19 August 2015 Wednesday

There are some wet spots on my journal, not tears, but rain. The rain did
arrive in torrents during the night. Miraculously there was only a
little condensation at our feet in our Big Agnes Copper Spur II. I
wiped it up and pulled the sleeping system away from the foot of the tent. Of
course, the hard part of camping in the rain is packing everything up
wet.  We had yet another shower while eating breakfast, but no rain as
we rolled up our sodden tent and tarp.  Poor O, all that moisture
more than compensates for the lighter food barrel.

We are a bit slower getting out of camp today, leaving by 9. The other two
parties leave around the same time. There is a dad and his son, about
twelve years old, I would guess. There is a group of three, a Dad and his daughter
who just graduated college and a family friend. Today’s walk is up
and down ridges, through balsam scented woods overlooking beaver
ponds.  O and I see one beaver. The dad and son saw 2 moose, exciting
for them because the boy had never seen a moose before. The weather
appears to be improving. Halfway along we remove our rain jackets –
the rain pants stay on since everything is so wet. Parts of the trail
remind us of the portage into Fish Pond back in the Adirondacks, rock-hopping, deep mud and
slippery logs. We survive the obstacles with only mildly damp boots
and arrive at Little Todd Harbor about 1:30. The other two groups
arrived before us.

O and I get to work setting up the tarp and tent. I have to mop up the inside
of the tent before setting up the sleep system. There is no shelter
at Little Todd so we offer the others the use of our tarp if they
need to cook. They are becoming very jealous of our tarp. The boy
wisely asks how much it weighs. He is learning well. Turns out his
dad used to lead 30 day wilderness expeditions.

We go down to the shore of Superior to get water. In our trip description
the author writes, “The campsites at Little Todd Harbor are close to
shore and you can fall asleep to the gentle lapping of the waves.”
We can barely get close enough to fill our water bucket one cupful at
a time without getting swept away by the crashing surf!  Our boots
are no longer slightly damp.

All of a sudden the rain returns with a vengeance. We have a steady heavy
downpour for at least the next two hours. We learn later that we had
3 inches of rain. Some of our neighbors take refuge under our tarp.
They finally give up altogether and retire to their tents. Their only
rain gear is a light jacket and two ponchos that appear to be
repurposed trash bags.

O and I remain under the tarp watching the storm. After awhile we realize the
drumming on the tarp has lessened. The noise now is from water falling
from the trees in the wind coming off Superior. We stay out awhile
longer hoping for our rain suits to dry a bit. The barometer has
bottomed out at 996 mbar.