I hope you found my previous post about Isle Royale informative. Here is the next installment. Enjoy the pictures!
This is a view of the dock in Todd Harbor. I took it sometime after dinner and I was feeling in a reflective mood. Todd Harbor was where the team worked for 10 straight days. At the beginning of each of our work weeks, our project sponsor would drop off us at this dock. We would unload our belongs-which was a heck of a lot. Then we would have to walk up a hill to our campsite. This particular view is from the trail that we took to and from work each day. It was always the first sign of camp, or home, for me each day as I returned from a one-way hike of 5-6 miles. Because I did not get to see other parts of the island, this was probably one of the views that I enjoyed the most. Seeing my teammate out on the dock by herself, one can just get a sense of the magnitude and depth of the island where I lived for 6 weeks. Nature literally engulfed me. Also, it was during times of days like the one above (about 8:00 pm) where I felt most reflective. I had just finished a meal and was feeling especially thankful that I got the opportunity to fill myself up with calories. Moreover, I was thankful for the opportunity to be in such an environment, despite the fact that it was tough.
This is a sunset from the rocks behind our campsite. Now these rocks had so many different functions for the team during our time on the island. It’s where some of the girls would wash their hair and freshen up after work. It’s where I iced my foot after my Achilles tendon started swelling up due to the steel-toe boots I was wearing. It’s where the team went as individuals to just relish and soak up the environment. This was a particularly calm day. There were a few days where the waves were so darn high, crashing into the rocks. But when it was calm, the tranquility was so darn nice. I found myself just staring out into the water even when the sun went down and the mosquitoes ate at me.
Off in the distance, past the more defined couple of islands, notice the sort of hazy land masses. Those land masses are actually Canada, Thunder Bay to be exact. I really enjoyed how on a clear day you could even notice the ridges. Pretty sweet!
This is a shot I took of my guy teammates fishing off of the mini waterfalls across the harbor. From what we heard from our project sponsor, this was a great fishing spot that attracted a lot of trout. Not really an avid fisherman myself, I liked the waterfalls because it was just so interesting that mini waterfalls existed on an island. Over the whole six weeks, my teammates had two fish on hook. But no fish were ever caught. Based on that experience, I wouldn’t call this a good fishing spot. It turned out that the best way to fish on Lake Superior is to take a boat out so that you could cast in deeper water. The water near the shore was just too shallow.
At the time of this picture, I was sitting on a rock sharpening a stick with a pocket knife I borrowed from Alex, the guy on the farthest left. So while all of the guys had experience fishing, the only experience I had was a couple of casts in Sherman Lake and Pawnee City. Nothing extensive. But I still bought a Michigan fishing license the day before we left just in case I did end up fishing. I was sharpening the stick because I had the fantasy that I would be able to spear a fish. But I learned that it was most likely illegal. So over the 6 weeks, I didn’t end up coming up with my own spears. However, I did get to fish a couple times while on the island with a real fishing rod.
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