Isle Royale Day One: Rock Harbor to Lane Cove

I started writing this sitting on the floor of our Copper Harbor hotel room, the wifi was basically a joke and didn't work much at all except for some random locations (like there on the floor) but the picture upload is what did it in and I'm finishing this post at home...on my nice cushy couch with my favorite dog sleeping on my leg.  Anyways, I plan to do a post for each day of our trip and here is the first one:

Our original plan was to make the 10+ hour drive to Copper Harbor on Saturday, camp somewhere, then take the ferry on Sunday. I found out the ferry wasn’t running that day so we drove up Friday after work, got to Copper Harbor around 2am, slept in our tiny car, then got on the Saturday ferry.  Nothing like a little sleep deprivation to start off a great hike!

on the ferry

The ferry is set up sort of like a restaurant, with tables for four around the edge and tables for six down the middle.  There are also places to sit in the front and back of the boat too.  We took one of the side booths and two young guys from Chicago sat across from us.  They were hiking with their mom who had a plan to visit all 58 national parks. I think that is a great idea and if I had more time and money, would love to create a bucket list like that (side note I think I've only visited 3 national parks).

We docked at Rock Harbor a little after noon and had to listen to a short speech from a ranger about the seven principals of leave no trace and then register in the office.  We finally hit the trail around 1:30 and decided to start off our 6.9 mile hike to Lane Cove by taking the Tobin Harbor trail to the Mt. Franklin trail that went up the ridge to the trail that would take us down into Lane cove.  It was a beautiful hike to start stretching our legs on!  I was impressed with how thick the vegetation was and the beautiful multi-color moss and lichen that seemed to grow everywhere.  The trail wasn’t easy by any means and had rocks and roots along the whole way but it was relatively flat, in comparison to the rest of the island. 

We stopped for a late lunch where the Tobin Harbor trail met the Mt. Franklin trail because there really was no other clearing available.  It was exciting to try out our homemade alcohol stove on the trail for the first time and it worked like a charm!  

After lunch we headed up the ridge and I still think it was one of the more difficult parts of our trip because it was such a steep elevation, in direct sunlight, and mostly rocky ledges and stones to step on. Plus it was the first day so my body was still adjusting to the weight of my pack,  I got to the top quite tired and sweaty but there was a lovely log to rest on in the shade.  

view from Mt. Franklin

We took a quick snack break and donned our gear to head down the last leg of the trail to our campsite.  Now this was tricky trail! The way to Lane Cove consisted of steep trail switchbacks, occasional flat woodsy sections, and even some boardwalks over low waters.   I felt like we had just defeated the purpose of climbing the ridge to come all the way back down but it was absolutely gorgeous! I really thrive on the moments of tough trail when all I can think is, "keep breathing and put one foot in front of the other" until I reach the end.  I always know the end of the trail is one step closer no matter how tired, sore, or hard the terrain is and all I have to do it keep going.  I was totally beat by the time we made it to the campground and I was so proud of myself for accomplishing that terrain, it's sort of like when I finish a kick-ass workout back home...but better.  Out in the wilderness its not just about the physical work out but also the mental skill, the effect of the raw beautiful environment around me and the fact its down to survival if I don't finish the hike.

Lane Cove isn’t a popular campground because it’s a dead end trail and doesn’t have shelters and that’s exactly why we picked to go there first.  However our quest for solitude wasn’t really met because this is the island’s busy season and there were plenty of hikers everywhere and all but one site at Lane Cove was already taken.  The one left was okay and had a pretty view of the end of the cove and we immediately took off our boots and walked into the chilly water.

Hubby pitched the tent and I made dinner.  I took a risk and bought canned shrimp for a new recipe for sesame shrimp noodles and we ate it the first night because it was the heaviest meal. If you were wondering if canned shrimp is gross, you are right! I was hoping they’d be like the tiny shrimp in Chinese fried rice but they weren’t, they were quite dry and smelly.  Lesson learned and I won't be packing those again! After dinner, we went to bed early and crammed into our tiny kid tent for the night.  Thankfully it was the only time we had to use it because we had shelters the rest of the trip.

            The next day, things got a little more intense for me as we hiked out of Lane Cove and I’ll explain what happened in my next post.