Canoeing along Rock Harbor

Foggy days, rainy days, windy days -- they were suddenly gone this past week, and Isle Royale became the glorious northwoods, lakeshore wilderness that it is most of the time in the summer, especially in July, the month with the very best weather on this great island. Here's a shot of the cliffs on one of the outer islands along the edge of Rock Harbor. It was taken from my canoe as I easily cruised along the islands one fine day recently. This was one of those days that just make you glad that you're alive and spending any amount of time at Isle Royale. It was in the 60s, the sun was amazingly bright, the winds were calm, the water was stunningly clear, the birds were swooping and diving and calling. What a day!

Rainy, Foggy Days

What a strange summer for weather so far. We've had lots of very cool days and lots of wind, which is pretty unusual for July. There has even been a good deal of fog, which has been almost non-existent for the past 10 years during the summers. A few days ago we had one of the worst days in July that I can ever remember. The high temp was about 55 and the wind was blowing about 20 mph and a steady rain was falling. It was a day of that icy dampness that makes life up in the north country miserable. And yet when it all passed, quite suddenly, the sun came out and the following days turned positively glorious. Yesterday, I was out at the island and had a wonderful time canoeing in Rock Harbor under a brilliant sun. The photo was taken about a week ago at Rock Harbor. It is a shot of the Queen IV at the main Snug Harbor dock where both the Queen IV and the Ranger III, the NPS boat out of Houghton, moor when they are at the island. Obviously, the photo was taken on one of our foggy days of late.

Tadpoles on Smithwick Island

On a day I was captain recently, my niece Elaine Ronan, from Laurium, went over to Isle Royale with me for a day trip. It was one of those great Isle Royale days, so common in June and July. The sun was high and bright, the air clean and clear, the humidity seemed about zero. The temps were running in the 60s. The water was crystal clear. I took this shot on Smithwick Island, which Elaine and I went out to in the captains' runabout. This island stands in the line of islands that forms the south side of 15-mile-long Rock Harbor. We hiked along the Smithwick shore to a couple of beaches about half way down this island.

On the hike back to the runabout I was talking to Elaine about a pair of researchers I had met on Smithwick one day a couple weeks ago. They were doing a tadpole count on Smithwick Island in the pools near the edge of Lake Superior. Elaine found a few tadpoles that took part in the researchers' annual count in the warm waters just back of the cold, cold waters of Superior. At this time of year, even at the lake's edge at Isle Royale, the water temp can be in the 40s. Here's a shot of one of these tough creatures in Elaine's hands. She doesn't like to have her picture taken (she's 17 this month, but she has always given me trouble when I try to take her photo), and so I cut her some slack and didn't put the one I sneaked of her face on the blog.

The Progress of Spring

It's still spring, even in late June, in some areas of Isle Royale. I had a fascinating visit to Edwards Island last week, in which I walked through spring as I moved away from the lakeshore on this small, narrow island up near Blake Point at the farthest northeast reaches of Isle Royale. I walked in from the stone beach I had pulled my boat onto and found that the plants were just coming out, as shown in this first photo, which also shows many spruces blown down by the winter winds, as is so common near the edges of the main island and its outlying islands.

As I moved northeast toward a pretty cove on Edwards, I found the plants higher, though still in a stage that I would call spring-like. This next shot is of the cove, looking northeast toward North Government Island, the next island up the chain that forms Rock Harbor. You see that the vegetation has progressed toward a stage that we could call late spring. The day I was there, you could feel clearly how this works. Near the beach, the cool wind off cold Rock Harbor, water temperature about 40 degrees, was sharply cooler, perhaps 15 to 20 degrees, than the air up amid the spruces.

Big Ships

What a gorgeous morning to make the crossing to Isle Royale. This shot was taken on a recent weekday morning when I was serving as captain on the family ferry. In the distance was the Paul R. Tregurtha, the Queen of the Lakes -- which means the largest ship currently sailing the Great Lakes. I told the passengers in the cabins that she was passing in front of us and a couple dozen people came out to get a look and take a photograph of their own. Quite a sight on quite a morning.

Butterfly Season

Butterflies have been all over Isle Royale of late. The Monarchs and other varieties have been passing through and filling the woods. Sadly, yet necessarily, plenty of dead Monarchs have been found on the shores all around the island and its surrounding islands. Here's a shot of a Swallowtail on the Rock Harbor Trail recently. As most everyone knows, the major wildlife, what my zoologist daughter calls the Charismatic Megavertebrates, is down on the island this year. There have been a few sightings of a pair of twin calves and their mother in the Snug Harbor area (that's where the Queen IV docks and the Rock Harbor Lodge is located). But this is the best I have been able to do on wildlife shots since I've been out this year on my three crossings as captain of the Queen IV.

The Queen IV

I'm taking my regular shift at the helm of the Isle Royale Queen IV now that I've been up in Copper Harbor a couple weeks. This is a shot of me standing on Hunters Point across the Harbor from the dock in the center of town. That's the Queen IV, of course, in the distance. June is a great time to go to Isle Royale. People often ask -- almost every phone call -- about the best time to go. June is great because the lake weather is generally placid (though we did have a couple rough trips last week) and the weather is great for hiking -- and the island has fewer hikers and visitors and the bugs ain't bad at all and our prices are lower, too. But still people favor those last weeks of July and the first weeks of August despite all we do to get them to see that June is a great time to go. Think about it next year.

Low Water in Tobin Harbor

Here's a shot of Tobin Harbor a few days ago. You can see the water level is very, very low. It's not at record levels, but seems to be getting awfully close to the record, which took place in the 1920s. I've never walked in the spot I'm taking the photo from. Usually, the water is up to the level of the grass on the left of the photo, but now the edges of the bottoms of the harbors can be seen all around the island. I think the water has come up a bit in the past few days, maybe about 6 inches, but we have a long way to go before we come close to average lake levels. You will see some unusual sights when you visit the island this year because of the low water. By the way, the photo was taken on Tobin Harbor down near Suzy's Cave.

Captain Don R.

The 5 days-a-week runs have begun on the Queen IV. Here's a shot of my brother Captain Don R. Kilpela on the Queen Dock one eveing this week. That's our nephew Sam Eberhard behind him. Sam is working as a deckhand this year on the Queen, the third and last of the Hancock Eberhard boys to work for us in the family business. That's the Queen IV in the background, of course. Special day-trip prices for the month of June are now in effect, just $31 (!!) for a day-trip over to Isle Royale during the whole month of June. Come on up and join in the fun. It's a great day, 3 hours over, 3.5 hours there, and 3 hours back. We'd love to show you this great American wilderness, along with a great boat ride across the world's largest body of fresh water.



My next shot is of the Queen IV in the distance coming in past the Habor Haus restaurant this week. It had reportedly been a fabulous day on the Lake this day, with calm seas almost the entire way. We love these days as much as our patrons.

The Queen IV Arrives in Copper Harbor

The season must be just about to begin, since the Isle Royale Queen IV has moved from Houghton to Copper Harbor for the start of the 2007 season on May 15. This is a shot of our two-year-old vessel by Captain Donald Kilpela, Sr. of the arrival a couple days back. By the way, I stole this shot from my Dad's blog "Circumnaigating." You will want to check that blog out. It not only has an interesting series of posts on the history of Isle Royale passenger ferry service out of Copper Harbor, the GATEWAY to ISLE ROYALE as it has been called for decades, but also the current series on my Dad's adventures in the oil tanker business. The blog can be found at:

http://www.circumnavigating.blogspot.com/

A Poem Mentioning Isle Royale

If you know my blogs, you know that I write about literature and poetry on my Yvor Winters blog and, hence, you also must have guessed that I follow and study poetry. For the first time in my life, I ran across a poem that mentions Isle Royale in a national publication of some sort. The poem was published on Poetry Daily, a site I follow, and can be found at:

http://www.poems.com/poem.php?date=13633

I just had to mention it. I won't give you my opinion of it or an interpretation. It seems pretty clear to me. But it was rather interesting that I stumbled across it.

Opening of the 2007 Season Draws Near

We're getting ready! Captain John and Captain Don Kilpela report that work has begun on preparing the Isle Royale Queen IV for the 2007 sailing season to Isle Royale National Park. Our superb new boat is currently moored on the Houghton waterfront on Portage Lake, about 45 miles from Copper Harbor, as the crow flies. Last week, there was a huge blizzard, one of the biggest ever (even for the Keweenaw), in the western Upper Peninsula that dumped 30-50 inches of snow, depending on location. My brother John says that the new snow has mostly melted. My daughter Miranda has been on the reservation phone up in CH most of the late winter and spring. Say hello when you're making your reservations. Here's a shot of the Queen IV from a couple years ago, heading out for the island on a gorgeous morning. Not long now until we begin repeating this scene.

Isle Royale's Moose and Wolf Populations Drop in 2007

The report on this year's winter study of Isle Royale's famed moose and wolf populations has been released. Things continue to go badly for the moose, and now the wolves, as would be predicated, have declined as well. The MTU news release on the report is attached as a comment to this post.

2006 Slide Show, Photo 18

I close this year's slide show with a shot of some of our passengers disembarking from the Isle Royale Queen IV in Copper Harbor. This was taken the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, 2006. Note our beautiful new pier. It was a good summer. I hope you're planning a trip for 2007. More to come on this blog besides the annual slide show as the spirit moves me.

2006 Slide Show, Photo 17

A shot along one of Isle Royale's nicest and easiest trails, from Moskey Basin to Lake Ritchie. It is always a satisfying moment when after a couple miles of fine hiking you finally see Ritchie come into view down the ridge east of the lake through the tall aspens that form stands all along the way. The view has changed a lot since my early days on the island, when I was a teenager in the early '70s. The forest up this ridge was denser and you couldn't see Ritchie in the distance, except for a very small glimpse. But the aspens have grown taller in the 30 intervening years and there have been other changes along this trail. I really enjoy this moment and always pause to savor it, and Lake Ritchie really is a beautiful place to visit at any time.