Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The Mighty Sea

It was imperative that we be at the Windigo Ranger Station for our return trip to the mainland by 12:00.  Failure to do so could mean missing our boat, interfering with our plans for, among other things, dinner at The Angry Trout, and this would not do.  So, taking extra precautions, we arrived at 9:30 in the morning.

In retrospect, the 5:30 wake-up call was admittedly overkill.  Not that we experienced any adverse effects from it.  We were on the trail by 7:00, and while walking in the cool of the day, listening to the birdsongs that accompany sunrise, on beautiful trails.  The early arrival meant we got to enjoy the amenities of civilization unhurriedly.  Flushing toilets and running water are joys a backpacking excursion will quickly remind you of.  We went up to the camp store and spent some time just enjoying having a bench to sit on, chatting with a retired couple who had sailed to the island the day before, and reading.  Little did we know how much time we had to enjoy the tranquility of the area.

We went down for a ranger program on how island isolation had changed many of the species living there from their relatives on the mainland.  Since it is an island all the animals there had to travel across the lake at some point.  I remember reading about Isle Royale for the first time in my middle school science textbook.  The island is unique since researchers have a naturally controlled lab to study the prey-preditor relationship of wolves and moose.  Moose first swam to the island in the early 1900s.  In fact, one of the park rangers said that even last year a boat saw an object in the water thinking a small vessel was in trouble.  It turned out to be a moose swimming across Lake Superior and he followed it until the beast reached the island.  It is at least 20 miles of open water swimming and why a moose would choose to make that trip is anyone's guess.  The first wolf pack crossed the ice around 1940s.  Currently there are 1300 moose on the island (how did we not see any!).  The wolf population has dwindled to 2 due to interbreeding and the lack of genetic diversity from being contained on an island.  They are currently discussing whether wolves should be reintroduced to the area.  It was a fascinating talk, but unfortunately, it ended with news that our boat was running behind schedule due to rough seas.

Alex and I were able to keep ourselves entertained in the interim; there was plenty to see at the ranger station and we had our books with us to wait by the docks with.  All the same, we were happy to see our ride pull up around 1:30.  It wasn't long before we were loaded up and saying goodbye to the island.  Not long after that, we were saying hello to the island again.

The captain decided the seas were rough enough with 6 foot waves that he thought the best course of action was wait out the weather.  We were told that they'd reassess the situation again at 4:00.  At this point, my only real anxiety was whether this put eating at the Angry Trout out of the question, but there was still fun to be had.  We hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, so we ordered a pizza from the camp store and had a nice chat with a father/son duo who had been kayaking around the island.  We read a little more and poked around the ranger station, then headed down to the dock to hear the captain's pronouncement.

The look of the waves in the bay kind of clued us in on our fate before the captain spoke.  There would be no Angry Trout today, that goal which had kept me going the previous day when my feet hurt so bad.  We planned on reassessing the situation again at 6:00.  In the meantime, a second ranger put on another great talk on the history of Isle Royale's trails to perhaps the largest crowd she'd ever had (talk about a "captive" audience).  It was also the 100th birthday of the National Park Service and we were there to celebrate.  However the staff at Isle Royale wasn't expecting a crowd on a Thursday so they would be celebrating the next weekend. 

Finally, we were set to depart.  It would be interesting to know the captain's mind in all this.  I suspect that the waves we encountered earlier on in the day actually posed no threat to our vessel, that concerns over passenger anxiety and comfort were really the driving force of his decision.  Faced with the prospect of customers having to stay on the island overnight, it would make sense that his decision making calculus would be slightly tilted towards going, again, without any actual threat to safety.  Whatever the case when we reached the open waters of Superior, I couldn't tell the difference between the waves then and when we had turned back earlier that day.
So this was in the protection of the harbor.  We didn't dare have the camera out when we were crossing the rougher waves.
It was a wondrous adventure, with just enough of a sense of danger to make it especially memorable.  For a landlubber like myself, the rough seas inevitably set Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on a continuous loop in my mind.  From my differential equations class, I was aware of rogue waves, which are waves of freakish size capable of sinking very large ships that arise anomalously, perhaps because of the sort of system that can be modeled as a second order differential equation.  With that neat little talk from class that had so absorbed me years ago passing through my mind, every cresting wave seemed pretty ominous until it finally broke.

Oh but it was fun standing on deck and feeling the sea spray on your face.  Being on an unfathomably large expanse of sea and locking into the experience was pretty amazing.  If you've ever stood in your doorway during a particularly awe-inducing thunderstorm, you get a taste of what I mean, but now imagine being so immersed in the storm that it effects the very foundations of where you stand.

Well, for all this talk, we made it back into harbor safely, with the last half hour being a comparatively calm leg with sunset making for a picturesque end.  We headed to Grand Marias and our hotel at about 9:45, exhausted and ready for the convenience of warm showers and soft beds.

Editor's Note:  It was interesting to read Arthur's recount of our ferry journey.  We were standing side by side the entire time but my experience was very different.  Instead of contemplating wave physics I was trying not to get sea sick.  For three hours I stood on the stern deck with a white knuckle grip on the railing.  At first the bracing for the waves and the roll of the boat was like an amusement park ride.  Fun for the first 30-45 minutes with diminishing returns after that.  I kept my eye trained on the horizon to try to convince my mind and equilibrium that everything was normal.  Being 15 miles out to sea meant I was stuck on the boat.  There was no pulling over and stopping because the wind and waves don't stop.  I couldn't get off and swim or walk.  I was helpless to changing this uncomfortable situation.  I had a much better understanding of the disciples and their fear when a storm suddenly came up.  The disciples were at least fishermen with some boating experience.  But Jesus wasn't phased by the wind and the waves.  He spoke and the storm ceased.  The disciples were amazed.  We weren't even in a storm on our ferry ride but I can't fathom the power to stop those relentless waves.    Omnia Vincit Amor.

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