Island Mine to South Desor

2 August 2024

Today started at 0’dark-thirty when I heard a twig snap. Since the temperature only dropped into the mid-60s again tonight, I set up just the mesh part of my tent so I looked up in time to see something large and dark run through my site! It seemed larger than a fox, but definitely smaller than a wolf… not sure what it was and the ground here is so hard packed I didn’t see any tracks in the morning (yes, I was able to fall back asleep).

When I did roll over again, it was a little before 7 and I packed up as quick as possible (I even cold soaked my oatmeal so I wouldn’t have to sit outside to cook, since my mosquitoes were still hanging around my tent). Farewell, terrible campsite!

Today’s hike is mercifully short- a little over 5 miles:

Trekking back up through the muddy incline from yesterday wasn’t fun, but my legs are decently fresh and while the first half of this stretch of the Greenstone is a lot of uphills, getting an early start is certainly helping!

Double downed trees:

I’m on top of the world!!!

Mount Desor- the tallest point of this island at 1371 feet!

Sometimes downed trees aren’t fun to climb over/through, so a side path around them gets formed:

Up until now, I’ve been hiking through a “green tunnel”- lots of tall trees and scrubby brush, which isn’t bad, but it’s a lot of what I can find at home, but this…

Now this is something different! I’m sure I might feel differently when the sun is beating down on me, but from what I’ve heard, the next stretches of the trail should be more like this!

But that’s something to discover tomorrow, today, I’ve already come to the junction to Lake Desor:

A well climbed-over log:

I had passed a group coming from Desor and they recommended site #1 as it had water access and a cool rock:

I was the first one here (the benefit of a short hike and an early start!), so I checked out each site: 5-7 were in the woods and off the lake, not much of a breeze; 2-4 were very sunny and exposed, but 1 had nice shade so I set up my tent:

and scrambled down this steep embankment:

to my own private cove!

First order of business- filtering more water!

Water from the Lake Desor isn’t too terrible- clear with just a slight dirt taste. I can tolerate that.

Now that camp chores are done, it’s time for fun, like trying to get a picture of me out on my rock:

It took a few tries- I tied my phone to a tree with my handkerchief and there wasn’t really a straight shot to the rock- gotta dodge around a tree, then sprint across a fallen log, but after a few tries- Success!

I rinsed out some of my clothes and took a bird bath and, while my clothes and I dried, watched for wildlife, like this gull:

and this metal bird:

Thankfully, my clothes dried quickly because the breeze off the lake was quite chilly, so I headed back up to my tent, where I found much nicer bugs, like this inch worm on my tent:

and this pretty dragonfly:

Since it was still early, I went for a short hike to the group sites, because a passing hiker told me about the beach there. On the way, I found this not-quite-dead-yet dragonfly:

I could hear loons down on this end of the lake from my site and I found them just off the beach!

I also found this merganser?

I returned home to find a dad and his sons had set up at my site. Technically, if all the sites are full, you’re supposed to ask to share, but since I went off hiking and wasn’t home, I guess I can forgive them.

As long as they keep a clean campsite, because this little guy was milling around:

Fun fact: Lake Desor has a few islands, which makes them islands on a lake, in an island on a lake!

I spent the rest of the evening hanging out by the lake, reading until my phone needed to be recharged (might have to find a new way to fill my time, my charger is only good for ~3.5 charges), working on crossword puzzles:

Eating a scenic dinner:

And watching for wildlife that never came.

But despite not seeing another moose, today was a good day- lazy, but I needed that.