Isle Royale: Tuesday 7/6

General:

Up at 6 am. Breakfast at the Super 8 by 6.30 and away at 7.15. Delivered kayaks to the Ranger III for loading. Waited around for about 30 minutes before we boarded. 5.5 hour ride to Mott Island which is the park service headquarters just about 30 minutes shy of the Ranger III's final destination of Snug Harbor. Here Don & Dan disembarked with the kayaks in order to paddle to Daisy Farm (about 3 miles) to secure a shelter early. Sean and Steve continued on to Snug Harbor (aka Rock Harbor) to deliver two Duluth packs with goods we wanted delivered Wednesday to Chippewa Harbor at 2.30. Sean & Steve then would hike from Rock Harbor to Daisy Farm (about 6 miles). Once Sean & Steve arrived, we quickly ate our first of 3 freeze dried dinners (Beef Stroganoff), had a devotion shared by Steve (Psalm 100), prayed together, then headed to bed.





Dan:
Don and I had a good time paddling in from Mott to Daisy. There was only a light wind, but the water at the Middle Passage between the barrier islands was quite confused and pretty interesting for a first paddle. We arrived at Daisy and had our pick of many empty shelters. We chose one that had a good water overlook and drew the kayaks up right below the shelter. We then headed out for a paddle to the Rock Island Lighthouse & the Edisen Fishery site. The lighthouse was very cool. Well appointed with museum quality displays about the 12 documented shipwrecks in the Isle Royale waters. We were able to walk up the spiral stairs to the top of the lighthouse. Very cool inside. We hung out on the rocks overlooking the Middle Passage quite a while. By the time we headed back, the wind was coming up pretty good, and waves kicked up on the bay were splashing pretty liberally over the bows.
Steve:

Don:

Sean: