Today we arrived for our long-awaited visit to Isle Royale. We entered the area of island from the southwest end, headed for Washington Harbor, marked by the Rock of Ages Light.
This roadless land of unspoiled forests, refreshing inland lakes and rugged, scenic shores is accessible only by boat or seaplane. In the picture you can see a seaplane at the dock, which is moored at Barnum Island. This island is one of the few with life-lease private cottages, left over from the days when Isle Royale was a vacation getaway for people from Duluth and Chicago.
We found a beautiful dock at Windigo Ranger Station, where we tied up for a couple nights.
Windigo, from Ojibwa legend, represents an evil spirit that haunted the natives during long winters of starvation, causing them to look at their relatives as a possible food source! Here, Marty gets into the “spirit.”
The beautiful visitors’ center displays history and artifacts of the area, including the second order Fresnel lens original to the Rock of Ages Light. One evening, we attended an interesting ranger-led discussion about the wolf and moose populations of the island.
The dock was quiet, except for a couple other boats and the Voyager II, the ferry that brings campers from the Minnesota shore.
Walking the island we are struck by its striated layout and elongated rock ridges that parallel its backbone, Greenstone Ridge. The island and its basins were gouged out by glaciers and look like giant clawmarks. And the island is covered by interesting vegetation.
We saw Canadian Dogwood, also known as Bunchberries.
This Coral Root looks like it could be part of the orchid family.
Cow Parsnips are a skin irritant, so we didn’t touch!
We were amazed at how tall the Cow Parsnips grow – over seven feet.
The path was crossed by several streams, flowing into Washington Harbor.
Skunk Cabbage grew along the creek.
Fireweed was also prolific.
We hiked almost two miles straight up, to the top of a ridge where we viewed the Grace River…..
……..and the swale formed in the valley below.
This is Red and White Baneberry. The white variety is also known as “dolls eyes” as it has black dots on its white orbs.
These moss spires are connected underground.
The Shinleaf is reminiscent of Lily of the Valley.
After a couple nights at Windigo, we made our way east, toward Siskiwit Bay. On the way out, this seaplane landed right off our stern. This looks like the way to travel.
The day’s predictions were for 3-foot waves, but once on the big lake, we were in 7- footers! Fortunately we were going with the waves for most of the trip. We got safely into Siskiwit Bay and anchored for the night further inside, in Hay Bay. This area is billed as “likely to see moose,” but while there, we didn’t. We did see a pair of bald eagles, always a treat.
And we were treated to this rainbow, which appeared as an afternoon shower had passed.
Next up is Caribou Island. We found the entrance just off the Middle Island Passage Light.
This dock was just the right size for us. It is adjacent to the Caribou campsite, which has two shelters and two outhouses. These were occupied by canoers and kayakers, who put their sleeping bags on the shelter floor. A fire-ring and picnic tables were dockside, and we shared the campers’ fire that evening. We were interested to hear their Isle Royale tales, as they were repeat visitors.
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