Trip to Isle Royale: Day 3

Day 3 started clear & sunny. I wanted to get up at sunrise to see if I would spot Moose or other wildlife...but with being kept awake by thunder all night, we didn't get up until about 7. We ate breakfast & packed up our backpacks to leave. It took us more time than I expected & we didn't get started hiking until about 9. We hiked from Moskey Basin to Daisy Farm campground. This hike is about 4 miles and heads up to about 750 feet during most of the hike. The temperature headed up to the mid 80's fairly quikly. The trail headed through pines and ferns, but quickly headed into higher country with lots of exposed rock. Again, my lack of being in shape showed itself rather quickly. This leg of the journey felt like a stair climber with a 50 pound load on my back in a steam room. One thing on my mind was that I really wanted to get into Daisy Farm early to make sure we got a shelter. Maybe I was a bit paranoid, but I really didn't want to have to pitch my tent & deal with rain. As a result I probably pushed a little faster than I should have, and when we hauled into Daisy, I was pretty beat. We had planned to eat lunch there, rest, then take a day hike up to Mount Ojibway (I believe one of the highest points on the island). I'm pretty sure Robin would have gone for it, but there was no way I was hiking anywhere. We were checking out the first open shelter we found near the water when Ranger Anna, a full time ranger at Daisy, walked by & stopped to chat. She shared tons of info with us. We ate our lunch then laid down for a nap. After a brief rest, we spent time on the beach, watching a mother Merganser duck with a brood of 16 chicks doing their evening fishing. It's pretty cool...17 ducks in a tight group swimming along...suddenly one after the other arches forward & dives under the surface...in a moment...they're all gone. You wait...& wait...then pop pop pop..up they come all over the place. What a hoot. I laid on the beach & snuck a few winks while Robin headed up the beach for a walk (ugh) and a quiet interlude on a secluded bench. We headed back to the shelter and read to each other for another hour or so then prepared dinner & did cleanup.

I'm ready for bed but, not only is it still light out, but Robin says it's "against the rules to go to bed so early". Anyway, we headed back out to the dock to pass some time. We watched the Mergansers and talked with the owner of a big sail boat that had come into the dock while we were reading. The "No Regrets" from Duluth.

These were very nice folks and we got the feeling that if they were headed back to Rock Harbor they would have been more than willing to give us a lift. Honestly, I would probably have taken him up on it if he'd offered at this point. We headed back to our shelter & went to bed. This night, a neighboring group was pretty noisy. This was a drag & with a full time ranger, I'm surprised she didn't stop it. Slept well anyway.