18 August 2015 Tuesday

We had a wonderful night’s sleep punctuated by owl calls and fox barks. We are
up at 6 am. Loons call. O is visited by a fox while I am packing up
the tent. By 8 am we are on the trail. It is a pleasant day, sunny
and warm, but not too warm. There is supposed to be “weather”
arriving this evening.  The trail passes through pleasant woods, up
onto the Minong Ridge Trail where we have great views of Superior and
Canada, way off in the distance. Then we are back in the woods, birch
alternating with dense hemlock and cedar. We meet a few parties
travelling in the opposite direction.  Two parties pass us going in our direction.

We all meet up at Todd Harbor. We are in campsite #1 with our own pine
needle covered trail down to Superior’s rocky shore.  Just at the
mouth of the harbor there is a clear demarcation between the calm
water of the harbor and the whitecaps out on Superior. We can see
Canada to the north. We can also see impressive splashes where the
wind-whipped water of the lake is crashing onto the rocks of the
islands.

We spend some time at the shore relaxing and soaking our feet. We both feel
pretty good. High clouds are moving in and it is getting cooler.
Camp is comfortably set up, tarp is ready.  We will have another
early supper tonight.

We eat dinner on the shore, watching our harbor and the whitecaps in the
distance. After dinner we take a short walk to a fenced off mine
shaft. The island was once mined for copper. There are high rocks to
sit on near the mine as we watch the lake. Warblers with
gray backs and bright yellow breasts flitter in the trees. A
sandpiper-type bird flits over the lake. We watch the loons.  Two fly
in to join another loon who has been floating for awhile alone, head
tucked under wing. I think it is a young loon, although it has adult
colors. O is sure the young one has a yellow sou’wester hat on. He is
expecting bad weather.