PazTripReports: Pasley "island time" in 2019

I know you’ve been holding your breath in anticipation of the Sand Island blog. You can let it out now.

After we wrapped up our pre-Wisconsin trip summaries in early August, I took a blog-writing break while we were volunteering at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore as “king and queen” of Sand Island on Lake Superior. I did keep a daily journal of our activities there, as I have in previous visits.

Those astute blog readers (who still have a functioning memory) might recognize this National Park site, since this was our sixth volunteer gig there since 2013. The first year we served at a small mainland visitor center, but in subsequent years spent three to five weeks on this small island assisting kayakers and campers and giving tours of an 1881 lighthouse.

I've included some highlights and pictures below, but first I must address Dave’s low rating (C+) of this part of our 2019 summer adventures in his summary blog post. He appropriately said that I might grade the visit much higher, but it was obviously a grind for him. I get that.

More than any other time, this volunteer tour did seem much more routine and less exciting. We knew most of the other park staff, had already memorized most of the stats and stories we would repeat over and over to our visitors, and didn’t have to perform any special opening or closing procedures at the lighthouse or ranger quarters as we had in the past. And I think we were just worn out from the previous 10 weeks of travel and anxious to get home.

But that’s why I would give this portion of our trip a higher grade than Dave; maybe even an A-. I felt it was a chance to spend a “working vacation” where we could take a break from traveling and simply enjoy nature. I totally soaked up the quiet mornings and evenings, the cooler temps, the wildlife, the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets over the lake, and the spectacular night skies. And I worked my way through two fantastic books.

Also, it was a chance to postpone what I knew was waiting for us at home – not just the heat of the summer, but also other home obligations I was willing to push off a bit longer.

I heard a comment about couples years ago: “If you agree on everything, then one of you is redundant.” That’s not a problem for us!

Highlights and pictures of our three-week island tour

The lake was up! In fact, locals told us the lake had risen anywhere from one to two FEET since last summer. Considering Superior is the largest surface-area lake in the world, that’s a ton of water. In these pictures, you can see the erosion on the shorelines, the collapsing of some red sandstone sea caves, and the storm damage to the lighthouse steps.

Here I am, ready for duty. Note there is no mosquito head net! We found the drier August days were much more bug-free. By the way, we averaged five to seven miles of walking and hiking each day.

The long-term Park plan on our “commute” is to build or replace two miles of boardwalk, so the path from the dock (and our Ranger quarters) on the east side of the island to the lighthouse at the northern tip will be completely accessible. These pictures show the hardy maintenance guys and some of their handiwork. They are almost halfway there. It’s going to be fabulous.

It’s hard for us South Texans to think of late August as “fall,” but there were many autumnal signs, including turning maple leaves, multiple berries (black, blue and thimble), and ripening apples.

As usual, the island and woodland flora and wildlife were fascinating, from the adorable yellow “Speckled Touch-Me-Nots” to butterflies and cedar waxwings.

My favorite new discovery was this Indian Pipe plant hiding on the side of the old boardwalk. This plant has no green chlorophyll, so doesn’t need light for photosynthesis; it gets its nutrients from other green plants or fungi around it. How cool is that?

Sometimes you never knew what to expect from visitors to the 21 islands. Over the radio we heard of people crossing the lake on tandem watercycles or using pack llamas for a hike. In this picture you can see one of our kayak groups using the dock for yoga.

This is my favorite tree, a white pine that is more than 260 years old on the “lighthouse reservation” part of the island. It’s also at the ¾-mark of the two-mile hike.