Isle Royale National Park, Michigan 2002

Part II

Bears are probably the thing that scare me the most about camping. On Isle Royale there are no bears, so my next biggest fear about the outdoors came in to play - lightning. I suppose it was around 8 then when I frantically started shoving everything into our packs. I finally got most of the stuff in and was able to jump out of the tent. Having no idea when Andy would be back from his stove-mission, I was unsure of what to do...Pack up the tent, or not? I looked up to see the sky flashing, and realized our site was the highest in the area. So, at this point I basically panicked. I hauled the packs out of the tent, put the raincovers on, and started to break it down. Just in time for me to get the rainfly off and the tent poles out, the sky let loose. Arrrrrgggggghh. There was no way I was going to be able to fold up a wet tent myself and get it into the bag, when it's normally a 2 person job. I whipped the tarp over it all and after pacing around for a bit wondering how not to get everything soaked, I took our packs down to the bottom of the hill to check if the nearby shelter was full. It was. I left the packs under a tree and went in search of an open shelter. I was lucky enough to find one, and made about 5 trips back & forth (no short distance) to get all our stuff. I'm quite sure everyone thought I was nuts. Was able to hang things up for a bit until Andy came strolling down the trail. He didn't find any replacement parts for the stove, so he ended up with the only alternative - "Magic Heat" - some kind of sterno stuff that lasts for 6 hours. Good enough.

Was a rainy day hiking. The trail ran along Lake Superior (sometimes quite close), and over a lot of rocky ridges (treacherous in the rain). Oh - forgot we saw a moose the day before off of the trail - a cow. Didn't do much except look at us. Stopped for a break at Daisy Farm campground where there was a large community shelter. Good for getting out of the rain. Made it to Moskey Basin that afternoon, on a bay on Superior. Didn't get a shelter which was unfortunate, because they were right on the shore & would've been cool to stay at. Sun came out that afternoon and we sat out on the rocks for awhile. Used the Magic Heat for supper and Andy gave it a "10."

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