Sunrise at Moskey Basin

The final full day on Isle Royale arrives before sun up, no thanks to my watch’s alarm, which fails to rouse me as early as I planned. Luckily, my fine-tuned internal clock functions flawlessly, and my fourteenth day begins only a short time behind schedule.

Thirteen miles is a lot to cover in one day, so getting an early start is crucial. Saving the longest hike for the last full day is probably not the wisest idea of mine, my blistering sore feet and my aching groin can attest to that. My original itinerary called for staying at Lane Cove last night, but I modified it during my hike and decided to come to Moskey Basin instead.

Another option is just to head straight to Rock Harbor today. That requires me to spend the bulk of today reproducing my first day’s hike to Daisy Farm. Instead, I plan to climb to the Greenstone Ridge again after reaching Daisy Farm to enjoy my last views of the island from the Mount Ojibway Tower and Franklin Mountain, before descending and returning to Rock Harbor via Tobin Harbor.

If I do not get my butt going I will not be going anywhere though. Finally, after mulling the days hike, I slip out of my Western Mountaineering Highlite sleeping bag before the sun has pierced the horizon. Quickly I get about preparing for the day, including heading over to the dock to take some early morning photographs.

Section Stats:
Date: September 10, 2011
Length: 3.9 miles (3.9 total daily miles; 111.2 total trip miles)
Difficulty: Easy

After changing my clothes and bandaging up my poor, sore feet, I set about packing up my campsite (point #118), which the shelter makes astronomically easier since almost everything was packed the night before. By just before six, I am quaffing down my breakfast of grape nuts, granola, almond slices and sunflower seeds, an all-time early record for this trip.

With breakfast finished, I sling my loosely packed backpack on my back and head over to the Moskey Basin dock. As I pass the loud middle-aged group of guys from the day before, still making noise with their excessive snoring, the temptation to release a primal scream is overwhelming, but I suppress the urge and move on as quietly as possible. Seeing them jumping out of their sleeping bags would have been priceless.

When arriving at the vicinity of the dock (point #119), I head up on the broader peninsula to the east of the dock. Digging through my backpack, I pull out the tripod legs and head for my camera, which should allow for taking some dim light photography, especially since the dawn is still a few minutes off.

Unfortunately, clouds off to the east prolong the sunrise, with the clock ticking down toward my start time to hit the trail. Given the long day of hiking before me, I simply cannot wait for the morning light to pierce the cloud cover beyond a certain point. Regardless, the subdued sunrise produces some outstanding deep purples and dark blues on the surrounding bluffs, not what I expected, but beautiful nonetheless.

The bare rock bluff leads down all the way to the shoreline, with only a few scattered conifers growing through the rock, apparently starting a root system in fissures of rock. Low-lying yew shrubs accompany the trees, scattered about the bluffs. The same scene plays out almost identically on the large bluff across a narrow channel, with the dock spanning out in the water between the two. A dark band along the bluff marks where I imagine where the water level would be in a typical year.

While taking numerous photographs of the surrounding area, a belted kingfisher bellows its staccato cry, although in the dim light I unable to locate the bird. When the kingfisher ceases its ruckus, several sandhill cranes trumpet off in the distance to the southeast, picking up the obvious slack. Are these the same birds from the previous night in the same general direction? Are they the same as those I flushed up along the Greenstone Ridge several days previously?

Sunrise at Moskey Basin

Sunrise at Moskey Basin

Around 7:30, I pack up my tripod and camera, and return to the trail leading back to the Lake Richie and Rock Harbor Trails’ intersection. After crossing the bridge spanning the stream, I am back at the intersection (point #117), where I hike upslope through a mostly coniferous forest along the Rock Harbor Trail, toward Daisy Farm campground. A common loon calls back toward Moskey Basin, in celebration or sadness of my leaving, I cannot say.

The trail stays mostly within a dense balsam fir forest with many large bigtooth aspens forming a sparse upperstory well above the conifers growing below. Scattered open areas of mostly bare rock appear along the trail, with the trail even cutting through one occasionally.

Bluffs at Moskey Basin

Bluffs of Moskey Basin

Moskey Basin bluffs

Moskey Basin dock

After a short time hiking along the trail, I stop to brush my teeth (point #120). Again, I decide to perform this morning chore far away from the campground due to the heavy amount of toothpaste residue I witnessed around almost every campsite I used while on Isle Royale. Hopefully, this modest effort can produce a slightly more attractive camping experience for those hikers coming after me.

The trail continues through forest, although now the composition has changed drastically from earlier near Moskey Basin. The diversity is much greater now, with a mixture of balsam fir, red spruce, quaking aspen, paper birch and even some eastern white pine. At some points, the trees are quite dense, while other times sparse, with very few tall trees, except for the occasional white pines and aspens.

Dried out stream

The trail crosses a small stream, with the streambed worn into bare rock. The stream has seen better days though, as it is bone dry now. Dried green algae along the sides of the streambed are all that remains of the water that once flowed freely through here.

The trail passes what the map indicates is a small, elongated pond (point #121). From the trail, I can see no open water, the dry weather apparently allowing for the colonization of grasses, sedges and other herbaceous vegetation. The vegetation is lush and green, the damp soils providing ample moisture while the rest of the surrounding area goes without.

Shortly, the trail skirts along another small opening full of lush grasses, sedges and other herbaceous vegetation. Although missing from my map, this looks like another small pond overcome with vegetation due to the dry conditions. The morning sunshine is just touching the tops of the vegetation on the far western edge, the morning moisture glistening in the sunshine.

The trail undulates over rocky terrain, with very short ups and downs through mostly young spruce and fir forests. The elevation changes little, as the ups always seem to equal the downs in height. Finally, the changes in the elevation become greater, with the ascents to bare rock ridges, reminiscent of the Minong Ridge Trail, while the downs reenter the spruce/fir forest. The bare ridges, exposed to the morning sun provide early morning warmth, while the shaded and lower areas are significantly cooler.

First wetland

Second wetland

Sporadically along the trail, a whiff of wood smoke invades my nostrils, bringing back a flood of different long buried memories. As suddenly as the smell arrives, it vanishes, not to be experienced again for many minutes. A similar phenomenon occurred once near the Carnelian Beach several days ago. Is this merely an illusion, a trick of the nose, so to speak? Or, am I picking up the smell of wood smoke from a far distant campsite?

Along the trail, I flush up several American crows from the ground. These birds appear somewhat incongruent given the wilderness surroundings on Isle Royale. It seems like they belong in a farmer’s field in central New York, not here on the Island.

Ridge along Rock Harbor Trail

The semi-open bare rock conditions continue until I finally arrive at the intersection with the Daisy Farm Trail (point #5), just a fraction of a mile north of Daisy Farm campground. Now begins the only small section of overlap from my entire fifteen-day trip.

As I descend down to Daisy Farm, I think back to my second day on the Island, when I came up this trail along Benson Creek on my way to the Greenstone Ridge for the first time. It seems to be both an age ago and just yesterday. Although I stayed here for only a short time, it feels like an old friend.

As I enter Daisy Farm, I make a point to look toward Shelter #5, where I spent my first night on the Island. Fond memories such as trying to take photographs of bats in the pitch-black darkness at the shelter, and the red squirrel showing no shyness as it joined me from a meal, rush back. Revisiting this area, albeit briefly, is a fantastic way to top off my amazing trip on Isle Royale, and it puts a little spring in my step.

Proceeding down to the dock at Daisy Farm, I allow the slight breeze to wash over me, blowing some of the early morning stink off me. Already, my once freshly laundered clothes are starting to give off the stench of hiking, and the climb back up to the Greenstone Ridge has yet to come.

The Greenstone Ridge should provide my last chance of an expansive viewing of the northern portion of the Island before returning to Rock Harbor for the night. Hopefully, my sore feet manage the climb before falling off.

Ridge along Rock Harbor Trail

Ridge along Rock Harbor Trail

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