Great Lakes Water Compact

Earlier this month Wisconsin passed the Great Lakes Water Compact, leaving only Pennsylvania and Ohio left to remove their thumbs from their collective posteriors and get it done. Then the Congress needs to ratify it, since its essentially a treaty between Canada and the US, and it becomes law. Or whatever you would like to call it.

As the cartoon cynically suggests, the Compact will hold up until someone really wants the water and has the clout and money to get it. Its very similar to our treaty granting the Black Hills to the Indian tribes 'in perpetuity'. Until gold was discovered, that is. Then the whole damn thing was quickly thrown out the window, but not before an arrogantly over confident Gen. Custer and his hapless 7th Cavalry were buried on a hill in Montana and the tribes were relegated to godforsaken reservations in South Dakota. Would it come to that over water, or would it take gold (or oil) to make people take up arms? Armed confrontations have occurred many times in the parched west but only once east of the Mississippi. On May 8, 1892, a gang of workmen hired by Chicago entrepreneur Mr. McElroy invaded the town of Waukesha, Wisconsin. This gang was intent on laying a pipeline from Waukesha's Hygeia Spring to a suburb of Chicago. They were turned back by the citizens of that city in one of the few (to date) physical confrontations over water east of the Mississippi river. The book that I lifted that passage from is called The Great Lakes Water Wars and the website also has some fine Great Lakes water related links.

I've jumped on this soapbox before and will likely do so again. The idea of Lake Superior water squirting out of some fountain in Las Vegas tends to get me fairly riled up. I just want to do my little part to keep this water issue in peoples minds and keep them alert when challenges, like the guy who wanted to ship tankers full of Lake Superior water to China, come up. We can get by without gold and we could get by without oil, but if we have no water we're dead. Its kind of like when your little sister eats all her Halloween candy and then wants some of yours. You might give her a couple pieces but the lessons of not to be a glutton (or a short term hedonist bastard, as a long ago ex girlfriend referred to me) and that she's not entitled to the candy need to be learned. We also need to be vigilant to make sure our parents (the government) does not order us to give her the candy. All I ask is that we keep our eyes open and cross our fingers that remaining states, Feds, and Canada do the right thing when it comes to ratifying the Great Lakes Compact and protecting our water.

Weather in the Apostles

I mentioned in yesterdays post that we needed to keep a 'weather eye' this weekend due to all the isolated thunderstorms that kept popping up on Saturday. I've found over the years that this is by far the most effective way to stay safe and paddle smart in the Apostle Islands. The National Weather Service in Duluth does the best job they can but, like a good lead off hitter in baseball, they fail about 66% of the time. Last July the Podman, KingOfIronwoodIsland, and I were forced to abort a crossing when the 'light and variable westerly winds' turned out to really be 30-40 knot dead south winds with rapidly building seas. Conversely, during our week long 4th of July trip we arose before dawn to beat the 'winds from the NW, building to 30 knots with 4-6' seas by mid morning'. The photo below was taken as we battled these vicious conditions.

I always bring my VHF transceiver/weather radio and listen several times a day. What it usually tells me in the 'current conditions' segments is that the weather conditions 20 miles apart are completely different. The main reason for this, of course, is the lake itself and the topography of the area. The Bayfield peninsula as well as several of the island have some fairly high hills and cliffs. This time of the year the land mass is warming up nicely but the lake is not. Warm air swirling around and over the land meets the cold air above the lake and interesting things can happen. Morning fog is one of the more common ones. Don't forget your chart, compass, and/or gps. Knowing the procedure for a securite' call on the radio is a good thing to let any other boats in the area know you are making a crossing in the fog. Warm air and cold water can spawn isolated squalls also. The same winds that brings us several feet of lake effect snow in the winter can bring spring and fall storms too. These weather events happen fast. A couple Memorial Days back we were paddling east into blue skies. Shortly after I felt a cool breeze on the back of my neck the BessmerConvivialist asked, "Could one of you guys turn around and let me know if we should worry about those clouds?" I'll let you be the judge.....

And then there is the wind. One of the more interesting areas in the islands is where the highlands of Oak Island, Red Cliff Point, and Basswood Island meet. This spot is affectionately know as the Basswood Triangle. No matter which way the wind is blowing elsewhere you can be assured it ain't blowin' that way here! The wind line seems almost like an eddy line in the river. I've seen sailboats tooling along nicely and then watched the sails luff, fill up the other way, and then pop back to the original setting. This causes much scurrying amongst the boat crew as one could imagine. Back when I paddled a feathered Euro paddle, before I went over to the 'dark side' with my beloved Greenland sticks, I almost went over when a rogue gust caught my large Eurospoon blade as it was vertical over my head. Later, when the concept of the Greenland storm paddle was explained to me I understood completely.

I guess the point of this post is that the National Weather Service is great, Doppler radar is an amazing tool, and a weather radio is an essential piece of gear on a kayak trip. But keep your eyes, ears, and most importantly your instincts alert when you're in the Apostles. It will save you a lot of effort and grief.

Apostles observations

One of the things I love about changing seasons is the stuff that you rediscover when you begin the next seasons activities again. Seeing and hearing the Black Cap Chickadees in the deer stand, feeling the quads burn when you strap on the telemark skis for the first time, and settling into the groove as you begin your first long kayak crossing of the season.

On Friday we loaded up the gear and headed for Manitou Island in the Apostles. While I did forget the bag that had Sunday's breakfast in it, we did bring most of the gear we needed. It was raining as we left the deserted Red Cliff marina, which the local Ojibway tribe operates, but the sun was out with a nice rainbow by the time we hit Red Cliff Point. We figured we must be pushing the season a bit because the familiar red navigation buoy on the point had not been put in place yet. We finished the 3 hour trip to Manitou Island in the dark with the almost full moon glinting off the paddle blades on water that looked like liquid mercury. There were some big spring storms this year and the campsite was littered with aspen, most of which were broken off 10-12' (3M) above the ground. The mile long trail to the old fish camp was littered with trees also. We had the saw along and did a little bit of clearing but, wilderness area or not, the roar of the chainsaw will be needed to clean this mess up, assuming the NPS wants a passable trail.

Saturday brought a steady northwest wind and the promise of unsettled weather. We had planned to move camp to Oak Island but once again the VoiceOfReason earned her moniker. "Why don't we just stay here and take a day paddle?". A unanimous vote was quickly taken as we correctly assumed that the site would not be reserved for that evening. In fact the only other kayaks we saw all weekend were on car roofs. We saw two fishing boats on Saturday and a commercial fisherman and a couple sailboats on Sunday but we pretty much has the entire park to ourselves. We took off for the spit on Rocky Island to see if there was any storm damage to the big white pines there, but as we rounded the NE point of Otter Island some nasty looking clouds and building seas prompted the VOR to announce, "I'm turning around". Since she is the VOR we once again agreed. The National Weather Service out of Duluth still had only generic 'isolated thunderstorms, some of which could be severe' reports so we did what folks have done for centuries; we kept a 'weather eye' on the sky. Of course halfway into the crossing back to Manitou,"Doppler radar is reporting strong thunderstorms on a line from Two Harbors to Port Wing, moving southeast at 40mph with 50mph winds and pea sized hail. These are dangerous storms so take cover......" Fortunately they missed us to the west and some other weather missed us to the east so we had a pretty decent day with a fine Apostle Island sunset over Otter Island. The KingOfIronwoodIsland tried out his new folding camp chair and its hypnotic properties relaxed him so much that it was reported when he made it to the tent he went to sleep with his headlamp on.

He was up early the next morning however, as he announced with a shake of our tent "bear in camp!". Sure enough there was a roughly 250# black bear tearing up an anthill about 20 yards west of camp. Could this be the same bear that we saw last summer in roughly the same spot? Could he have bulked up that much in 10 months? There are striking similarities between the two pictures. You decide. Manitou does have a bear box and he showed no interest at all in the camp or us. He ambled up the beach on what appeared to be his regular route and all was fine. Score another one for the bear box, at least three of which will be installed this summer due to donations from kayakers in CASKA, SKOAC, the GurneyGranny, and matching funds from the Friends of the Apostle Islands Nat'l Lakeshore. Great stuff to improve the park!

We headed back to Red Cliff with a nice tail wind and leisurely swells pushing us along. The bears must be out in full force because we saw tracks again when we stopped on Oak for lunch. The lake is up roughly a foot over last year. That extra water made the treacherous (to gel coat and fiberglass, that is) crossing of the Manitou reef much less nerve wracking. We were back in Red Cliff early afternoon after a fine outing.

Next weekend is Memorial Day and the crowds will increase greatly, drop off for a couple weeks, and then build back up for the peak season of the 4th of July through Labor Day in September. Even though the weather was brisk, this was a great outing with no crowds and a chance to see how the park weathered the harsh winter. This is the 3rd early May trip in a row; I think it could be an annual.

Off to the Apostles

It still amazes me that all that crap can fit in two little boats. The long anticipated first overnight Apostles kayak trip of the year leaves for Red Cliff today. The VOR, GalwayGuy, the KingOfIronwoodIsland, and I are going to hit Manitou tonight and then Oak for Saturday night. The main challenge of this trip will be locating all the gear that I carefully stored last fall in a very organized and methodical fashion. Except I can't remember the method and organizational scheme that I used. The dutch oven was carefully hidden in the garage behind the snow tires and the water filter was located under the stairs I suspect someone broke in and stole my spare butane cylinder, more than likely a terrorist group building an FAE bomb. I did find the little "We've rifled your baggage. Love, the TSA" tag in my Duluth pack pocket so maybe I'm not too far off. In any event, essentials are located and a noon departure is scheduled. The SKOAC trailer has 3 good lookin' boats on it and this will be its last trip. The circle will be complete because I took it on its first trip a few years back, a club day paddle down the Mississippi in water that was maybe just a bit robust for rookie sea kayakers. We had a capsize exiting one of the locks but I guess thats what made it memorable. I look forward to gazing west toward the Bayfield peninsula tonite, adult beverage in my hand, rear end in my little folding beach chair, thinking about absolutely nothing. See you Monday.

Snowbirds over Superior

I've been diagnosed by the BessemerConvivialist, a clinical professional by trade, as suffering from one of the most severe cases of TCS that she has ever seen. TCS or Time Compression Syndrome is a brain disconnect where interesting and fun activities occur in real time but the non interesting activites such as planning, packing, and transportation become compressed, often making the victim slightly late for various events. I almost had a flare up of the affliction yesterday. I noticed in the paper that the Canadian Air Force Snowbirds Precision Aerobatic Team was performing in Duluth over Lake Superior at 5:15pm Wednesday. Like my buddy RonO, I really like Cool Airplanes and knew I would be heading up there one way or another. I quickly formulated the plan to leave work early, load the boats, head to Duluth, launch, and paddle out from Wisconsin Point to watch the show from the water. I figured if we left at 2pm we would be on the water in plenty of time and be home in St Anthony by 10pm. This timetable was quickly demolished by the VoiceOfReason. She dissected my carefully laid plans and informed me that it we left at 1pm we might be home by 11pm or so if we were lucky. After pointing the many incidentals that needed to be factored in, as well as my inability to drive past the Thirsty Pagan without stopping for a beer, I reluctantly decided that watching the show from Leif Erickson Park would be the prudent choice on a work night. We quickly recruited GalwayGuy, TheGraciousPartier, and TheLegend, met them in Hinckley, and headed for Duluth.

The weather was fabulous. 60F (16C) with a light westerly breeze. We lounged on the rocks in the park and all agreed that we could wait a long time for the air show to start in conditions like that. We had a cooler and some cups and I had determined earlier that New Belgium 1554 Black Ale looked exactly like root beer. Sometimes discretion is needed in Minnestota, the State Where Nothing is Allowed. I correctly surmised that our multi generational group would pose no threat to public safety if we sipped a beer; the camouflage was necessary to avoid the local gendarmes', as we were accosted at St Johns University the year before in a similar situation. At 5:15 the nine CT-114 Tutor jets of the Snowbirds appeared over the lake and the show began. I don't know how many people viewed it but as far as I could see, several miles for sure, the lake front and beaches were crowded with thousands of spectators. We witnessed some spectacular formation flying, loops, rolls (bonding with we Greenland rolling afficianados), smoke displays, and some high speed passes. These Canadian pilots were superb and could really fly their jets, sometimes reaching speeds in excess of 350mph. There was a large rectangular area of the lake cordoned off by Coast Guard and county sheriff's department craft and no boats were allowed in this zone, where the Snowbirds were performing many of their maneuvers. The three large tour boats of the Vista Fleet were lined up and used by the pilots to help index their maneuvers, according to the Duluth News Tribune. We did see a few paddlers on the water and the lake, which we all know is the boss, cooperated with some light riffles and relatively flat conditions. It was indeed a perfect event and when the half hour was up the crowd wanted more. This little taste was a prelude and a preview of the Duluth Air Show, which is coming up the end of July. Once again the VOR proved to be psychic and we headed off to the Thirsty Pagan for some homebrewed beer and homemade pizza. Sittiing on the lake, smelling the lake and feeling the spring breeze has me fired up for the first Apostle Islands camping trip of the season this weekend. I hope someone is available for an intervention if my TCS flares up again.