My plan for the week would be to cover the miles on Lake Superior in as few hours as possible and not give the weather time to get creative.  Not well suited for a knock-down, drag-out engagement with this particular Great Lake, True North will nonetheless have  us holding good cards in the cruising game, as long as we don’t get greedy.          On this partly sunny, blustery morning the famous Rock Of Ages Light appeared as only a hazy spike suspended over the water when first sighted five miles out from Grand Portage, but it permitted us to forget about conning a course by the compass alone, or even the GPS, which we had bought at Strickly Sail in Chicago expressly for this cruise.

Isle Royale, from Bonnie Dahl's Superior Way, Third Edition

The typical check-in procedure with a Ranger at Windigo amounts to more than just “sign here, pay the fee, please”.   It took us a full half-hour, and we did not come unprepared.  They gave a thorough review of regulations pertaining to boats, as well as hikers.  Gayle was caught momentarily speechless when the Ranger asked what we would be doing with our “grey water”?  “We usually put it in our potty,” the Moby Skipper interjected, which satisfied her.  Actually, after the first day, we poured our “grey water” into empty drinking water jugs and stowed them in the lazarette along with our trash bags  until our return to Grand Portage.          The Ranger further said, “All refuse of any sort must be packed back to the mainland by you visitors.  We have no budget for hauling your trash”.  The Ranger’s rundown included a dose of Moose lore, too.  We were told that most are fairly tame, however, that might quickly change if a visitor gets between a cow and her calf.  “But moose don’t see very well, so just stand behind the nearest tree and the cow won’t be able to decide exactly where you are, lose interest, and probably just walk away after awhile.”   There are currently about 1100 meese on the Island.          We were also told to not worry about wolves.  People, even Rangers, rarely ever see them.  Their howl can often be heard, but apparently wolves don’t have much to howl about during the summer months.  There are presently a total of nineteen wolves on the Isle Royale grouped in three packs, with a couple of teen-age loners.          Just before dusk, while cleaning up after our evening meal, we were treated to our first moose sighting, three, one a half-grown calf.  They like to wade out into the water and feed off the sedges growing on the bottom. More meese appeared next morning, probably the same ones, out wading for breakfast.  We were actually awakened by a “thump’ thump, thump” right against the hull.  Popping immediately up out of the middle hatch, I saw a pair of otters swimming playfully away.

Three moose at Wingo