Hiking In The Rain

Thursday, August 20, 2015

This park has revealed a couple of unpleasant surprises.  Yesterday and today they were working on the electricity in the park.  So they shut it off between 9AM until 6PM.  Yesterday wasn’t a big deal because we didn’t get here until after 2PM, but today the longer period ran down battery #1.  We switched to battery #2 and it promptly ran down because it had not been recharged since leaving Wilson SP.  We had to tough it out for about a half hour then the power was restored.  Guess we should have replaced those batteries earlier this year.

The second surprise, all the “Washrooms” are pit toilets.  The “Comfort Station” has showers and real toilets.  Unfortunately, the Comfort Station is about a 10 minute walk, so you need to plan ahead.

Today we laced up our hiking shoes for 3 hikes.  Our first stop was Awausee.  This is a 5 mile loop with overlooks of the Agawa River and Canyon and Lake Superior.  It was a very tough up hill trail.  We made it one mile in to the first overlook, then back tracked out.  Whew, but it was quite scenic, even in the misty conditions.

The trail

Lake Superior from Overlook

The conditions give it a mystic look.  Along the trail, as we often do, we find and are fascinated by the small world stuff.

Indian Pipe

Our next stop was Pinguisibi.  Huh?  That is Ojibwe for White Sand River.  Why they name it that, we have no idea.  We didn’t find enough sand (of any color) to fill a beach pail.  What we did find were awesome rapids and waterfalls.

And of course, more small stuff:

Our last stop for the day was Trappers, a 1 mile loop around Trappers Lake.  We have never seen a lake with so many Lily Pads.  All the time Dan is thinkin’, I bet a frog or popper would work well in here for bass.  Unfortunately, there are no bass in these lakes, too cold.  Only trout, and we were also told there were no fish in this lake.

One thing we found strange on all these walks was an absence of birds, squirrels, and other critters.  In fact, not a sound to be heard.  Granted it was chilly and light rain most of the time.  A question for the rangers.

Total walked, about 5 miles; a pretty good workout for us.  Sunny forecast for tomorrow, hope so!