Washington
Creek / Windigo
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| Fog in the trees along Washington Creek |
Washington
Creek was amazingly silent when I got up around 9 am. Yesterday was a turning point in the weather, and we were in
for a period of dreariness. Again, fog blanketed the trees and
obscured the sky. We ate breakfast, then walked to Windigo to see if
weather information was posted and to kill some time. Once at the
visitor center, I talked to Ranger Valerie, who had already heard
about our wolf sighting at Siskiwit Bay a few nights ago. I filled
out a wolf sighting report, which is eventually passed on to the
wolf-moose study team.
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| Washington Harbor |
We
walked around the Windigo area for a while looking at Washington
Harbor, which looked very cool in the fog. There was a group of five
or six guys hanging around the dock. They had been scheduled to leave
the island on the sea plane the day before, but the plane had been
unable to fly due to the fog. They were now on their 2nd
day of being stranded, and it did not look like they would be leaving
today either. The weather forecast was not promising; there was a 50%
chance of rain, and the fog was not going anywhere. The stranded
hikers were sticking close to the dock in the event they got lucky.
If the fog cleared and the plane flew in, at least some of them would
be able to go home.
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| Windigo Visitor Center |
The
Windigo store had closed the day before. We hoped that the stranded
guys had some extra food with them. This was one of the scenarios that we
had prepared for when planning this trip, and we were glad we had a
few extra things with us in case we ended up in the same situation.
The owner of the store was in the area taking care of things and
preparing to close up shop for the season. Although the store was
closed, she let us buy a few items. We grabbed a few snacks (I felt
like I had hit the jackpot with a small box of fig newtons), and now
that we had some extra room in our packs, we decided to buy one of
the large canisters of fuel that was left on the shelf so we didn't
have to be so conservative with our fuel supply in light of the lack
of dry wood available.
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| Washington Harbor |
It
was still early in the day, and we had yet to decide whether to hike
to Huginnin Cove or stay put due to the sketchy weather. I was really looking forward to seeing Huginnin Cove and was hoping for good
weather while we were there since we would be staying in our tent
close to shore. The weather forecast for the following day claimed a
40% chance of rain – no guarantee, but a little more promising, and
we decided to hold out another day and keep our fingers crossed for a
rain-free tomorrow.
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| Washington Harbor |
The
Voyageur II, the small passenger ferry that sails from Grand Portage,
MN, showed up in the early afternoon with a few new visitors. Out of
desperation, all but one of the stranded hikers decided to leave the
island via this boat. The problem with this is that Grand Portage, MN
is a very tiny town near the Canadian border without much in the way
of helpful resources for people who were supposed to be flying back
to Houghton, MI – approximately 7 hours away by car. The town does
not appear to have a car rental facility (please correct me if I'm wrong, Grand Portagers); we have no idea what
these guys planned to do once they arrived. They must have needed to
leave badly enough that they decided they had no choice and would
figure it out.
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| The only moose we saw this day - Windigo Visitor Center |
Barely 30 minutes after the Voyageur II sailed away
from the dock, the sky suddenly cleared. Within minutes, the sea
plane flew into the harbor. The Voyageur's passengers likely heard
it, as they probably were not yet far enough away to be out of
earshot of the small plane's distinct sound. What a kick in the
nards. The plane landed and took off immediately after picking up the
one fortunate guy who had held out. The clear sky was short-lived.
The fog quickly returned, once again preventing the plane from flying
for the rest of the day.
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| The sun breaks through, but just briefly around 8pm |
We
spent the remainder of the day around our shelter, relaxing and
watching for moose. No luck there, but I saw what I think was an
osprey dive into the creek to catch a fish. We
ate Backpacker's Pantry Spinach Puttanesca for dinner and watched the
sun struggle to pierce the clouds over Washington Creek.
Rabbits were very active after dark, jumping on top of our picnic
table and bounding through our site.
To be continued in: Day 6 - Washington Creek to Huginnin Cove
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