Windigo Dock, A Wedding, and a Ninja Warrior

I share this photo (from time-to-time) because it makes me smile.

I am a hiker and pastor. I officiated at a wedding on the Windigo dock in August 2018. I met the groom in 2010 and the bride in 2013. The bride and groom (Chad and Jenn) met on the Windigo dock (Isle Royale) in 2011. The groom proposed on the Windigo dock in 2013. They were married on the Windigo dock in 2018. I snapped this photo as they posed for pictures after the ceremony.

There is a much longer version of this story--which involves how the Island intertwines with the lives of several of us who met on the Island in August 2010. Here is the "shorter" part, that involves Chad:

In 2010, I met Chad (and a friend of his) on the boat from Grand Portage to Isle Royale. Due to site over crowding, I shared a campsite with them at Feldtmann Lake. A young woman (NOT JENN) shared the site with us also due to overcrowding that night at Feldtmann Lake. We all took a side hike together that night to Rainbow Cove and enjoyed the sunset and watched the full moon come up behind us. We hiked back to Feldtmann Lake by moonlight--intentionally not using our headlamps.

In 2011, I ran into Chad, his same hiking partner, and a couple of their friends on the Greenstone Ridge. We ending up taking a break together for a short while. At the end of Chad's trip (with me nowhere around), Chad met Jenn on the Windigo dock. They talked on the boat ride back to Grand Portage and started dating.

In 2013, I traveled to Windigo for a just a few hour day trip with my visually impaired daughter. On the boat ride back, we encountered Chad and Jenn (and his hiking partner/friend was with him again also). Chad had just proposed to Jenn on the Windiigo dock moments before. So, I was one of the first to congratulate them and see the ring.

Winter 2017-2018, Chad contacted me via Facebook and invited me to officiate at their wedding on the Windigo dock in August 2018. Between us, we got all of the right permits, permissions, and licenses from the NPS and the folks in Keweenaw County, Michigan--and the wedding happened on the Windigo dock.

As a side note, Jenn's sister (and Maid of Honor) has been a competitor on "American Ninja Warrior".

So, I am guessing that not many of you have officiated at a wedding on Isle Royale--with an American Ninja Warrior in attendance.