Along the Rock Harbor trail, late August. Here's a good look at harborside trail conditions nowadays on the island. You frequently come across long sections of trail that are criss-crossed with roots and dotted with rather good-sized rocks. Wear good ankle-high boots is my recommendation. This part of the RH trail is directly across from Mott Island and close to the old Siskiwit Mine, which is still a very interesting place to explore in the dense thickets surrounding the old mine shafts. The area has become increasing overgrown in the past couple decades, so it must look completely different from how it looked in the late 1800s, when miners worked along Rock Harbor. Rather hard to believe any longer that mining ever took place out here, so far have we come from the copper mining boom days of long ago.
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There was a recent AP news story on the Isle Royale wolves. My Dad saw it in the Chicago Tribune:
Isle Royale wolf sightings becoming more common
Associated Press
Published January 21, 2007
HOUGHTON, Mich. -- For campers at Isle Royale National Park, sighting a gray wolf is a rare and thrilling experience.
At least, until now.
Some wolves got a bit too familiar last summer, wandering into camping areas and showing little of their customary fear of people.
No attacks or threatening behavior have been reported. But the close encounters prompted warnings to visitors not to feed the wolves.
"Wolves are wild animals and potentially dangerous like any wild animals," said Michigan Tech University biologist Rolf Peterson, who has studied wolves and moose on the Lake Superior island chain for more than 30 years.
Wolves seldom target humans, although it's not unheard of, Peterson said. In fact, a wolf attacked several people at Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario recently before the superintendent killed it.
Such incidents could happen more often if wolves begin to identify people as a food source, Peterson said.
"The best thing is that they never associate us with a speck of food," said Phyllis Green, the Isle Royale superintendent.
Beavers, which were once the wolves' prey, have mostly disappeared in the area due to habitat loss. So the wolves now have little to feed on except moose, whose numbers also have nose-dived recently.
A census last year counted about 450 moose--fewest in the 48 years biologists have monitored the relationship between the two species in Isle Royale's closed environment.
Meanwhile, the wolf population was a healthy 30. Peterson predicts it will decline because of the food shortage, which likely is what's making them less fearful of humans.
In bygone days, "maybe one visitor in a thousand" would spot a wolf, Peterson said. "Now, when I give a talk to 50 people, there will be two or three in the audience that saw wolves."
Other words of wisdom: If you see a wolf, get away as quickly as possible but don't run. Don't follow or howl at them. If you come upon a moose carcass, don't hang around; wolves may be nearby even if you don't see them.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
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