September 8-9, 2012
Saturday: We got
quite chilly last night. Even though I
think the inside temps didn’t dip below 50, for some reason both of us were
really freezing last night. Missy
eventually got up and put on a hat. I
soldiered through. The morning was
nice; partly cloudy. We decided that
Missy would do a morning hike with Cassie, and I’d bike in the afternoon. Tomorrow we’d swap activities. We checked out the park maps and picked the
Carlton Peak hike. Since we weren’t
sure how long the round-trip would take, I drove Missy and Cassie to a
trailhead parking up by Carlton Peak for her to hike back down to camp. There was some kind of running race going
on, so the parking lot was completely full.
As I drove away, there were a few pockets of light rain. By the time I got back to camp, a rain system
had moved in to stay. I moved some
stuff out of the doorway to the garage, because we can’t close that ramp.
It ended up raining for almost an hour. Poor Missy had a rough hike. Turns out the race was a super-marathon (100
miles). She said she passed hundreds of
racers (who all looked miserable in the rain) and there was never a let up in
the stream of runners to pass. The
bummer part was that since this was a narrow section of the Superior Hiking
Trail, there wasn’t room for 2 people to pass each other on the trail. One person
had to step to the side. And Missy felt
obligated to be the step-asider each time.
Which wouldn’t have been a big deal if she didn’t have to manhandle
Cassie to the side each time too.
(Cassie has no time for trail etiquette or niceties). Since it was staying in the 50s with winds of
10-15, I decided to try out the furnace to warm up the rig for Missy. I recently read in the rv manual that you’re
not supposed to cover any of the vents.
So I removed the duct tape from the 2 vents in the main living
area. Let’s see if this fixes the
issue.
The skies cleared up around 6, so I went for a bike
ride. My hands got a bit chilly (due to
my supersonic speeds, of course). Need
to remember to bring gloves and a warm hat for just in case. The GG trail does go north for about 5 miles. Some of it is nice, and some of it is right
on Hwy 61. Trying not to compare with
the scenery in CO.
Chilly again overnight.
Furnace worked nicely. Cautious
hurrahs.
Sunday: It was pretty
windy today, but with the wind came the return of the waves! We spent quite a bit of time down at the
lakeshore watching the waves on the rocks.
Strangely, Buddy and Cassie didn’t see the allure of sitting on rocks,
far away from the squirrel homes (trees).
Tough luck, puppies.
Mid-morning I went to take a picture of the neato giant
bird’s nest. On the way back, I
ventured over the foot bridge which connects the upper campground to the lower
campground. The bridge is over the
Temperance River. I looked down and saw
a huge school of fish. They were
swimming upstream in the river. They
were in a pool, but right above a small pourover so they were fighting the
current. The fish were big, about the
size of salmon. Since both Missy and I
like to watch fish swimming, I ran back to camp to tell her to come and see. I am so happy I spotted them, because now I
am WAY ahead in the nature spotting contest!
(I’m counting each of the 100 fish).
I’ve already seen a nosediving osprey catch a fish in Lake
Superior. And of course, there’s my
nest. Missy just has her bald
eagle. Missy sat and watched with me for
about 20 minutes and then headed home. I
stayed another 10 minutes or so, until the fish left. It was a split second change. One second they were there, the next they were
gone. No stragglers, or heading off a
couple at a time. Very cool beans.
Tomorrow we’re raising anchor and moving on. We’re going to try our luck at a National
Forest Campground on Bearskin Lake, which is about 20 minutes inland from Grand
Marais on the Gunflint Trail. Not sure
if we’ll get any reception at camp. So we might be out of contact for large chunks of time...
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