View of unnamed lake to northeast

Typically, I spend most of my time in the backcountry off-trail. Trails are usually reserved for accessing an area to position me to bushwhack to some remote lake, wetland or other natural landmark.

So, the whole time I am on Isle Royale, I am jonesing to leave the trail behind and get acquainted with the island on its own terms. And this is despite of the thick, impenetrable nature of the majority of areas I traveled through while visiting the island.

When I saw this unnamed lake from high on the Minong Ridge, with its close proximity to the trail, I knew I had to go there. Especially, since I passed on the idea of bushwhacking down off the ridge to visit Otter Lake at the initial part of the Minong Ridge trail a couple days ago.

Section Stats:
Date: September 2, 2011
Length: 0.1 miles (4.8 total daily miles; 35.9 total trip miles)
Difficulty: Easy

Although the day had started with stormy skies at Little Todd Campground, it now is only partly cloudy; weather should not be an issue as it was with Otter Lake.

Today’s trail segment, although physically demanding with its frequent ups and downs, is the shortest one of the whole Minong Ridge Trail. There is plenty of time to spare, since it is not even noon yet, and I am already half way to North Lake Desor. Time should not be an issue either.

Now if this is not a perfect bushwhacking opportunity, I do not know what is!

When the trail descends from the ridge and heads back into the forest, the unnamed lake vanishes from sight, giving me the opportunity to do what I normally do. Bushwhack.

My compass makes its first appearance on the island, but it takes some digging through the front pocket of my Pinnacle backpack to retrieve it. The compass is probably entirely unnecessary though, because of the short distance involved, and downhill nature of the trek to the lake’s shoreline. Since I dragged the darn thing all the way from central New York, I am bound and determined to use it on this trip somewhere. And this is as good a place to do it than anywhere else. Whether I need to or not.

The bushwhack down only takes a short time, despite the many spruce twigs assaulting me the entire way there. Typically, I wear a pair of plastic, safety glasses (I am not a wimp, I just got sick of having my poor eyes poked), but I did not bring them on this trip, so my sunglasses must suffice.

There seem to be a plethora of downed limbs along the way, despite the forest’s fully closed canopy. This is probably the result of the wind event that took place last winter. As I look down farther in front of me it looks like obstacles all the way down to the unnamed lake’s shoreline. Perfect.

As I approach closer to the lake’s shoreline, plentiful spruce blowdowns stymied my progress. Instead of carting my backpack over them all, I shed my pack when I am within clear view of the lake, and continue on unencumbered. Although with dangling binoculars around my neck and my camera, snuggly put away in its lightweight and weatherproof case, slung over my shoulder, it is hard to make the case of complete unencumberance.

While climbing over the blowdown, I notice a lot of moose droppings down on the ground. Apparently, moose have little difficultly navigating about the blowdown, or perhaps it just scares the shit out of them. When precariously balanced on a downed spruce log, 10 feet above the ground, with branches sticking up like spikes ready to be impaled upon, I can see why the moose might be frightened. Then again, they can probably just step over most of it.

View of unnamed lake from Minong Ridge

The unnamed lake is surrounded with coniferous forest, just like most of the Adirondack water bodies I typically trudge through the woods to visit. Many of the coniferous trees are northern white cedar, which give the shoreline an attractive appearance.

The lake is about four times longer than it is wide, running roughly parallel to the Minong Ridge. Plentiful herbaceous vegetation indicates there are marshy areas on both ends; the map verifies this fact. Water lilies lay scattered about on the lake’s surface, a first for any island water bodies I have visited thus far.

Wildlife is fairly scarce upon my arrival. Two hooded mergansers swim out near the center of the lake, apparently indifferent to my sudden appearance. The two ducks show no fear when a sharp-shinned hawk flies over the lake. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of the moose, other than the droppings left behind.

With darker clouds increasingly dominating the sky, I make a hasty retreat back to the trail rather than further explore the thick northern shoreline. Hopefully, there will other bushwhacking opportunites before I my island adventure ends.

View across unnamed lake

View of lake to southwest

With a quick spin around, I head uphill back toward the trail; not even bothering to use the compass. The going is somewhat more difficult than on the way down, since gravity is no longer on my side. Within a few minutes, the trail is regained, and I am no worse for wear.

I can now officially say I bushwhacked through Isle Royale. Through how much of it, is a detail that I may just conveniently omit.

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