Henry Perryton (Hank) Pasley; September, 2000 – July 27, 2013

Sunday evening phone calls have been a tradition in the Pasley household ever since Tex went off to college.

Tex is not much of an e-mailer and we’re not much for texting. While he humors me by saying he reads my blog posts the fact of the matter is that we pretty much get our news about him and he about us in those Sunday phone calls.

Here at AINL that system has worked surprisingly well even though we don’t have cell service and cannot make long-distance calls on the government’s phone line. To compensate we’ve worked out a system where Tex calls us at a phone in a maintenance shed about 200 yards down the hill from our trailer.

At the designated hour we pull up a couple of chairs amongst the odd assortment of tools, grass seed and emergency response vehicles inside the cavernous shed, put the phone on speaker and catch up on one another’s news.

The news last Sunday night was that Hank had died the day before.

There was other news to share, of course. Tex got a raise and Betsy locked the keys to the cash register inside the register when we closed up at the visitor center Sunday evening.

But the news we’ll all remember from this particular Sunday night phone call was the news about Hank.

Hank was smart. As Betsy often said; too smart. I sometimes felt that we were unfair to Hank; that he should live his life out corralling goats on a big ranch, or at least chasing Frisbees in the park, rather than herding the three of us around our little house. But he never complained. He always seemed happy and content just to be with us.

Hank was testy, often snippy, with strangers. In fact, Hank didn’t really like anybody but the three of us.

But us he loved and trusted, unconditionally. My God, I hope we lived up to it.

Even though Hank was Tex’s dog, he was our dog too; my fourth dog. I distinctly remember the deaths of the first three, and I’m sure I’ll always remember the phone call in the maintenance shed at Little Sand Bay, Wisconsin too.

Many times over the years I have told the story of that traumatic day in September 1969 when I found out that my beloved dog Muggs had been crushed under the wheel of a truck that was delivering caskets at my Dad’s funeral home, where we lived in an upstairs apartment. Muggs had likely sought out the shade under the truck on a hot Missouri afternoon as he waited patiently, but expectantly, for me to come home from school.

It’s a good story to tell because it’s simultaneously odd, poignant, funny and sad. I told this story to Tex many times and he recounted it in an essay he wrote for his middle school English class.

I thought about that essay when Tex told us about Hank on Sunday night.

Tex was 11 when we got Hank and I was glad when he decided to take Hank with him to Arizona, even though I’ve missed them both very much. I knew when Hank left that he would never be back; that Tex would be the one to deal with his death. I was sad about that, but glad about it too.

There are a lot of good reasons to get a dog for a kid, but dealing with the death of the dog might be the best of them.

I am forever grateful for the time that Hank had with his friend Alecto, the dog of Tex’s (now ex) girlfriend; and the best friend Hank ever had. I’m really glad Hank moved to Arizona with Tex.

Betsy’s photos of the sun setting on Lake Superior are posted in tribute to our faithful dog, Hank.

Better Knowing The Apostles

(This post covers a period from July 20 to July 27)

This week we settled into more of a routine, got more comfortable with our job in the visitor center and continued to learn about this diverse and beautiful park on the northernmost tip of Wisconsin.

In addition to us the visitor center volunteer staff is two high school girls from Bayfield (twins) and our trailer pad neighbors Volunteer Susan and Charles. Our boss, Ranger Susan, has been out on leave most of the time we have been here because her husband is ill.

One of our duties at the VC is to conduct tours of the adjacent Hokenson Fishery that operated from 1927 to 1961.  Betsy took the following photos in and around the fishery buildings where I usually give two or three tours per day (I’m learning a lot about fishing).

After uploading the last blog post at the Bayfield Library on Saturday July 20 we took a tourist ferry to the Raspberry Island Lighthouse on a spectacular, clear, sunny – but relatively windy - afternoon.

Raspberry Island is the only lighthouse out of the seven in the park that is open to visitors this year. The others are being renovated or repaired.

The lights were built in the 19^th century to guide ships to the port at Bayfield, through the islands and around the islands (for ships sailing to and from Duluth).

The Raspberry light and keeper’s quarters have been beautifully restored. Two seasonal rangers staff the facility and provide tours in period costume. We went along in our volunteer uniforms to “help out” but primarily to get free passage on the ferry. As it turned out though we did help out some; including me hanging off the side of the ferry to toss out a line at the dock (because of the wind direction the boat had trouble docking) and later chasing down two passengers that had taken off hiking and not returned when it was time for the boat to leave.

Notably, it was the 150^th anniversary of the day the light was first lit; July 20, 1863. Roughly 40 people - about half of them from the ferry and half from kayaks and sailboats – sang a rousing version of happy birthday. Some of the boaters played croquet on the lawn, a traditional recreation activity for the families of the lightkeepers.

On the clear day, from the top of the light tower, we could see the Minnesota coastline about 30 miles to the west (we can see that most days from Little Sand Bay) and we could see east to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

On Sunday we took a kayak safety course that is required before we can rent boats and go out on our own. The class covers routine things like paddle strokes, but the key is the open-water, self-rescue where you deliberately tip over and then get back into the kayak. It’s not easy. I only wish we had a camera because the photos would surely be priceless. The water was a balmy 60 degrees in the bay but still cold enough to get our attention.

On Tuesday, after work in the VC, we did a “ride along” with our boss’s boss to a campground on Stockton Island where he was going to audit a ranger’s “campfire” talk. On the return trip we were treated to a spectacular sunset and, when we arrived back at the dock, a beautiful rising full moon. If the blog's Chief Photographer (who, as you may have noticed, is very shy about sending me photos of herself) sends me the sunset and moon photos that she took I may include them in a future post.

On Friday we took a ferry to Stockton Island and camped there overnight, returning to Bayfield today where we are now uploading the blog.

On the island we did a lot of hiking and swatted a lot of mosquitoes, which are worse there than on the mainland. It was rainy and cold but we had a good time; hiking about 10 miles round trip to visit an abandoned quarry where some of the government’s stimulus money was used to construct a barrier to keep people from falling into the quarry. Saving the economy AND saving lives; what a combo!

 We had the Duluth portage pack loaded up with camping gear and I was afraid it would look bad when we got on the boat but it turned out that several other Stockton Island campers had outdone us...including one couple that had an ice chest on wheels!

Meeting The Apostles

(This post covers the period from July 9 through the morning of July 20. From the website you can click on a photo to view them all in slideshow.)

Betsy models one of the items for sale in the visitor center.

After a short but nice visit with my cousins in Missouri (which included a stay at lovely Mozingo Lake Park in Maryville, Mo.; where the new AC felt really good) we pushed on north to Interstate State Park on the St. Croix River near the town of Taylors Falls, MN. This is Minnesota’s oldest state park (1895) and it is directly across the river from a park with the same name in Wisconsin which is also that state’s first state park.

The place was nearly full by the time we arrived after slogging through St. Paul rush hour traffic; and the back-in RV sites were tight; and the mosquitoes were out in full force as my trailer-backing prowess went on full display before a gaggle of slack-jawed Minnesotans as they sat inside their mosquito net tents eating their evening meal of bratwurst. After approximately 27 attempts I finally got the trailer backed into (more or less) the correct (we hope/think) slot.

The next day I hiked the edge of The Dalles of the St. Croix to a bakery in Taylors Falls where I ate my first Cronut. By mid-afternoon  we had arrived at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore where we were met by our NPS “handler” Ranger Susan. She introduced us to our new home and our new neighbors, experienced NPS volunteers Charles and his wife Susan that I will refer to forthwith as Volunteer Susan.

Volunteer Susan and Charles immediately announced that they were cooking supper for us. It was quite a feast that was topped off by a homemade raspberry pie and consumed on a picnic table in the yard area behind our trailers. It was a bit humbling because these two are living in a trailer half the size of ours and cooking things that we would not consider in the kitchen at home, much less on the road in the trailer. In an unguarded moment of candor Betsy even confessed to Volunteer Susan that we use the oven in our trailer for storage; we’ve never used it for cooking.

Charles and Volunteer Susan have turned out to be good friends. They are experienced NPS volunteers that have worked in a variety of NPS parks over the last 10 years. They arrived here at AINL in June and will stay into September. So they have a wealth of knowledge, not just about this park and this area but also about the NPS in general. We have picked their brains for information and they have been very helpful.

Sunset on Lake Superior and Sand Island, from the dock at Little Sand Bay

There are three gravel trailer pads for use by volunteers and/or seasonal ranger and the third was filled a few days after we arrived by a seasonal ranger named Kevin. The three pads sit immediately behind two duplex park service housing units where three seasonal rangers reside. There is a shared washer/dryer available for all of us in one of the duplex units. Collectively, it has the feel, sort of, of a small apartment complex.

A ranger-volunteer get-together

We arrived here a week ago Thursday, had Friday off, worked our first day at the Little Sand Bay Visitor Center on Saturday, had Sunday off, and worked Monday through Thursday this week at the VC.

We have a nice walk to the VC of a quarter-mile or so that takes us along the edge of Lake Superior with some lovely views.

Our job, essentially, is to operate the visitor center which typically gets less than 100 visitors per day. However, the variety of questions and services is pretty broad and there is much to learn (including operating/balancing out a cash register – something Betsy has not done in 35 years and something I’ve never done).

We have an advantage in that we are both experienced bureaucrats and the NPS is similar in many ways to our past work environments. Even though the people and places and missions are quite different; this is well-trod organizational ground for both of us.

On our day off Friday we explored the back roads of the peninsula and found our way over to the little town of Cornucopia (known locally as Corny).

Corny has a dock, a fish monger, an historic and very cool general store, a kayak outfitter, the northernmost post office in Wisconsin and a bar/restaurant that serves Summit pale ale on tap in frosty pint glasses and has a menu that includes wonderful fresh cheese curds and various forms of fresh whitefish. The town also has a free-flowing artesian well with great-tasting water.

There isn’t much else in the town; then again, there isn’t much else we need in a town.

Needless to say, we really like Corny.

We also checked out much larger Bayfield (pop. 500) which has a beautiful Carnegie library that has good wi-fi and is the closest place where we will be able to download photos and update the blog.

On our day off Sunday we went back to Corny and took a guided half-day kayak paddle up the shore to explore some spectacular sea caves that have been formed by the relentless pounding of Lake Superior against the sandstone cliffs along the shore.

Monday through Thursday we worked at the VC and we were by ourselves on Tuesday and Wednesday.

So far I think we both like the 9-5 job at the VC more than we thought we might and we are, at least so far, a little disappointed in the opportunities that have been afforded us to hitchhike on park service boats going out to the islands. 

As with any organization this park has plenty of bureaucratic bullshit, personnel issues and tribal mentalities.

Little Sand Bay is clearly the park’s stepchild, cut off from the headquarters in Bayfield and – in many ways – from the offshore islands that are the signature feature of the park.

Sand Island is a popular kayaking destination and a relatively easy paddle from Little Sand Bay but a bear problem on the island has caused it to be shut down to visitors indefinitely. That, in turn, has reduced the number of kayakers launching from LSB.

One of the oddest things about the place is that there is a campground and a boat launch, both less than 100 yards from the visitor center, that the park service has nothing to do with. Both are operated by the “Town of Russell” which – as far as we have been able to determine – consists of little more than the campground and the boat launch. a small community center and a town garage.

Thus, the number one question we get at the visitor center is about the campground, which we have nothing to do with. Besides pointing to the sign that outlines the self-registration process and telling people which campsite the campground host is in there is nothing more we can say or do. It is a classic case of “sorry, it’s not my job” and that is more than a little frustrating for both of us because we have an aversion to saying that.

We staged this...but it looks official, right?

One of our duties is to raise the flag each morning

After four days of work in the visitor center we have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. On Friday we hiked a muddy trail along the west shore of the peninsula and looked down from above on those same sea caves we had visited by kayak on Sunday. We had pretty low expectations and they were far exceeded even thought parts of the trail were quite muddy.

After the hike, in the trailhead parking lot, we had the good fortune to meet the ranger who effectively runs the park and he invited us to go out to one of the islands with him for an evening program next week and confirmed that we will be going along today on a boat that is going out to Raspberry Island Lighthouse for the 150^th anniversary of the light’s dedication.

After the hike we stopped at the artesian well in Corny to fill our water bottles and then drove across the peninsula to Bayfield for the Bethany Lutheran Church’s annual fish fry. The Friday Fish Fry is a tradition in northern Wisconsin and this one included another staple - boiled potatoes - along with several types of berry and fruit pies. We met up with some of the rangers and our volunteer neighbors afterward for beers.

This morning we picked strawberries on our way into town and had some fresh-baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

The weather has been nice. There has been quite a bit of rain, but almost always during the night. We have not run the AC in the trailer at night, although one night was a bit warm and muggy. We ran it one day in the visitor center. Most of the time though it is pleasantly cool and a recent front dried out the air. Last night temps dropped into the 50s and today is a spectacular, cool, blue sky day for the trip out to the Raspberry Island Light.

We do have internet access on the NPS computer and we can check our personal e-mails when we are working. So if you send an e-mail we will get it and can respond, but it may take awhile.