CANOE TRIP REPORT. August 2022. (Part 3 of 3)

TRIP REPORT (PART # 3 of 3). This was an Isle Royale canoe trip with my former college roommate (Joel). It was his 2nd trip to Isle Royale. My 18th trip. It was the first Isle Royale canoe trip for both of us. Part # 2 of the trip report ended with us preparing to depart from Daisy Farm on the morning of August 19th. THE PLAN was for us to paddle to Tookers Island and spend the night there and paddle the short distance to Rock Harbor the morning of August 20th and depart August 21st on the Voyager. Overall, the weather and skies were fine when we departed Daisy Farm on the morning of August 19th--but later, banks of fog rolled in (and rolled out)-- some of the fog was very thick.

When we got in the general area of Three Mile Campground and "Suzy's Cave--the fog was particularly thick. One moment, we could see across the waters of Rock Harbor and look at Tookers Island. The next minute, the fog was too thick to see the Tookers Island. We pulled over onto shore to assess our situation and double check our maps and GPS. (We were on the Rock Harbor Trail side of the harbor--and Tookers Island was across the harbor. In the moments when the view was clear, we could see that NPS boats and private vessels were going up and down the harbor ... some at a good rate of speed and creating fairly good sized wakes. (Other times, we could only hear the boats--but not see them -- due to the fog).
We ultimately decided that the fog, boats, and wakes created somewhat unsafe conditions to cross the harbor. If we couldn't see "big" boats and an entire island in the fog--how could boats see a small, low-riding, canoe (and avoid a collision)? Thus, we decided to press on to Rock Harbor (sticking near the Rock Harbor Trail side of the harbor--out of the lane of water traffic). Visibility continued to ebb back and forth between "O.K." and poor as we paddled toward Rock Harbor. One moment, you could identify Rock Harbor and even some of the boats docked there (like the Queen IV) off in the distance. The next moment, all of Rock Harbor could not be seen. (We even pulled out the GPS a couple of times to tell us our location in the thick fog).

We finally landed safe and secure in Rock Harbor. We asked the ranger at the Welcome Center--if--in light of the fog keeping us from getting to Tookers Island, wild fires blocking part of the Tobin Harbor Trail, and the algae blooms impacting our earlier inland routes--could we perhaps stay TWO nights at Rock Harbor (instead of the posted one-night stay limit at Rock Harbor)--now that we were finally there and safely out of the fog. (The answer was a firm "No". Thus, our choices were to paddle, or hike, to Three Mile (via the Rock Harbor Trail) or portage and paddle to some of the watercraft campgrounds in Tobin Harbor or in Duncan Bay. We decided to ponder our decision over some burgers at the Greenstone Grill.

We had met a nice family during our journey. We ran into them again at Rock Harbor. They heard of our "plight. They said they were leaving Rock Harbor late the next day. They said when we returned to Rock Harbor the next day, we could meet up with them and take over "their" shelter after they left. In the meantime, they also agreed to let us keep some of our gear in their shelter to lighten our load as we portaged over the hill to Duncan Bay. (THANK YOU!)

We portaged from Rock Harbor over to the seaplane dock on Tobin Harbor. We paddled across Tobin Harbor and portaged over the hill to Duncan Bay. We paddled to the Duncan Bay campground and secured one of the two shelters. The other shelter had fishermen who returned later in the evening and offered us some of the fresh trout that they had just caught and were cooking up. (Thanks!). We spent a wonderful and peaceful afternoon, night, and part of the next morning, in the solitude of Duncan Bay. Other than the "often absent" fishermen, we were all alone at Duncan Bay Campground. In mid-morning, we reversed the previous day's canoe and portage route back to Rock Harbor. We met up with our new found friends. When they left their shelter, we placed our tag on it.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Rock Harbor. We hiked out to Scoville Point and back. We had a pizza at the Greenstone Grill. We sorted and packed our gear for the trip home.

The morning of August 21st, we boarded the Voyager II (with our gear and canoe). We spent the day sailing down the southern shore of Isle Royale to Windigo and then back across Lake Superior to Grand Portage. (An electronic device had been left plugged in inside of our vehicle and the vehicle battery was drained during our week on the Island--so we had to jump start the car before departing Grand Portage). For what it is worth, this was the only trip where I never saw any moose. I heard them--but never saw them. I spent the night of August 21st at the home of my former college roommate and Isle Royale canoe partner...and drove home to West Central Illinois on August 22nd.