McCarty's Cove and Presque Isle

Woke up to a fresh morning after rain on and off overnight.  The high temp was predicted to be just under 70 but the morning began in the mid-60s so after midday, there would be falling temps as the cold front continued to come in.  This would be the first evening where overnight it would dip into the 40s so I wanted to plan the day to be back in plenty of time to experiment with the wood burning stove and make sure I knew how it worked so I didn't end up smoking out the cabin.

I was out of the cabin early and made my first trip to the outhouse.  GIANT wolf spider was there to greet me.  F*ck THAT!  Decided I would hold it before I go back in to face the spider again.  Hard to tell from the pic, but he was the size of my palm.  Got the willies just typing this.
Came across all kinds of mushrooms in the early morning light but must of them ended up blurry because of the low lighting.

I replenished my water bags and gathered a ton of wood before heading out.  In the winter months, DNR provides wood for the cabin.  In the summer, there are plenty of old dead trees in the forest to use for the fire, but I found a great deal of it was "punky" birch which was like throwing an old sponge filled with water onto the fire.  The shack where dnr keeps the wood was near the water pump and there were a lot of scraps from splitting logs scattered about, so this made for excellent kindling to supplement the branches I found on the forest floor.  There were also huge gaps in the shed where the firewood was kept, so I grabbed a couple of dry hardwood logs.  Sorry, dnr, but I paid as much as a winter guest and since it was going to get cold, I just wanted the security of having some slow burning logs nearby the fire ring so I wouldn't have to go into the woods after dark, if I needed more wood.

My first stop was to drive thru Aaron's old neighborhood to see how the old house was looking.  Had to pass Cocos to get there.  So sad they are closed!

I parked at the Picnic Rocks and spent a few hours on McCarty's Cove looking for rocks.  The winds were really kicking and I expected to see lots of rocks, as in the past, but this day the beach and beyond the shoreline was mostly sand and the cove was protected from the winds.  Went for a swim, dug around for rocks and got some cool pics, experimenting more with the new zoom lens.

I left the picnic rocks and went down Lakeshore Dr. to Presque Isle Park.  Lots of folks hanging out at the lighthouse.  I walked as far as the cement would go but didn't feel comfortable climbing over the boulders the rest of the way to the end since I had a backpack full of camera gear.  Yea, I wussed out.

The lighthouse side of the park was protected from the big winds which made for a warm start to my hike.

I climbed the root stairs which lead to the path that goes to the Black Rocks.  Passed what looked like a woodpecker condo along the way.

The further I traveled around the park, the more intense the winds became.  The waves were getting much bigger and the water more turbulent.  The late afternoon sun made for some gorgeous views along the path.  And soon I found my happy place!  Rocks, rocks and more rocks!

I filled my bag with some great rocks and decided to had back on Thursday.  More great views as I headed back to the car.

I was starving when I was done.  It was getting chilly and all I wanted was something hot and melty to eat.  I stopped at Phil's 550 again, this time for a pound of butter.  There were some trombone players practicing in the yard across the street.

I got back to the campsite, got a fire going after a lot of difficulty from the wind and began baking some cornbread over the fire.  I had a can of gumbo and a package of rice which made for an amazing dinner.  At some point, one of my chipmunk friends hopped up onto the picnic table, ripped open the box the butter came in, pulled out a stick and ran with it.  He ate almost half a stick of butter by the time I found the remainder.  This is when I knew the chipmunk was my spirit animal!

I sat in my chair and knit until dark.  I kept thinking, geez, there is an awful lot of traffic on the county road.  The noise was endless and reminded me of the sound of the trains in Chicago.  Then I realized, it wasn't traffic, it was the roar of the waves from Superior.  This was the perfect ending to a perfect day.