Being trapped on an island for days with limited visitors means you see the same people over and over so you get to know them a little and make assumptions about them. I am sure people are making assumptions about us also.
I have mentioned some of these people earlier but thought I would talk about them a little more.
First we had our travelers on the plane out with us. Karen and her husband, we could not catch is name when he introduced himself. They stayed in one of the cottages where you could cook your own meals but we did see them around the restaurant, usually just getting wine, out on hikes and him by himself just out and about. He usually had a camera and was taking pictures and she just seemed to be tagging alone. They took a guided fishing trip out one day and caught several fish but threw back most as they were not sure about how they could get them back. I did tell them that the restaurant would cook them a meal with their fish. We had seen an example of one in the restaurant one night. It was very impressive served on a huge platter with all this greenery around it. They had tried to hike to Suzy’s cave but gave up and had turned back when we saw them on the trail. They stayed one more day after we left.
Richard, the camper, we saw on the trip here and then again on the return trip. He was down at the seaplane dock when we came down on the day we left. Bruce thought he saw him on one of the trails when we were out one day. He was traveling by himself and last year had camped at a number of national parks in Canada. We compared all the national parks we had visited and he really wanted to visit Voyageurs National Park where we are going next. He was actually lucky enough to see a fox come into his camp one night.
Big Lens guy, never caught his name but he was hauling around a 200 to 500 Nikon lens mounted on a mono pod. No way we would have brought ours out here to go hiking. His wife was his assistant for photos. He would have her move grass and arrange things for him, hold the lens when he was trying to get over obstacles and also had her pose for shots for their grandkids. She really liked my camera vest and had me show her how it works. Thought it would be good for her husband but I am not sure it would be that great with a 200 to 500 lens. He also has a 800 mm lens and a 600 mm lens but did not have it with him. We compared parks we had visited (they had just come from Voyageurs), camera equipment and retirement. He had retired at 63 and had been retired for a year. We told him we were also retired and had been for 7 years. He looked at us real funny, you could tell he was trying to figure out our age, thinking we had retired around 65 like most people. He finally said, if you don’t mind can I ask how old you are? I told him I was 65 and Bruce was 63. You could see his brain working and then he said the means you retired in your fifties, how did you mange that? I started to say I did not spend all my money on camera lens. We ran into them a few times, they were on the trip to Raspberry Island, out walking in the area and at the restaurant.
Tom look alike, this man looks almost exactly like one of the men in our Sunday School class. The first time we saw him we both commented at the same time that he looked like Tom. We never met him but were tempted to go ask him if he was any relation to Tom. We certainly hope it was not Tom as the woman with him was not his wife.
Comb over dude, one of those men that let their hair grow really long on one side and comb it over. He drove me crazy with his constant trying to adjust his hair every time he took off his hat. He was with a group on the trip to Raspberry Island. We could not figure out how the group was related based on their conversations on the boat. Apparently the group was a little bigger but some opted for another activity that day. Comb over dude apparently was a penny pincher as his wife was trying to explain to one of the others that he had budgeted down to the last granola bar as to how much they could spend on food.
Rich man, apparently he is planning to invest some money into something on the island or take over one of the concessions. We think they are the ones that flew in before us and they were getting all the attention. His wife and a daughter (somewhere in her twenties probably) had come with him. The daughter is the one that we think our pilot was referring to about appropriate dress. She was in a very short skirt and not wearing hiking boots or a heavy jacket. At first I thought they were a group of auditors checking out everything because everywhere they went they were being escorted by a ranger or two and they were carrying note books writing down everything. Daughter did go into the gift shop and buy a heavy sweatshirt. The next couple of days she was dressed more appropriately. Bruce overheard part of their discussion one evening when he went for the nightly check with Heather. They also did not seem to think the rule about not using the limited WiFi access for downloading pictures applied to them as they were busy sending pictures the night Bruce overhead them. No one else could get connected because of them. They also felt they could spread out over the bigger dinning table and keep it for their use even when they were not eating, didn’t matter that people were waiting to be seated.
84 and going strong I met on our last day here while waiting for the seaplane. Bruce had gone back up the trail to see if he could spot the “bell hop” with our luggage as it was only 15 minutes until our flight was due to arrive. I was watching two men come in in a canoe and one of them was the 84 year old man. They brought the canoe to the shore instead of one of the docks and the old man was trying to get out of the canoe, he slipped and fell trapping a foot between the canoe and the land. I think he fell because the pack he had around his waist slipped down onto his legs. He was having trouble getting up and his nephew (the man with him) could not get out of the canoe to help him. Richard, the camper, was sitting with me so we both jumped up and headed over to help. Richard kept trying to lift him but he ground was wet and slick and he kept slipping back down, while the nephew was trying to get the canoe away from his foot. Long story short, nephew lost temper, yelled at Richard, dropped his paddle in the water but finally settled down retrieved his paddle and the uncle scooted himself up the bank. Nephew tried to convince him to go to their cabin and change but the old man seemed very confused. He kept asking about his foot and making sure he had not twisted anything. I asked him how he was doing and he said fine. I then commented that perhaps the only thing bruised was his dignity. His nephew started laughing and said he no longer had any dignity to bruise. Things lightened up after that. The old man finally got into a standing position and made it over to a bench to sit next to me. Bruce showed up about that time and helped the nephew until he got turned around in the canoe so he could paddle it out of the way as it was time for the plane and he needed to move away from the shore. The old man and I chatted until time for us to leave. He said I probably didn’t want to hear all about an old man’s life but he still proceeded to tell me about his wife dying earlier that year and how he no longer had to take care of her so he could do anything he wanted. He had visited here 52 years ago and always wanted to return so his nephew brought him. He also apologized to Richard for his nephew yelling at him, said he was just worried that something had happened to him.
Young campers these two men were on the plane coming back with us. They had been camping a few days and were very tired when they came down to the docks. First thing they did was drop their back packs and pull off their shoes and put their feet in that icy water. I am sure it felt great, I should have done that after hiking. They were very nice and helped some of the people coming into the docks on canoes get the canoes out of the water and onto the racks. We talked for awhile about their trip and the plane ride. We were all watching the pilot as he dropped out the plane and grabbed the ropes to tie it off. That lead to a safety discussion and auditing, one of them was a friend with an auditor. These lucky guys are one of the few that have actually seen moose while out here. They had a moose and her calf wander into their camp one night. They said they would tell the pilot he had to keep flying over the island until we could spot one.
Our pilot/luggage handler/plane fueler was a young man from Florida. The young campers and I were joking about me checking out all the equipment on the plane and I guess the pilot was concerned so he explained how often things are certified and inspected. He actually has a place somewhere in south Florida so we got all updated on the hurricane since we have not had access to any info while out here. We learned from him that at the end of the season here, mid Oct, that one of the planes will be taken down to Florida and the other to Seattle. One has wheels that can be brought down and they use regular runways and the other has to hopscotch form lake to lake to get where it is going.
The kayakers were a group of about 16 counting their guides. They were on the eco kayak trip that included 5 days and 4 nights at the lodge. The first night we were here they were getting instructions on how to use the kayaks and the equipment. They then went out for about one hour of paddling.
Kayak instructions
Kayakers leave on first trip
Kayaks returning the first night
The next morning they left early on a trip, we saw them paddling past our window. We never saw the kayaks again that day and they were not in sitting out the next morning but their paddles were outside their rooms. What we discovered was they were leaving the kayaks over by the seaplane dock and walking back to the lodge as that was faster than paddling back around. Then they would leave from there the next morning. They would spend part of the day paddling and part hiking at the different sites they visited. I checked into the trip and that is something I would consider doing if I came back here.
Kayakers outside our window early one morning
Kayakers outside our window
Kayakers returning our last day