July 30, 2010

July 30, 2010

Isle Royale and the Keweenaw peninsula of Michigan were the two sources of copper for American Indians. I am not sure how they found the deposits as the island is pretty lush. I see very little exposed rock. In fact the park trails are overgrown with vegetation.
Isle Royale is also full of berries, lots of berries, mostly colors of the American flag. On our hike back to the harbor, we feast on raspberries and a few blueberries. We leave all the rest alone. We find out later they are very poisonous. We are not the only ones who like the berries. All the trails are littered with scat full of berries. Looks like bear, but is just fox scat.

Before loading on to the boat we listen to a ranger talk on ticks. While Isle Royale doesn’t have deer ticks (yet) they do have Moose ticks. A typical moose is loaded with tens of thousands of ticks. Ick! Between ticks and mosquitoes sucking their blood, moose barely survive winters here. Our boat ride back is another sheet of glass. That must be a record. We are four for four. We liked our little wilderness experience, but in the final analysis I don’t think Isle Royale has anything I would say is remarkable.