caretaking

Visiting the neighbors

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We were recruited to take our trusty bateau, the Trophy, to pick up two CLLS Board members who needed to do some work on our lighthouse neighbor’s dock. Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior is responsible for at least three island lighthouses: Porphyry Island, Trowbridge; and #10.

Most of the energy has been devoted to Porphyry. It has infrastructure, a lovely harbor, docks, mooring, and let’s not forget the sauna. But it was last occupied prior to CLLS’ involvement, in 1989. It had suffered years of vandalism and neglect before hearty crews of volunteers brought it back to where it is today.

Trowbridge was actually occupied during the season until at least 2006 and has not suffered the same degree of abuse but still needs lots of work. There is one floating dock and a cement pier. If I had my druthers, I would have stayed in bed because the seas were not to my liking but the captain said, “Let’s Go!’ I white knuckled the boat ride and at times kept my eyes closed so I couldn’t see what we were bouncing on.

The tower doesn’t have to be tall because the lighthouse is set atop a hill.

The door smiled welcomingly at us while we used the key to step inside. I think there were two ladders and we were greeted by a cozy little room off the lantern room, complete with a bed set to sleep in.

Although there is an auxiliary light, Trowbridge maintains its original Fresnel Lens, always a beauty.

That handle provides access to the bulb inside. One side of the lens is split in two and opens like a door. So clever.

The lighthouse helps mark the entrance to Thunder Bay and we got to see our first Laker ship heading in.

These steps led to a third small harbor, which reminded me of Italy’s Mediterranean grottos.

The keeper’s residence is very sweet, day lilies abound and the rooms are still decorated by the prior occupant. Lots of purple! We found an old stereo cabinet in the whistle house.

We got to tour the island while the workers, worked! Then it was another white knuckle trip back to Silver Islet and then onward to Porphyry, our island home away from home.

All in a day’s work

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Our primary responsibilities for September were orienting visitors, keeping the sauna ready to fire up, and monitoring the solar system.

Guests were always appreciative and several groups arrived in their own boats and kayaks.

One day a family, who described themselves as teletubbies from North of Toronto, arrived on a 30′ Zodiac.

They wore bright orange dry suits and goggles for the ride from Thunder Bay. They were planning a trip to Europe but when international tensions rose, they decided to explore some of their own country. They were fun to talk with, thoroughly enjoyed the island and left with souvenirs from the gift shop.

The solar charging system was a bit of a challenge but started to work perfectly on our second to last day. Morning sun was obscured by trees so we would move them around during the day to catch the most sun. They powered two lithium ion batteries. We only needed power for the internet, phones and Tim’s keyboard. In the end, I think I found a loose connection which prevented it from charging even with full light.

Food prep always kept me busy. I made yogurt from powdered milk, bread, several desserts and most dinners. Several bars of chocolate also satisfied our sweet teeth.

We initially had a mouse and fly problem. I built the classic spackle bucket with a spinning can trap and reduced the population. This was replaced by snap traps from shore, which was easier to “load and unload”.

Best of all was riding the bikes to and fro and enjoying the breathtaking views.

Morning light was especially bright.

And the Sleeping Giant off to the west felt like our protector.

Tuned in to weather

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Whenever we’re stationed on an island, we follow the weather, sometimes obsessively. This is especially true when we rely on a small boat to cross a large body of water. And Lake Superior is a large body of water. It is the largest lake in the world by surface area and could cover the entire continents of North and South America with a foot of water! At its deepest, it is 1,333 feet deep!

We gather the apps the local boaters use. For our stay on Porphyry, those included WeatherCan marine forecasts, Windy and weather.com. We looked at projected wind force, direction and wave heights. Normally we would just stay ashore but we had to get Tim to Public Health.

In Australia, we relied on Willy Weather, which provided clear graphics of the wind and waves. In the States, we have relied on NOAA and weather.com but they seem to be a little less reliable these days.

More importantly, we judged the wind at Porphyry Point and listened to and looked at the surf. Especially on days we needed to go ashore. One night, after a very quiet evening, I woke at 0300 to the sound of waves crashing in the east shore. That kept me up for a while because we needed to go ashore. We appreciated the effect wind alone has on creating waves.

Here’s a photo of a Michigan Lighthouse on Lake Superior.

And below are waves breaking at Porphyry Island.

Strong winds tended to come from the northwest. They were cold and played havoc with the propane fridge, which is located on that side of the residence without a windbreak. Tim tried various baffles on the exhaust pipes, but the flame would not light until the wind settled down and shifted. We got ice the next day off island. On a side note, think about this: The fridge needed a flame to stay cold! We wore through a battery on the piezo switch trying to light it. Here is a link to propane refrigerators 101, generally a great appliance for off grid living. If you have a propane fridge and a sauna and you are golden.

I much preferred the calm days to go boating. Here’s the view looking down the west side of the island. You can barely see the tower near the point.

After the storm, Tim did yoga on the helipad to the sunset, Sleeping Giant, and the moon rising.

A gentle end to a windy day.

Just the moose, bear and us

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We haven’t seen the moose (the plural of moose is moose) but a kayaker reported seeing a bull moose on the beach 2 days ago.

Moose tracks are appearing closer to the keeper’s house. I sing various songs my 0.8 mile ride to the boathouse/sauna/harbor. Yesterday was Frere Jacque (I had to look up the french for the second verse). Today was Delta Dawn with totally made up words.

We haven’t seen more evidence of the bear other than visitors reporting they saw scat.

We snuck out during a brief window of fair weather this am for Tim to get his 3rd rabies vaccine from Ontario Public Health. Sunrise was beautiful. Next and last will be due in one week when we expect to be off island.

Now the winds are rising and a gale is forecast for tomorrow. At least it’s from the south. Yesterday, we had strong, cold northwest winds, which kept blowing out our propane fridge. Lucky for us, food supplies are running low. We picked up ice today for the Yeti cooler and should be fine. Dinner tonight was delicious trout provided by two young men from Minnesota.

It’s so much less stressful when a storm is predicted and you have no place to go. We’re tucked in nicely. Sauna, shower and dip in the Lake today. Yesterday was pretty cold, with the wind from the plains and Tim fired up the wood burning furnace. Things got toasty quickly.

No stress means a good night’s sleep.

A quiet ending to a beautiful weekend

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Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer in Canada and the USA. We had plenty of boats and visitors yesterday to commemorate the end of summer.

They were rafted together with more at the other docks. Two boatloads of visitors arrived by charter as well. The sauna was put to good use. A pair of young men from Minnesota cooked trout for everyone.

I participated in a stone carving workshop and made a bear as a fitting memento of our stay. Unfortunately, the head fell off and I’ll have to glue it together but the instructor, Deborah Spears, gave me an alabaster bear as consolation.

Tim helped people to and from the lighthouse while I remained at the dock and handled big business at the giftshop.

Today was a different story. Weather is coming and the last two boats left early this am. I finally had some time to try my new loom and do some bead weaving.

I don’t have the right color beads but this is going to be tiger eyes for a barrette. I like the idea of two eyes looking back.

I’ve also been busy with critter traps. Flies had overrun the kitchen when we first arrived. We found some flypaper, which definitely helped, and I made an inverted bottle trap with dish soap, vanilla, and yeast. Grocery stores don’t carry snap traps for mice so I improvised with a spackle bucket with water, and a rod with a can that spins, coated with peanut butter. So far, one for one.

Tim awakened to a bat in the bedroom during a nap, and after much discussion amongo ourselves and Public Health, he started the rabies vaccine series. He didn’t know if there had been contact and rabies is lethal. Getting the series according to schedule may be a challenge due to weather.

There’s definitely a moose and at least one calf roaming the island. We haven’t seen anything more than footprints yet.

Much of the rock along the shore is lava and there is lichen and succulents in abundance.

As predicted winds and rough seas arrived and stayed for two days. It was a good day to dry laundry but the solar panels kept blowing over.

Today, Tim is off for the next of his rabies vaccines and I’ll minds the island and visitors. This is the last day of official tours and it should be busy.

We use that boat to get to shore and I ride the 0.8 miles to and from the lighthouse on my trusty steed, which is too small, has no gears, but I love the ride.

Where saunas are de rigeur

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There are several self serve saunas along this part of Lake Superior. There’s currently no hot water in the residence but we were assured we could shower near the sauna.

The past couple of days boaters started it up themselves. We quietly observed. Sauna, jump in the lake, sauna, jump in the lake, repeat. We tried it when it was already going and I loved it – Tim, not so much.

Then we learned splashing water on the stones ramps up the heat and steam. Tim split wood from the woodpile and resupplied the sauna.

We were on our own yesterday so I fired it up. After about an hour it was up to temperature. And in we went. The lake felt lovely although it was reportedly 62 degrees. Sauna, lake, sauna lake with shampoo and rinse in between.

I barely stayed awake until sunset and, last night, slept like a baby.

From Tasmania to Lake Superior

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We met a kayaker in 2019 while we were caretakers for Tasmania Parks snd Wildlife at Deal Island. Tim reconnected with him last year and learned he is connected with the Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior, which manages several lighthouses on the Canadian side of Lake Superior.

We were interviewed and invited to Porphyry Island, located north of Isle Royale (pronounced Royal by both Americans and Canadians). It’s the end of the season and we’ll help close the island. We’ve hosted lovely visitors as well.

We drove around the north of Lake ONTARIO and Lake Superior. We thought we would swim along the way but it was cold and rainy. We found a lovely pool though and swam before one of our days’ drive.

We found beautiful places to stop and tried to avoid typical fast food.

We arrived Sunday after the fog had lifted. There hadn’t been fog for a month but then it settled in thickly for a couple of days, just long enough for us to hope the solar panels would keep up.

The local bear decided to chew up one of the cart’s seats our first night. Always the bears! Luckily we had some duct tape to repair it.

The weather finally cleared today and we could appreciate the views.

Sleeping Giant to our west.

There’s a tradition of wood fired saunas along the lake. We tried it yesterday followed by cold plunges and found it a great way to end the day. I slept like the sleeping giant.

The lighthouse is smaller than we are used to. The Yeti cup is included for perspective.

This is actually a replica of the original which was demolished when they switched to diesel in the 1960’s.

If we lose our GPS on the boat, there’s a backup Radio Direction Finder (its predecessor) in the residence.

We found the black sand beach and s perfect place to lounge today.

Now I get to organize. And sleep to the sounds of waves crashing on the shore.

Tim urged me to include one of his photos of me planning my next task.

A walk around the block

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We effectively took a walk in our “neighborhood”, around Lumpy Ridge. Lumpy Ridge is a massive granite rock outcropping that’s been sculpted by wind and erosion over the last 1.8 billion years. It features many named rock formations, my favorite is Twin Owls. Once you see it, you can’t miss it.

Twin Owls

These are popular rock climbing destinations after the Peregrine Falcons finish roosting.

I’m always pretty happy at the beginning of a hike.

Happy hikers

We were prepared for winter hiking conditions, especially after our earlier, exhausting, post-holing experience.

So of course, we didn’t need our snow shoes. It’s like carrying an umbrella, forget it and it’s sure to rain.

The views of the Continental divide were stunning. We climbed for the first 4 miles then it was all downhill after that. We ran into slushy snow on the back side of the ridge along the Dark Mountain trail. Microspikes were all we needed.

We picked a gorgeous day for it. This is an outbuilding on our neighbor, MacGregor’s Ranch, which transferred 1200 acres of lands for conservation to the NPS.

I decided to name a few of the formations myself.

I would call this Twin Chickens
Chicken hat on a post
Angry man and family
Toucan with a hat
First sign of spring on Cow Creek Trail
Home stretch

Luckily for me, we were able to use two vehicles and did not need to complete the loop, which would have added additional elevation.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, the big boys came to visit.

It was a nice change from the turkeys.

A good time was had by all!

Beauty and illusions

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I remind myself that we are the visitors here. The turkeys are still doing their thing all around us. At least three toms, strutting their stuff, and numerous hens, chirping. They call from behind the barn and up the hill, around the buildings, and in the front field. Spring is certainly in the air.

Tim pointed out they drag their flight feathers on the ground with their display. With a little bit of snow, it looked like someone had pulled a sled around the cabins.

He also thought there was a lizard in the kitchen.

It was really a lone piece of arugula.

This moth, found on our wall, had good camouflage.

One of these is not like the rest. Can you tell which ones are from a heritage breed?

While the cost of eggs rise and the stock markets tumble, it helps to remain focused on the beauty which surrounds us everyday.

Scene in our backyard

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After a day’s absence, the turkeys returned (I actually missed them) and the flock grew to 24. There are 3 Toms and 21 hens, as best I can tell. They seem to be getting used to our presence. This morning, one Tom approached me in his full display.

Two bull elk returned. One had dropped his antlers. They were hanging out next to the barn and walked off after I spotted them.

The variety of bird song increases daily as more return for Spring in Estes Park.

When we are not busy working on the cabins and main house, I have been creating lots of projects. More to follow. A girl has got to have fun!