Temperance River

So this might look familiar to some people that visited me in April. This is about as far as we got because the world was still covered in snow and ice. I continued on today and have pictures so you can reminisce and pretend you were there. 

To let you know the stairs were still steep, narrow and slippery. 

The roaring falls carve holes into the rock. 

It leveled out about a mile upstream.

My new job

So right after I got back from Texas I got pushed right into my new job at the resort. My first day was a Thistle Tuesday, which means Thistle came and we hung out with the guests. This was during some down time we had.

This was my setup up for a campfire where I chatted with people about animals on the north shore.  

This is what it looks like to have a porcupine riding in the back of a prius. 

A couple days later I hijacked a dead owl from the Ridge. I positioned him to stare at my roommate while she slept. Actually we ended up covering him with a shirt for the night because he was way too creepy.

 A dead and live (under the blanket) owl traveling in the prius :)

Ok so far I've done some kids activities such as owl pellets, catching bugs, and nature art. I've led a hike, I've done a couple campfire things, and showed Thistle and Hunter (the owl). I have a very predictable schedule now which is nice. Sometimes (like this week and next) I'm also being called upon to teach at the Ridge because they're busy. So things are busy in general. 

Super foggy today....

Backpacking at Isle Royale

I'm sorry it's been awhile, but it's been crazy busy. I "graduated" from my 'training program' on June 7th, and on June 8th at 4:45 am I was on my way to Isle Royale. I returned from Isle Royale a few days later only to leave very early the next morning for a road trip to Texas. And a few days later I left Texas at 4:45 am. Then the past week has been non-stop work as I started my new job and have been scrambling ever since to figure out my new job and programs :)

So first, Isle Royale.
Like I said we got up before the sun because we had to be at our ferry dock in Grand Portage at 6:45 am. Our ferry was the Voyageur II, and I think it was similar size to the one I took with my family when I was younger when we went from the upper peninsula to the east side of the island (Rock Harbor).

The ferry when I was younger took over four hours, this one took two. We went from Grand Portage to the western side of the island - Windigo - and you could see the mainland (Canada) the whole time because it was so clear. It was also a very calm day, even in the middle of the lake there weren't waves and it's the calmest I'v ever seen Lake Superior.

So we took the obiligatory picture with the sign, moose antlers lined up along the bottom. We look so cheery and less apprehensive then I probably felt :)

Our first day was an 8.5 mile hike south and east from Windigo on our way to Feldtman Lake for the night. 

Early on we stumbled upon a moose carcass. I'll spare you the gory pictures and just send one of the hair. It was actually almost all the way decomposed but still stinky. They think it was old or sick and has been scavenged by the wolves. Fun fact - there are over 700 moose on the island, but only 8 wolves. This is the lowest the wolf population has gotten since then first arrived in 1949. They are traveling in pairs and trios around the island which isn't helping because they need a whole pack to take down a moose. 

If you are wondering, backpacking is hard :) My pack weighed somewhere between 30 and 40 lbs depending on how much food, water, and clothes (dependent on how many layers I was wearing at the time) I had in there. This was a fake break, but we probably stopped every 30-45 minutes to take the packs off and have a snack. 

One of the first ridge lines we came too looking east at the island and south to Lake Superior.

The first day I occupied myself while hiking by counting the piles of moose scat we passed on the trail. I counted 68 before we saw our first moose. We were on the trail when we spooked a calf that ran to the right. We heard something large (momma) to the left but never saw her. Occasionally there would be moose sheds left along the trail and here I am posing with one (actually pretty light). 

I thought I'd never make it, but then we made it to Feldtman Lake. No one else was there so we chose the best campsite which was about 10 feet from the lake. 

One of the first things up was my hammock to take a nap in. 

We filtered water then took a walk along the lake and saw moose tracks that were just gigantic. Since the water was so calm that day we could also see their tracks under water as the walked in it.  

My view of Danny making dinner while I was lazy in the hammock :)

After dinner we took a mile hike to Rainbow Cover to watch the sunset. The short hike without our packs felt so great and the sunset was perfect. We had a flock of a thousand (I don't actually know how many) geese fly over and heard sandhill cranes as well (they make the funniest noise so look it up).

That night we were almost trampled by moose...

So as we were laying down to sleep we hear something huge walking within 15 feet of the tent ( I start freaking out) then we hear in clomp clomp clomp into the water. We both scurry out of the tent (I'm still scared of getting trampled) and by the time we got off it was to the right a bit along the shore trying to get away from us. Later after I'd dozed off I heard another monster move through the woods then into the water on the other side of the tent. 

The next morning we had a cooking disaster...it was suppose to be pancakes....but so many things went wrong. Thank goodness for granola bars. 

Day 2 started with a steep climb to a ridge, which was really rough, but then we got this view of all of Feldtman Lake. For reference we camped on the left side.  And it continued to be uphill for most of the morning. 

Isle Royale is full of wetlands (that's why moose like it so much) and Danny enjoyed the frogs....actually I think this was a toad....

We finally reached the end of the uphill at lunchtime which we had atop a fire tower.

 Lunch everyday was a pita pocket stuff with peanut butter and an apple, supplemented with trail mix. 

Panoramic from the tower - shows where we were coming from - Feldtman Lake is all the way to the left....

...and then where we were going for the night - Sisquit Bay. We were close to the middle of the 10.4 mile hike for the day.

 The last four miles of day two were a mind game because it was flat, straight and everything looked the same. If you can remember Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail, the part where they keep coming over the hill and the castle never gets closer...that's what our afternoon was like with the treeline ahead. 

So I amused myself with taking pictures, of butterflies...

 ...and wildflowers...

and moose rubs. 

The campsite for the night was right in Sisquit Bay. After dinner we went for a little hike again to stretch out. We headed over to a creek to try to find the moose. 

A picture of marsh marigolds which are just so pretty. 

We decided to sit patiently and quietly for 10 minutes to see if the moose would come but they didn't, it was starting to be crummy weather. But we did see river otters. We watched three of them swim around and play a bit with each other. They finally noticed us and one starting grunting at us in anger which was adorable. 

It started raining lightly on and off throughout the night. Then as we are eating our oatmeal it starts pouring and continues as we pack up our campsite. And so we set off for day 3 drenched within 5 minutes. Ok fine I had a rain jacket, rain pants, and a rain cover for my pack, but they aren't perfect when it's pouring. My shoes and socks were drenched right away too. 

This was also the day with just straight uphill for the whole morning. It was brutal. It was twice as brutal because the wet weather. It was three times as brutal because it was the buggiest time we had to deal with. Every time we stopped to try and take a break the mosquitoes were covering you. You may ask 'where was your bug spray?' Well my bug spray was broke as I discovered the first night. Nothing came out of the pressurized can when you pressed down. And the mosquitoes were actually not a problem till this particular morning.

 After dealing with these things all morning I reached a breaking point. Danny will say I was deranged, I will say I was determined. The story involves me taking a knife to a pressurized can of bug spray...and I want you to know I won. I shaved the tip off a bit and was able to soak a handkerchief with chemicals that I then dabbed around my face providing immediate relief. 

An old well from the short lived mining days on the island.

We had lunch by the most beautiful thing I'd seen all day, a sign saying Windigo (our destination for the night) was only 6.5 miles away. 

 From then on out it was just about getting back to Windigo. It was pretty but just woods the rest of the day. Here is a cool moose track that shows the dew claws. 

And we made it!!!!

Everything got hung out to dry at our final campsite. We got water from a spigot instead of filtering it. 

The campsite was right along a creek so we set up the hammock to nap with a view. 

The next morning was very relaxed as we were right by the dock and the ferry didn't leave till noon. We had a relaxing breakfast and a short interpretive hike before packing up and meeting our ferry. 

This is what you look like while leaving an island after 4 days. 

The trip back was very foggy....as in you couldn't see after 10 feet off the boat. It was freaky but we made it back ok :)

So the end of the story is backpacking was hard but rewarding. There were downs but there were more ups once I broke the bug spray open :) 

Closing Up the School Year

This is the last week of the school year and we are still in the midst of a spring to summer transition. 

Flowers are just opening up the past couple weeks. 

Lots of foggy mornings. This was from the Superior View Hike overlook as we watched the fog roll in off the lake. On these days you can tell where the lake is because it's entirely covered by fog, but you can't tell where lake meets sky. 

Thistle being the most adorable I've ever seen him. 

Chup being the beautiful falcon I'm in love with. 

To celebrate our last weekend together we went camping! Because it was rainy and gross we decided to camp in the Science Center. 

I love the look of all the ferns unrolling to soak up the sun. 

Went on a hike on part of the Superior Hiking Trail ad saw Sawmill creek further upstream from Wolf Ridge. 

I was captivated by these droopy but bright wildflowers

I thought this squirrel looked like it was floating. 

This is one of the overlooks on Section 13 of the SHT.

I learned that my camera does panoramics....

...so that was fun to try out. 

Someone did a hummingbird banding seminar for us which was amazing. It's a special licence separate from  regular bird banding. In this picture she has it rolled up in a little burrito to weigh it. 

Before releasing them she would feed them a little sugar water. We learned that sugar water and nectar is just like gogo juice for them and that their main diet consists of spiders. 

The trap to catch them. 

You had to be very patient and make sure it was involved in drinking before dropping the net. 

Then carefully grab it to put in a bag for banding. 

I'm very busy packing right now. I'm packing for a trip to Isle Royale, a trip to Texas, and a move to the other hallway for the summer. I start my new job at Bluefin Bay Resorts on the 18th and I'm very excited!