed over to the Voyageur Brewery; CP had a flight, I had some of their Hazy IPA ale. Great beer, then we headed to the Hungry Hippie Hostel, our first Hostel. Not really a good night’s sleep, got up at 5 a.m. to head to Grand Portage, loaded and left around 7:30. Beautiful day, landed at Windigo, had our orientation, got our permit and then headed to McCargo Cove and should be arriving around 1:00 pm before heading on in to Chickenbone Lake. So far could not be a better start, Boat ride is smooth and the weather is beautiful, along with the scenery….

Chickenbone Lake

Tuesday, July 10

I may have jinxed us with the positive start. Got to McCargo Bay, unloaded and then part of the newspaper went into the water and I had to wade out into Lake Superior to get it. Needless to say it was cold. Then the ranger gave us directions for the portage. I thought I understood but was lost for an hour not finding it. Eventually CP did find it. It was 1.2 miles long. I did the canoe and what now was an even heavier pack. We started canoeing and found that we were taking on water. Not sure if I created the problem or if something happened loading and unloading the canoe. Probably was me. We had trouble finding the campsite but did find it and unloaded. We were hungry and had some sausage for supper. Then CP discovered he had not brought his tent so we were back to the “honeymoon suite” in my tent. Getting in CP snapped a tent pole, altogether a challenging start. CP patched the canoe with duct tape which held for the rest of the trip. Had a great night’s sleep being tired and having some whiskey helped. Great breakfast of pancakes and bacon, feeling almost human again, on to the next adventure.

Wednesday, July 11

Well the misadventures continued from last night. Today we broke camp and headed to Lake Ritchie. Portaged to Livermore (.2 miles), then Lesage (.4 miles), then Ritchie (.6 miles) all with the canoe on my shoulders. I figure I went about 7.2 miles with the 3 trips I took, needless to say I was a bit tired. We ended the day at a canoe only site, an island, big, and with a nice breeze. I think we will be happy here. I caught a nice 21inch walleye and a big perch. CP caught another nice walleye but not quite as big as mine. When I turned to take a picture, I caught a snag and my rod went into the water. We tried to get; CP was dragging a lure and I went swimming for the third time today. While I was in the water, standing on a rock holding the canoe, he caught a nice northern 2 feet from me. But, no luck getting the rod back, there is a price for stupidity. CP and I disagreed about the timing of supper so I made mac and cheese early, I was a hungry guy! After fishing we headed to bed.

Thursday, July 12

Rained hard last night, no problem in the tent, gradually cleared up, a bit cloudy with a good breeze, keeps the bugs away. Almost 2:00 pm and CP and I have each caught 2 northerns. Will have one for supper tonight. We both did some laundry. We were fishing from the shore and I actually saw one hit my lure. I am using the lures I got from the Fritzes at my retirement. Red one did the job.

Portage

Friday, July 13

Well the portages are pretty much done. Did a .6 mile portage from Richie into Intermediate and a .4 mile portage into Siskiwitt. First one was nasty, lots of trees down. One was fairly new, a big one with a huge fork, lots of fun to get over with the canoe on my back. I slipped down once at the very end on a rock at an angle. Both I and the canoe were fine. Second portage was much easier. We had a couple mile paddle to Wood Lake, have a site right on the water. We will maybe spend 3 nights here and one in Malone Bay and then home. I’ll be ready to go back to civilization. Did not get a good night’s sleep last night so I am a tired boy. Fairly warm and windy today. My hands and eyes always take a beating on these trips. Finding the campground was not easy but we found the privy so life is good. CP doesn’t seem like he would ever come back here. To me maybe to stay at cabin in Rock Harbor and do some day hiking. If I were going to canoe again, I would start at Malone Bay, head to Wood Lake then Lake Ritchie and then return.

Saturday, July 14

Mac and cheese for dinner last night, nice breeze and a good night’s sleep. I got up around 7:30 and on my second cast from shore caught a nice Northern. CP poached it for breakfast, tasted great and was a good start to the day. Another beautiful warm day with a high blue sky. No luck fishing, we were out about six hours but no luck. Structure looked good but we couldn’t find the fish. We did paddle out to Ryan’s Island, the biggest island in the biggest lake in the biggest island in the biggest freshwater lake in the world. Tried for Lake trout on the way back to our campsite but no luck. We ended up staying in camp after supper. I stayed up later than CP, temperature drop and the breeze meant no mosquitos and I enjoyed it!

Ryan’s Isand

Sunday, July 15

Last night we had fellow campers, a geologist and his wife from Ann Arbor. He had actually worked at gold mines in Canada. CP shared some Scotch with him, fun to talk to someone else. Nice evening but no fishing, just stayed in camp. Not a good start fishing today, windier and we just couldn’t find them. Fishing blind is always a challenge, and rarely do we get skunked but the fish won today. I walked the portage to Whittlesey, nice portage seems well maintained. Not sure what the rest of the day will bring, had peanut butter and jelly for lunch, probably another swim. Tomorrow we head to Malone Bay, then head back to civilization and see the family…..

Shelter at Malone Bay

Monday, July 16

Well we made it to Malone Bay in a little over an hour paddle into the wind from Wood Lake. This site has shelters, very nice and we will have some room to spread out. Made the short portage to our pickup site so we didn’t have to worry about paddling on Lake Superior. Put on some clean clothes and sat on the beach with my feet in the water. This has been a challenging trip much like when we tackled Quetico. We worked hard, had some beautiful camp sites, more adventures than misadventures and stayed friends, what more can you ask for? Pickup tomorrow is at 10 am. Arrival at Grand Portage at 3 pm. And, hoping to get home around 10:00 pm. We enjoyed talking with Kat and Kate yesterday. Kat is a high school science and special education at Carleton, Kate a children’s book writer whose latest is Who’s cooks for you. Plan to buy it as a souvenir for Sloane.

Tuesday, July 17

Nice sleeping in the shelter last night, lots of room and no bugs. We made the ferry on time, had a quick stop at Windigo Bay we had a smooth ride back to Grand Portage. Stopped for food at Grand Marais then headed home. CP dropped me off around 10:00. It’s nice to be home again.

Data: Total portages 4.0 miles, walked on the portages a little over 20 miles. No wonder we were tired at times!