Dusk at Feldtmann Lake

Finally, after walking through seemingly endless forest, I arrive at the Feldtmann Lake Campground.

Instead of diving right in and following the spur trail to the campground, I continue along the main trail until I reach the farthest end of the campground. I plan to work myself back, examining each campsite as I go, instead of heading right to the closest one.

At the far intersection with the campground spur trail, another trail leads to Rainbow Cove. Brad, the father of the family I leapfrogged on the Minong Ridge Trail the previous week, spoke highly of the cove, so I need to check it out. I decide to set up my campsite, then pack up some stuff and make a trip over before eating my dinner.

Number one campsite is taken by the father and son duo I encountered earlier in the day on the trail. Number 2, which is located right on the water, looks empty. When I walk into the campsite, I discover that it is indeed already taken too, with the tent off to the side in the second of two tenting sites. The guy sitting near the tent writing in a notebook is kind enough to offer me the other tenting site, stressing that IF all the other ones are taken.

Section Stats:
Date: September 5, 2011
Length: 1.7 miles (10.4 total daily miles; 61.2 total trip miles)
Difficulty: Easy

Chuckling, I continue on checking the available sites. Number three is small, open and grassy, surrounded by dense shrub and/or herbaceous cover, while four is much the same but a little more spacious with a few taller trees surrounding it. Number four has some impressive landscaping, with two moose antlers decorating the campsite post. The fifth campsite is taken by the younger guys that passed me during lunch, while the first group site is attractive but a little too large for my tastes. I head back and take the fourth campsite, deciding not to check out the second group site. The moose antler landscaping pretty much sold me on the fourth campsite.

The middle-aged couple that passed me on the trail earlier comes in and looks at the third campsite but decide to take one of the available group sites instead. How did I get ahead of them?

I set up my tarp, toss my sleeping bag and pads underneath the tarp and get about doing my usual campsite chores. The campground appears overly quiet for one with so many of the campsites taken. It turns out the guys from the adjacent camp site are down at the lake fishing. When they finally return to their campsite, it gets much livelier (i.e. louder).

Feldtmann Lake is located immediately east of my campsite, right across the campground trail, separated by a thin line of conifer trees. A short trail to the lake allows access, making it easy to collect water and observe any possible wildlife.

When I go down to get some water for filtering, I flush a duck from near the shoreline. It flies off fast, and directly away from me and over the lake, so I never get a really good look at it. A common loon remains out in the water far from shore.

Feldtmann Lake is a large lake, with much vegetation scattered about the shoreline. Perfect habitat for seeing a moose. The shoreline is a beach made of tiny, reddish round rocks, easy to walk along but difficult to obtain enough water for filtering due to the gradual increase in water depth. Unlike Lake Superior’s water, this lake’s water has a tannish hue to it; appearing like the water I am used to in the Adirondacks.

Feldtmann Lake

Feldtmann Lake shoreline

After finishing with the filtering, I pack up all my food and a few miscellaneous items in my Pinnacle backpack and head off to explore Rainbow Cover before dinner. It takes only about 15 minutes to hike the less than a mile to Rainbow Cove. The short trail meanders through a scattered spruce forest, with much shrubby and herbaceous vegetation present where mature trees are absent. The trail generally follows along the Feldtmann outlet stream, briefly along a narrow, sandy cliff edge, where I thought I might plummet down to the bottom and not be able climb back out.

The trail suddenly exits the scattered shrubs and conifer trees to arrive at the shoreline of Lake Superior at Rainbow Cove. A wide beach comprised of reddish round rocks curve out in both directions, leading to peninsulas in both directions. The beach resembles Feldtmann Lake’s, except much wider, with the round rocks much larger than the small pebbles and silt present at the smaller body of water.

To the south, the beach spreads out to Rainbow Point, the large open spaces making it appear deceptively close. Cumberland Point lies much further away to the north. Although both points appear bordered by coniferous trees, alder shrubs lie just beyond the beach around the area where the trail emerges.

Rainbow Cove

Rainbow Cove

The view out into Lake Superior shows little but water and the horizon. Toward Cumberland Point, a small lighthouse is out in the waters, appearing as if it is a floating buoy, apparently warning ships of just-submerged rocks along the Cumberland Reef.

The sound of the waves hitting the rocky shoreline is almost deafening. The constant battering has constructed a series of ridges in the pebbles along the shoreline, resembling waves of rocks making their way up toward the forested edge.

There seem to be an infinite number of tracks along the shoreline. The pebbles only retain a general shape, making it impossible to identify many of the prints with any certainty. Some are obviously human, based on the length and size but others are not as easy to judge. At least one track appears to be wolf, while some resemble moose, but unfortunately, wildlife is scarce now.

Rainbow cove shoreline

Rainbow Cove shoreline

Glancing overhead, a merlin flies back and forth along the trees lining the shoreline. At least, I think it is a merlin. The falcon never stays still for long, and every time I pull out my binoculars, it launches into flight, moving so fast I am unable to get a good look at it. The narrow field of view is one of the disadvantages of using compact binoculars, where a regular-sized one would have a greater field of view allowing for easier spotting of swiftly moving falcons.

I decide to get up early tomorrow morning, well before sunrise, and return after packing up my campsite. Then I can sit, eat my breakfast and enjoy the sun rising over the tops of the trees along shore. Maybe a moose or two will show up too. They will have to bring their own food though.

When I return to my campsite, I find a visitor investigating my tarp. A white-throated sparrow hops around on the hard-packed red silt making up the surface of the entire campsite. Luckily, the little bird did not actually get in under the tarp or I might have some trouble getting it out. Eventually, the sparrow hops off into the surrounding dense shrubbery to search for food elsewhere.

Moose antlers

Feldtmann Lake campsite 4

While preparing my dinner, some sandhill cranes fly over the lake making all kinds of a racket with their nasal trumpeting. All the noise distracts me enough that I almost end up burning my dinner, when I run over toward Feldtmann Lake to catch a glimpse of these large birds.

After finishing my dinner, I run into the couple from down at the group site walking by on their return from Rainbow Cove. They excitably explain on how they saw a bull moose, a cow and a calf near the shoreline. My initial reaction was intense: Bastards! Liars! Of course, I keep this to myself. I contemplate returning to the cove immediately, but decide against it given the encroaching darkness.

Dusk on Feldtmann Lake

The temperature has dropped quite a bit already. It is going to be another cold night, but hopefully not as cold as the previous one. I head to bed soon after nine, so I can get an early start in the morning. Then again, if it is really cold tonight, the likelihood of getting out of my sleeping bag early tomorrow morning is not great.

Well, one can always dream.

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