As has become usual, with the winding down of the summer came another trip to the Cabin. This year, however, now that my time is my own, I could attend over Labor day. Further, Labor day was late this year so the trip ran from 31 Aug to 8 Sep.
Leaving from Livonia around 10 AM meant I arrived at the Cabin around 3:30 PM. It was an easy drive up with a little rain along the way. (Almost the only rain seen the entire week.) A 5 1/2 hour drive is so much nicer than an 8 1/2+ hour drive!
The Cabin was in great shape. Of course the grass and ferns had grown, but the inside of the Cabin was quite clean. There were pretty much no signs of mice. On the other hand, there was the common large pile of debris near the central stanchion. It was surprisingly large. There must be something (probably red squirrels) getting in and maybe nesting under the roof. It is hard to see, but something is going on.
The day was warm and humid. Since I had time I washed out the refrigerator. I also got the hammock set up in the usual spot. The night stayed warm but was still pleasant enough sleeping outside.
The day started warm and humid and become hot and humid. The flies were pretty much nonexistent and, by the Cabin, the mosquitoes were not too bad. Some time was spent cleaning up the grounds around the Cabin, collecting more fallen and dead wood. It was too hot and humid to do too much work so most of the time was spent inside. This included making calzones for dinner.
The night started warm but eventually cooled off. There was even some very light rain in the morning. It was short lived and did not even wet the grass. I did catch two mice over night.
The day started cooler but was still muggy. I headed out for a hike down McCloud Grade and past the Lucky Buck. Following 443 I veered off past C.O.P.S. camp and followed along the Northwest branch of the Two Hearted River. I had considered trying to go all the way around the river, but that was a bit much given that it was heating up as the day wore on. The mosquitoes also got quite annoying out in the woods. So much so that I wore a head net for most of the hike.
Turning back I hiked along the east side of North Lake before cutting above it to head back. I found 3 railroad spikes and what is probably a nail from the railroad. They were found along the route where I have been finding spikes, but not in the location where I was expecting to find them. I also saw what I think was wolf tracks. They were somewhat old so not completely clear. They were also somewhat closer to the Cabin than I would have expected: they were a few miles west of the camp. I know the pack has moved west of the Two Hearted, but I did not know they were roaming this far west.
I had intended this to be a shorter, warm up hike. Even so, it ended up being almost 13 miles.
The night was pleasantly cool for a change, getting down to the upper 50's °F. I caught one more (small) mouse over night.
Another hike was planned. This time I headed towards Nawakwa Lake to explore trails to the east of the lake, mostly near Bluegill Lake. Heading down the trail from Old Seney up towards Nawakwa I took the first (unmapped) road south. It looped back to Old Seney, i.e., away from the lakes. From here I headed south on Old Seney until I found another (unmapped) road heading west. This took me closer to Bluegill Lake before I a turn north. After exploring a couple of dead end side trails, I made it back to the trail from Old Seney to Nawakwa Lake. From here I headed back toward the Cabin.
There are still a few trails heading east off Old Seney that have not been explored. I took this opportunity to hike one of them. After winding around a bit I hooked into known trail north of Mitchell Lake. Even here I was able to map out a previously unknown side loop before finishing the trip back to the Cabin. In the end this was exactly a 13 mile hike. Even though it was of similar length as the previous day, it felt much more difficult throughout the hike. Again the bugs were bad so a head net was used for the entire hike.
While it is true of pretty much every hike, when you are out "in the middle of nowhere" it is easy to think no one else has been there in decades. And then you find the junk. It is amazing how often you find something in the woods. Even though this trash can last a long time (and thus have been there for decades) it is still surprising. Finding an old seat or 5 gallon bucket (probably from hunters) is not too strange. Finding beer cans is almost expected. Finding a pickup truck cap is not at all expected. Particularly at the intersection of two mostly unused logging roads.
The rest of the evening was mostly preparing for the arrival of everyone else. Vittoria, Bill, and Frank arrived around 10:15 PM. The Gentiles (Mike, Nadia, Zaria, and Carina) were originally planning on arriving shortly thereafter. However, a tornado went through Detroit and to Belle Isle where it picked up one of the boating shells at the boat club and hurled it into a tree. A detour was required to clean up that mess. With this delay they did not arrive until 12:30AM.
Despite the late arrival and with a clear sky, everyone piled into the bronco and headed to the airport to watch the stars. The moon had risen and despite only being a half moon, it was quite bright. Even so, the sky was beautiful, the bugs were not too bad, and there were some meteors to be seen.
With new visitors to the Cabin this meant visiting town (yes, really). Even I went. We started heading up Old Seney to H-58 to see the now completed new bridge over the Sucker River and the camp site of some friends from Detroit. The site is still being built up, which means the main structure on it is a beautiful outhouse. (The outhouse is always the first and last structure on a site!) From there we headed to another of their friends' places on Lake Superior. After touring the on-going renovation we visited their beach. The weather was nice and it is always good to see Lake Superior.
From there we of course went into town to pick up a few things. In particular a new air mattress. (We still need at least one more backup.) We also of course had lunch at the Dune Saloon, despite there being more food than we could eat at the Cabin, but I digress. I think the beer has gotten better than it had been a few years (or a decade?) ago. After this we were able to return to the Cabin.
Since it was early enough we were able to actually do a little exploration around the Cabin. We headed out along the old loop but turned towards the Flats. Heading up to the Sucker river we discovered that the beaver dam is back! A beaver dam had been started, but never finished. Last year it was gone. So it was a surprise to not only see a beaver dam there, but a large, strong dam that you could walk on! The beaver dam has been put back on the map.
The morning began with a group heading out early to do some fishing. Despite catching many brook trout, only one was legal size. The rest of us stuck around camp and had a Vittoria created blt for breakfast.
Another "necessary" trip for newcomers to the area is to visit part of Pictured Rocks. From the Grand Marais side this means seeing the Log Slide and hiking out to the Au Sable Light Station. As far as I know, for the first time we needed to purchase a pass to enter Pictured Rocks. It is true I rarely go there, but this is yet another sad symptom of our times. We spent much of the day at the Log Slide and hiking to and from the Light House.
On the way back to Grand Marais Mike was adamant that he wanted to swim in Lake Superior, not a bay of Lake Superior, but the actual lake. We thus stopped at (the public part of) Agate Beach. While Nadia, Vittoria, and I just jumped in, Mike timidly remained on the beach since the water was "cold". Sure, it is Lake Superior and Lake Superior always has a chill to it, but it really was not that bad. Once you got in it was actually quite pleasant. Mike did eventually take the plunge. It felt good to get a swim in.
One other project undertaken by Mike and Frank was the aluminum canoe. Over the winter ice and snow falling from the trees severely dented and almost flattened the canoe. At least one tree limb falling on it did not help either. Bill was going to just haul it back down state after gentlemen's weekend, Mike and Frank decided to fix it instead. After some hard work they had knocked out most of the dents, reshaped the canoe, and mostly straightened it out. It looks like a canoe again. Whether it floats or not is a different question, but at least it has a chance to be usable again. We are now planning on storing it inside over the winter to prevent further damage.
Everybody but I had to be back for Tuesday. Monday is a terrible travel day and is even worse from the UP with the Mackinac Bridge closed in the morning for the bridge walk. Thus everyone else planned on leaving on Sunday. Since I was staying the Cabin did not need to be shut down so there was time for another short hike. Heading north across the creek we hiked through the woods to the old loop trail. We took it back across where the beaver dam had been years ago.
The departure was not completely smooth. After getting everything packed up the Gentile vehicle did not start. They had been living dangerously the entire trip. Arriving at the Cabin with only about 30 miles of gas left in the tank (which was corrected on the first trip into town) was a telling start. Having left a door open during our final hike, charging devices in the vehicle, and who knows what else, drained the battery enough to not allow the engine to turn over. Fortunately I had jumper cables readily available. After a bit of fiddling they got connected correctly with enough juice flowing to get the car started. With this done, everyone was on their way.
I spent the rest of the time working around the Cabin. It heated up again and remained humid so I did not go out for any more long hikes. The main work was dealing with the moss on the roof. Bill has been working on it for a couple of years. The bunk room roof was the next place to clean up so I began there. Brushing off what I could was hot work. After doing this on and off I turned to the chemicals. To really control the moss we are using a spray. Wearing a tyvek suit I got on the roof and gave it a good spray. The bunk room roof was well sprayed. The rest of the roof was in better shape, but it also got sprayed. The last of the solution was used on the slab outside the kitchen. That also has a carpet of moss. It was not sprayed as well as it could be, so more work will still be required. It is a process.
Besides this, some more wood was dragged to the brush pile. The usual cleaning in the Cabin was done including mopping the kitchen floor. Otherwise it was a relaxing time.
As always it was a great trip. I headed out around noon on Tuesday, 8 Sep for the (now) shorter drive downstate. We have a number of things planned for gentlemen's weekend.
Hopefully we will be able to get all those tasks completed. Regardless, it was a great trip and we have plans for the next great one.