Day Two on Isle Royale

Shroom at our campsite.

Offspring #2 waiting for me to catch up and resting her back by leaning on a lawn chair.

Here we ford a stream like pioneers.

With both a front pack and a back pack Offspring #2 cannot see the boots.

Some rocks wiggle and it is hard to keep the balance with all the extra weight.

No capsizing!  Proud moment!

Here I am pumping Grace creek water into our thermos where we would add tablets to kill all bacteria.

I woke up early on day two on Isle Royale.  I made coffee and looked around.  Offspring #2 needed more sleep. An awkward moment arose about 9 in the morning.  We were not expecting to see any hikers yet but a couple guys walked by.  My guess it was a father and son walking together. They didn't see our bright orange tent right away.  I think they thought we were just getting water. And we were getting water. We packed up our stuff. We hoped the trek back would be easier than the trek out. At first the trek back was easier. We drank all our water by the time we got to Grace Creek so we stopped to filter more water. I sat under the bridge and got the water.  After that it was an uphill trek to the overlook.  At the overlook, which is exposed rock, the weather was hot and sunny.  We were cooking but we had to rest.  We watched as ants carried off pieces of our discarded hard boiled egg shells. Now we needed to head down a big hill which was going to be hard because coming down on my sore knee was bound to hurt.  I was glad I had my hiking sticks along.  For a time I wore two back packs and that wasn't too hard but I didn't do it very long. We stopped to rest often.  When we got down the hill and came to see Lake Superior again we decided to ditch one backpack.  Offspring #2 would come back for it later.  Offspring #2 walked at one pace and I walked at a slower pace. We figured we had about a mile or two back to the other campsite.  When Offspring #2 passed me coming back for the other campsite I said I would pitch the tent and make supper. I made it back.  I was so glad to see that campsite, let me tell you! I pitched the tent. I started some red beans and rice to cook. The sun was low in the sky by the time we were all together again.  I was glad it wasn't quite dark yet.  We decided the dishes could wait until morning.  We got into our sleeping bags and expressed gratitude again that we did not make it any farther away than we did on day one.