Great Lakes - Day 9 - Sunday

When I originally planned this trip, the boat from Grand Portage(central time) to Windigo on Isle Royale (eastern time) was supposed to leave at 7:30 AM central time.  Somewhere between the planning and today, they changed the time to 8:30 central and I didn’t know so we were up an hour before we needed to be.  We pulled in to the marina at 7:00 and ended up waiting around over an hour, eating scones I baked last night and killing time.  It was cool and cloudy enough for jeans and sweatshirts this morning and there was a chance of thunderstorms around mid-day in Grand Portage.  The 90 minute boat ride to Isle Royale was chilly and somewhere around the hour mark, the two foot waves were giving a pretty good spray to the back of the boat where we were sitting.  Luke went inside the cabin from the beginning but Scott, Lorelei and I were toughing this out.  We made one stop on the way out to see a 500 year old Witch Cedar tree growing out of the rocks.  It’s on tribal land and you can only see it from the land if you have a guide.   It grew right alongside the water so we were able to stop and take pictures.  The Ojibwe (Chippewa) would put tobacco at the bottom of the tree for safe passage across the lake. 

We arrived in Windigo around 10:00 AM CDT and stopped in to the visitor center to check out the programs and make a plan for our day.  We settled on a ranger walk to hear more about the island’s animals and plants.  Apparently there are over 1300 moose and only 2 wolves on the island.  When I heard moose, I immediately got excited.  We have been to almost all of the parks that have moose populations and they have remained elusive.  After our nature walk, we headed down the path near the dock to hit the area by the closest campground, which is where they have seen them lately.  We saw and eastern garter snake in the woods and plenty of flowers and butterflies.  We ate lunch at a picnic table by a campsite, quietly talking and killing mosquitos in between our eating.  We were near a shallow section of water and we kept a lookout but never saw one. 

This park is really a wilderness park.  Many people come to the park and backpack the trails.  That is a better way to see the park than the four hours of scratching the surface that we did and I hope to make it back here to experience that at some point in the future.  It reminded me a lot of Dry Tortugas in the isolation one must feel when the boat pulls away and you are still on the island.  This park is also the only park in the parks service that is not open year round.  It’s cold in the middle of Lake Superior in the winter time you know. 

After lunch and no moose, we headed back to the dock and the visitor center so that Lorelei could finish her junior ranger books (Isle Royale and Great Lakes) and get her badges and then we headed to another historical ranger program on how the island was used and how it became a park.  Once that was over, it was time to load the boat for the mainland and our next stop.  The afternoon had become clear and sunny on the island and we were looking forward to a warmer sunny ride back across the lake.  It was not meant to be. After stopping at the Rock of Ages Lighthouse to take pictures, we hit a storm with lightning and heavy rains.  Luke was already inside the cabin but Scott, Lorelei and I stood at the overhang in the back enjoying the show.  We stepped back onto land around 3:30 and drove the five minutes over to Grand Portage National Monument. 

Grand Portage was originally a trading area for tribes and explorers of the Great Lakes.  The fur trade was big here in the 1700’s as there was access to the rivers that led both east and west into Canada.  We explored the fort and heritage center and completed junior ranger just before they closed at 5:00.

Another 5 minutes and we were back in the same campground as the night before and settling in for some much needed dinner and relaxation.  The skies were again clear and the temps were cool and enjoyable.  We filled our bellies and had all kinds of conversation.  Tomorrow we head further to the northwest and Voyageurs National Park.