God Is Great, Beer Is Good, and People Are Crazy

Isle Royale Backpack Trip – 9/2/10 - From Michigan to Wisconsin via Minnesota 

Cathy and I woke up at almost 7:00 a.m. to the sound of Mike creeping into the shelter to retrieve his food and cooking utensils. Great temps for snuggling down in the sleeping bag and we had all morning to get ourselves together.

After breakfast and packing up we walked up to the Visitor Center to kill time while waiting for the ferry, which was not due in until noon. I only wanted to do the walk once. I carried my loaded pack while wearing my yellow Crocs, a very stylish look. I thought my Crocs might get noticed, but as usual my Liberty hat drew all the attention.

At the camp store we scored pieces of apple pie (Jeff and I ate ours right away), then sat in the VC writing up notes about the trip and browsing through books and posters. Another camper came in to report a wolf sighting right outside her tent in the Washington Creek group camping area. The wolf population, currently around 25, is carefully monitored and any sighting is a very big deal.

Under the shelter by the docks an Isle Royale ranger conducted a program on the Park's moose population and winter ticks. His presentation was excellent for such a non-sexy subject and included audience participation where we drew “blood” from a jar with an eyedropper (water with red food coloring). I hope I don’t come back in my next life as a moose.

At last the ferry was ready to go and we waved goodbye to our unique adventures on Isle Royale, a place I will likely never see again because there are so many more awesome national parks yet to experience. The ride back was not as choppy and I snoozed a little down in the enclosed cabin.

Back at our vehicles, we got gas and began the long drive back down the Minnesota North Shore on Highway 61 to our ultimate destination, Little Sand Bay Campground near the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin. Mike was driving and I was riding shotgun again, listening to one of Neil’s CD mixes like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates…you never knew what you would hear next. Mike skipped tunes he didn’t like, such as “Who Let The Dogs Out?” and we loved “People Are Crazy.”

The drive was frustrating for me as we seemed to chase the other car from place to place. We stopped at Betty’s Pies (Minnesotans do love their pies) and then got separated looking for a restaurant in Duluth. Communication was breaking down because we were all tired and decisions were being made by a few and not getting passed on to everyone else. It didn’t help that cell reception was spotty. At Grandma’s Restaurant in Duluth we had a good meal and tried to regroup. By then it was dark and we had a couple of hours more to drive and a campground to find. The short version of the rest of the day is that I had a meltdown at the lack of communication (which I was also at fault in). I talked with Cathy and Kim later that night and set things right, because I know they are not doing anything intentionally, but they assume that Mike is always going his own way and do not realize that I did not want to be lumped into that mentality – just because I’m riding with him doesn’t mean I want to be left behind - a lesson for the future. Why am I writing this here? (1) so I remember this when I contemplate another trip and communicate more clearly, writing things down if necessary, and (2) to warn others that I can sometimes be the problem child in the group (to which Mike and Jeff can attest).

This day of traveling ended with setting up my tent very late, bedding down at 11:30 p.m., knowing that we had to be at the kayak outfitter’s place by 8:00 a.m. Are we on central or Eastern time? And is it raining again?

Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown

More On The North Shore

Isle Royale NP & Apostle Islands Trip - North Shore Minnesota – Day 2 – 8/29/10

No sleepin’ once the sun is shining. We ate a quick breakfast, packed up wet tents and set out on our Sunday explorations. We figured if we went a hundred miles an hour we would fit in everything that Cathy suggested for the day. First stop: Tettegouche State Park. FYI, all state parks in Minnesota have an entrance fee but you pay just one time per day. Good luck seeing how many you can tag in 24 hours.

Anyhoo, our first focus was on Shovel Point, a teaser from yesterday’s walk on Palisade Head. The unnamed short scenic trail took us past several awesome overlooks. As on most hikes, it takes a while for it to sink in that if you think the first view is great, just wait till the second and third and tenth views.

BTW, I am known for my camera troubles – well, the last time I lost a camera I replaced it with the latest version of my others, a Nikon Coolpix S3000. I was very disappointed with the picture quality and felt that only a little bit of the poor performance was due to operator error. So…before this big trip I invested in a Canon PowerShot SD1300. Operator error is still a factor, but I am much happier with the quality of photos, especially the macro shots. Tell me what you think.

Cathy chose a second route in Tettegouche SP featuring waterfalls along the Baptism River. First we checked out Two Step Falls.

Rose hips












Coneflowers

We climbed up to High Falls, a spectacular gusher. Neil removed his boots and splashed around, but I learned my lesson yesterday in Lake Superior.

A springy metal bridge crosses at the top of the falls, fun for shaking and swinging.

Although I can’t find a name for our route on the park map, we saw a sign indicating that we were occasionally on the Superior Hiking Trail. A little research back home revealed that this is a 277-mile trail that follows the ridgeline above Lake Superior on the North Shore from Duluth to the Canadian border. There are parking areas spaced easily for day hikes and many backcountry campsites.

Backtracking to our cars, stomachs were growling, so we opted to eat lunch at a picnic table near the parking lot. Someone had the brilliant idea to spread out our wet tents in the sunshine while we ate. Backpackers are very resourceful people, always thinking about how to get chores done.

No, I don't think this looks odd

My lovely fuschia tent

Afternoon adventures commenced at Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte, MN, where we rented bikes for some cruising on the Gitchi-Gami State Trail. I was a little nervous about this – I purchased a bike recently in anticipation of road biking the eastern part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, but my time in the saddle so far is limited. Today we had the opportunity to ride about 24 miles but I wasn’t sure I could stand that. But it was great fun to pedal along on the paved trail, stopping often to see the local sights. We crossed Highway 61 and coasted down to see Father Baraga’s Cross overlooking Lake Superior, a monument to the Slovenian priest who lost his life trying to travel in a small boat across the lake to help an Ojibwe tribe dealing with an epidemic.

Crossing the Temperance River, we saw the awesome hidden watefalls that have carved deep into the rocks as the water makes its inevitable journey to Lake Superior. I don’t think my pictures convey the power of the water.

The rest of the bike route paralleled Highway 61 going out and back to Sawtooth Outfitters, so I turned around early. Everyone else was stronger than me and some things you should quit while you are still enjoying them. I was cautious that for the next three days I had to hoist a backpack and didn’t want my legs to be all trembly.

What’s next on the list? Cathy's meticulous planning even tagged the best places to eat on the North Shore. We had dinner at the Angry Trout Cafe in Grand Marais, a fun-looking little place with absolutely fabulous food. Just hours earlier my lake trout had been happily swimming wild and free. I think it looks very good on my plate.

Our last adventure of the day had to be scratched because of the lateness of the hour (blame it on the wine at dinner) as we made our way to our campground for the night at Judge C.R. Magney State Park. We were a bit panicky as we set up tents because daylight was waning and we all had to prepare backpacks to meet the ferry at 6:45 a.m. for our Isle Royale backpack trip. It was about 25 miles to the ferry dock, so our departure time from camp was 6:00 a.m. – that means the rooster would crow at about 5:00 a.m. Yikes!

How much food? How cold will it be, enough for fleeces? Should we pack a bag with extra clothes and food to leave at the camp store for night #3 back in base camp? Will it rain? Should I put everything in ziplock bags? Can I just eat a cereal bar in the van on the way there in the morning? As I struggled with my own decisions, muttering and thumping and steam emanated from Mike’s van. He eventually emerged, declared himself ready, and we all crawled into our hovels to chase a little sleep.

At about 4:00 a.m. the pitter-patter of rain began.  

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. ~Albert Einstein

The Big Lake They Call Gitche Gumee

Isle Royale NP & Apostle Islands Trip - North Shore Minnesota – Day 1 – 8/28/10 

Members of the Carolina Berg Wanderers, a hiking group in the Charlotte, NC area, are adventurous souls who like to hike, bike, paddle and play both locally and globally. While our backyards of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia have enough outdoor adventures to last a lifetime, occasionally someone gets a wild idea to go farther. I confess I had never heard of Isle Royale National Park before Cathy tossed it out as a destination, but I knew that big fun was likely to ensue, so I signed on literally sight unseen. Over several months we planned different aspects of the trip, with Cathy taking the lead since she was familiar with the area.

And that’s how I found myself in the Minneapolis airport with Cathy, Jeff, Kim and Neil, stuffing duffel bags into a rental van for a two-day drive up the North Shore of Minnesota. First stop: Target for a food supply. We would be camping and backpacking for the next eight days.


En route we stopped in Duluth, MN (cute town!) supposedly for a visit to a local outfitter shop, but the Portland Malt Shoppe ruined us right off the bat. For the rest of the trip when food was scarce, we daydreamed about these malts.

Our first adventure stop was at the Split Rock Lighthouse to meet up with our friend Mike, recently retired and meandering across the country in his customized van (aka “home”). At Mike’s invitation, I jumped ship from the rental’s back seat to his front seat for the next few days.

I expected Split Rock Lighthouse to be a lonely, brooding place, but there was quite a lively park atmosphere on this Saturday afternoon, lots of families and children. We walked on several short paths up high on the cliffs and down to the shore of the much-anticipated Lake Superior. The big Gitche Gumee will be our focus for the rest of our trip. (And "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was in our head for days.)

Southern innocents, we took off our shoes and plunged right in – but this ain’t Myrtle Beach! Our feet were numb within seconds. I had to hold onto Cathy to keep from falling.







Cathy got the scoop on another overlook point a few miles further up the coast, so we headed for Palisade Head, which is part of Tettegouche State Park but not contiguous with the rest of the park. Here are Mike and Neil on the huge rock outcropping of Palisade Head.

View of Shovel Point from Palisade Head. We'll be looking from there back to here tomorrow.

The view looking straight down: a hardy ash tree holding on for dear life

At last we headed towards our first night’s home that Mike had reserved for us at Eckbeck Campground in Finland State Forest. I have a brand new tent from my friend Judy Gross (Heartfire) of LightHeart Gear that uses only my hiking poles and stakes to set up and I was anxious to try it out. I was also anxious to eat supper. In my haste to set up camp, I tripped and fell out of the tent opening, catching myself with my left hand and bending back my left thumb at a very unattractive angle. During dinner I held onto a glass of ice water and watched my thumb swell up impressively.

At the Northern Lights Roadhouse we had an excellent meal. We chatted with the waitress and asked her a question about some of the local sites, to which she replied that she was new here herself, she had just moved from Charlotte, North Carolina. Ha!

A slightly restless first night’s sleep in a new state after a long, long day. And my thumb hurt. (Postscript: when I got back home to Charlotte I had my thumb x-rayed ~ broken.)

Never do anything that you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics. ~Author Unknown