24 August, Monday We’re up at 6 am. Although we again slept well, we were awakened by the flapping of the tarp in the 35 mph gusts. We’ve gone from using air conditioning in the car to getting warm jackets down from the skybox over the course of just two days. We have our breakfast – today the coffee cools off too quickly – then head back to Grand Marais after packing everything
23 August, Sunday It’s a bit disconcerting, after 5 nights on a 24 inch wide air mattress in a small tent, to end up sleeping in a king-sized bed. Nonetheless, we both sleep very well. I spend much of the morning catching up my blog. I still cannot upload photos. Next stop: Grand Marais again to do laundry and replenish supplies. We stop at the NFS office to inquire about camping nearby instead
21-22 August 2015 Too exhausted to journal on Friday! We were the last to leave Desor on Friday morning, departing around 9 am. The three people catching the 5 pm plane from Windigo left before anyoneelse was up. The father and son, camped next to us, left around 8. Twogroups of young people camped together at site 2 left about 15 minutes beforewe did. Most people travel faster than we do so we guessed
20 August 2015, Thursday We wake at 6 am after a solid 10 hr of sleep. Inside the tent we aresurprisingly dry – outside everything is still sodden. We eatbreakfast and pack up our rain-heavy tent and tarp. Today’s hike isdescribed as shorter, but the most difficult day. The tripdescription says even seasoned hikers should plan on 4-6 hours tocomplete the approximately 5 mile trek. Our walk is made even more difficult because
19 August 2015 Wednesday There are some wet spots on my journal, not tears, but rain. The rain didarrive in torrents during the night. Miraculously there was only alittle condensation at our feet in our Big Agnes Copper Spur II. Iwiped it up and pulled the sleeping system away from the foot of the tent. Ofcourse, the hard part of camping in the rain is packing everything upwet. We had yet another
18 August 2015 Tuesday We had a wonderful night’s sleep punctuated by owl calls and fox barks. We areup at 6 am. Loons call. O is visited by a fox while I am packing upthe tent. By 8 am we are on the trail. It is a pleasant day, sunnyand warm, but not too warm. There is supposed to be “weather”arriving this evening. The trail passes through pleasant woods, uponto the Minong
17 August 2015 Monday We are both awake about 3:30 am repacking in our heads. We give up on moresleep at 5:30. Time to head for the ferry. O’s pack is 16 kiloswithout water and mine is about 12.4, although it is not completelypacked yet. The crowd at the marina is cheery. For most of us it isour first trip to Isle Royale. The two man crew jokes as they loadthe packs.
16 August 2015, Sunday Here we sit at the Grand Portage laundromat, which happens to be right next to the Sheriff’s office. Can’t trust those grungy campers! Camp was quieter last night, but the weather remained humid. Everything felt wet. We were waiting for the cold front. At 5:45 local time O wokeme. He had been watching lightning flashes, but now he heardthunder. We decided to pack up before everything became even moredamp. We were
15 August 2015 – Saturday Weekends in national forest campgrounds near tourist areas sure are loud! We thought the party a few sites down would be a problem, but they quieted down. The campers next to us however, who started off quiet and civil, got louder and louder as they got more drunk and offered valium to each other. No peace until 3 am. We wake at about 7:15. Camp is quiet and cool, but still very
14 August 2015 Still on eastern time, we wake at 6:15. It is just getting light. Today I bakemy first “from scratch” cake on the road. It comes out perfect.We plan to hike up Carlton Peak today at the suggestion of theranger. We start off with about 2L of water each and some trailsnacks. We arrive at the parking area for Temperance River State Park. The joke is that when the river was