9/2 8 a.m. Group Camp 2, Three Mile
The moon was so bright last night, the stars didn’t show much. Coffee and granola. I am going to hike strong today.
11:30 a.m., a shady spot at Daisy Farm
It’s good we didn’t try to press on last night. I’m hiking strong today, but I’d have been flirting with disaster otherwise. Dirtbag charcuterie by the dock. Perfect weather.
3 p.m., Overflow Camp at Moskey Basin
We saw TWO WOLVES at 2:30 p.m. on the trail! Slinking through the woods away from the water. A dark grey one and a lighter color one. The campers here watched them chase a moose into the water.
Sorry for yelling, but not really. I’d show you photos of the wolves, but I was too concerned about not being predated.
4 p.m. on a rock by the dock
The leaves are not yet turning on the island. Isle Royale is already in Kodachrome. The water is cold, but I can keep my feet in for a few minutes at a time. Maybe I’ll be able to swim. Bright clear skies and warm air. Plus we saw TWO WOLVES. Dave is wading carefully.
5 p.m., camp again
Seeing two wolves was cool as fucking fuck. Now we get to make a wolf report. Also at the camp at Three Mile this morning, an all-black fox – save for the white tip of his tail – slunk through our campsite hunting grasshoppers.
Hike report!
Three Mile to Daisy Farm is a delight. Daisy Farm to Moskey is technically four miles. Mentally, it is six miles. The total distance so far is 2.7 to Three Mile, plus 8.3, so 11 miles. Mentally those miles were 13 miles. So 11 real miles, and 13 mental ones. We have campmates again. Four twenty-somethings from Minneapolis. They’re very funny. They’re all trying to see who can spin on someone’s little folding stool more than twice. No one has done it yet. Hilarious.
5:45 p.m.
We have two new campmates. A couple from Hyde Park.
8:30 p.m. Camp
The trails and forest floor are still vibrantly green. The lichens and moss on the basalt is every verdant shade. Asters are in bloom and line the trail to camp. I ate two thimbleberries today, tart enough to feel in my cheeks. We watched the water after sunset. No clouds to speak of. Good breeze. Horseflies by the lake.
9/3 8 a.m. Shelter 4, Moskey B.
The first thing we did this morning was to loosely pack all of our stuff and move it to an open shelter. Now we’re making coffee. The water access is easy and beautiful. We got up and went to the dock rocky overlook around 10 p.m. because we heard the northern lights were out. We nearly missed them because a heavy orange moon had risen low over the eastern horizon. It was stunning, but I hope we see the auroras tonight. (Dear Reader, we did not.) We had a gentle rain pass over us last night it was not predicted. The clouds are pretty much gone again by this morning. Finally heard a loon!
Today’s chores:
- Eat Sausage ✔
- Drink wine ✔
- Fix backpack – Later, thanks
- Swim? Wade ✔
- Move to shelter ✔
11:30 a.m. Shelter 4
We waded in the water, and then had lunch. Dirtbag charcuterie this time consists of salami, cheddar, fruit leather, candy and cookies. Dave is cooling the wine in the lake for later. I finished knitting one sock, and started knitting a second. If it gets colder later in the week, I’ll be cozy af. Today is going to be a long lazy day at camp.
2:30 p.m. Near the Dock, in the only shady place we could find
No one is certain if they want to hike to Lake Richie and back tomorrow. We’ve been intermittently soaking in the lake and doing very little. In the heat of the day this place is very sunny everywhere. I stepped wrong coming out of the shelter (boots on) and kind of wanged my right ankle. I think it’s nothing, or something mild, but I’ll monitor it.
6 p.m. Shelter four
We’re both vibing on the site, and there is no rush to leave. We may stay another night. And the one after that. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon with our feet in the lake. Cool. High wispy, puffy clouds over camp this evening. Hot day, sunny.
Tonight’s dinner: Rehydrated chicken, rehydrated tomato-cheese sauce, yellow rice, corn and beans. Recipe: Soak chicken for 1 hour with tomato leather. Cook chicken and tomato for one Esbit pick. Add veggies, boil until Esbit is done. Put broth into one bowl, and chicken into another bowl. Cook the ‘ronis, up to two Esbits in broth for flavor. Divide chicken into two bowls, add cooked ‘ronis and veg. Mix with ghee for flavor. Fucking delicious.
Buggier by the water. I’m going to swab down and put on pants.
Boot got wet getting water :(.
Wolf Report
On 9/2/2023 around 2:30 p.m. we were rounding the trail to Moskey Basin from Daisy Farm. On the last low crossing before the boardwalk to camp, heading up, we spied two wolves slinking through the forest, away from the direction of camp. They traveled perpendicular to the trail. They were about 100 feet in front of us. The one in front was lighter in color, the one at the back had darker fur. I never expected to see a wolf on the island, so initially I thought it might be someone on all fours for some reason. I stopped in my tracks, pointed and whispered to my husband “Wolf. Wolf. Wolf.” To be sure he knew. The wolves hesitated briefly – I assume they heard us. But they continued on and were quickly out of our sight.
At camp we learned that the people on the dock had watched these two wolves chase a moose into the water, and the wolves slunk back into the forest, where I must have seen them.
9/4 8:30 a.m., Shelter 4, Moskey
No one is moving quickly, not in my camp anyway. We’re staying one more day, hiking to Lake Richie, then back here for one night, then Daisy Farm and Rock Harbor. It looks like the rest of camp is leaving, so we should have a quiet day. My ankle feels fine. My boot is going to spend the day in direct sunlight. I stayed up after sunset watching the stars pop out of the darkness. I could feel the pulse of the island in my hands as they rested on the bare rock. I crawled into bed around 10 and fell asleep instantly. No aurora, but I saw the depths of the night sky until a bright waning moon rose, and the gentle lapping sounds of the water meeting the 1.5 billion-year-old basalt slab that held me.
If I were going to give a piece of advice to the shelter graffiti artists, it would be that I wish haikus were harder so you guys had to think it through, and not just mash syllables together.
Today’s chores:
- Mentally prepare to go to Richie ✔
- Fix pack ✔
- Soak in the lake during the heat of the day ✔
- Eat sausage ✔
- Dry boot as much as possible ✔
- Pack tent ✔
Trash update: the trekking pole basket Dave found fits on my pole. I think I lost mine here in 2021, so the island has given me a replacement.
Tomato sauce leather in yellow rice is a game changing development. Such flavor!
Mid-Morning sometime
I fixed my pack! A seam near the zipper was coming undone, so I sewed the fucking fuck out of it and reinforced it with grosgrain ribbon. A grasshopper that is missing one of its hopping legs is laying eggs in the dirt on the rock by our shelter. She seems totally unconcerned with me. She’s focused on digging her hind end into the shallow dirt on the rock by the water. In May, we’ve only seen teeny tiny grasshoppers on young thimbleberry leaves at Lake Desor S. I wonder if this is her last day?
Noonish
High wispy clouds. Changing weather? Our grasshopper gal pal has expired after laying egg catches for a few hours. Kind of a beautiful life cycle moment. I hope her nymphs are strong and healthy.
3 p.m. Shelter 4
We have lazed about all day. This is a nice place to be married and in love.
The weather is cooler today, but still hot and sunny. More clouds than yesterday. The shelter is staying cooler than it did yesterday, so we haven’t wandered far from camp. Ate all the Sweet Tart Ropes. I have turned the heel on my second sock. Dave has finished Clive Barker’s “The Hellbound Heart” and has moved on to Charles Portis’ “True Grit.”
5:30 p.m. Shelter 4
Dave is making dinner. Once the sun was behind a cloud, I was able to spend a few hours watching the clouds pass over Moskey Basin. Bright puffers, traveling west to east, midway in the atmosphere. Some of them have shadowy bellies, but none look like storm clouds. Dave and I each felt a single drip, we aren’t concerned. The air is cooler. I watched a second grasshopper lay eggs in the dirt on the rock. I think it’s important when you’re on Isle Royale to dedicate a few hours to staring at the sky.
An older man has swum out to the middle of the water. Good for him.
I haven’t seen a camp fox here, but we do have a nosy camp squirrel. Dragonflies are hatching from our shoreline.
6:30 p.m.
The loons are singing many verses tonight. They’re calling from other sides of the lake now. At least three spots, maybe more. The loon’s symphony lasted a full 9 minutes. A wonderful sound to knit to. About halfway up the second cuff. These socks are much taller than I expected. They fit well.
Dinner: Chicken, taco Rice-a-Roni, corn, beans, cheese, ghee. It was voluminous.
Update: There is a camp fox. Dave snuck up on him, as he was sneaking up on me. He was about eight feet behind me, but I didn’t know until Dave showed up.
8 p.m.
High, wispy clouds. Tea with honey after dinner.
9 p.m.-ish
I think the weather is changing. The wind picked up after sunset. Zero percent surprised if we get rain tonight.
