Wetmore Beach

Wednesday I woke up slow and sore.  I had performed a successful test the night before and the embers in the wood burning stove were still hot, so I dug those out and made sure I wasn't going to set the cabin on fire while I was out for the day.  The plan this morning was to hit the trails around the cabin.  There was supposed to be a trail which began across the road from the Cabin 4 & 5 trailhead that led to the "Top of the World" and looked to be about 1.5 miles to the top.  I had watched bikes go down the trail on a website, so I was pretty excited to reach the overlook at summit the second highest peak in the state.

 I did the usual morning gathering of water and wood, snapped a couple more pics of the weird mushrooms growing around the cabin and shared a quick breakfast with my chipmunk friends.  This day, one of them stole a couple slices of bacon.  I tossed some left over cornbread to them and that seemed to keep them out of my way while I made preparations to leave for the day.

Besides the chipmunks, I didn't see much wildlife around the cabin - no squirrels, no deer, no bunnies...nada.  But, each day I would see rather large prints along the path to the cabin.  This one was near the trailhead.  I didn't hear coyote singing at night, so I don't know what this print belongs to.

I packed some small, cut pieces of bright orange yarn to mark the trails so I wouldn't get lost at any junctions.  I was hoping to find rocks along the trails and made sure there was room in my backpack, so I left the camera equipment locked in the car to take to the beach later. There was a long stretch of trail that had old railroad ties (i think) and spikes under all the leaves and gravel.  There was some hematite and slag along the way, too, so there must have been some mining going on in these woods.  I found some beautiful rocks - pretty large ones too, but mostly granite and they were pretty heavy so I left them along the trails in the hopes of picking them back up on my return down from "Top of the World".  Unfortunately, I never reached my destination, nor came across those rocks again.

My first attempt seemed to be going well, but after over a mile of hiking, I came to a small creek by a green metal gate that was near a parking area off CR550 for Harlow Trail day hikers.  The forest was so dense that I couldn't see any high elevation in my immediate area, so I back tracked a bit and then met up with the North Country Trail, which I took for a couple of more miles in the opposite direction.  I came upon a sign pointing to Little Presque (to the left) or Harlow Lake (to the right), so I took the path back to Harlow Lake, just wishing I was at the beach by now.  This led to Cabin 6 (which I didn't even know existed) and from the trail map, looked to be near the intersection of Harlow Lake Rd. and CR550...another wrong path.  I found another trail that seemed to backtrack and luckily came across one of my orange pieces of yarn at an intersection, so I was able to make my way back out to the trailhead for Cabins 4 & 5 and back to my car.

I had spent way more time hiking than I initially planned, so I didnt go back to the cabin.  It had been a chilly morning so I was wearing my long johns under my shorts to both stay warm and keep the bugs off my legs.  I quickly changed into my bathing suit at the car (even though the high temp was only supposed to be around 60, I still hoped to find a warm cove along the beach) and threw my clothes back on and hopped into the car and headed to Wetmore Beach.

When I arrived there was no one on the beach and the waves were even larger than the day before.  The sky was clear and the winds really blowing hard.  I walked all the way along the beach with my feet in the water.  It was definately one of those days where the water feels like bathwater each time you go in because the wind is so dang cold.  And when Lake Superior feels like bath water, you know its a cold wind blowing!  I found some rocks to climb and there was a nice area in the sunshine that was blocking the wind and had some gorgeous veins running thru the rocks.  Waves were splashing over the edge keeping a good portion of the rocks wet, so it was really pretty being able to see all of the colors.  There were some large pieces that had chipped off the boulders, that I stashed in my bag, but otherwise no real rock hunting on this end of the beach.  I closed my eyes and stayed in my little nook for a while longer before heading to the opposite end of Wetmore beach.

Temps had been staying in the low 60s and the winds continued to pick up throughout the day, so it was feeling like it was getting colder.  As I walked along the shore, still with my feet in the water, I began noticing the UP version of driftwood washing up along the shore.  These were full logs or tree trunks that the waves kept slamming against the shore.  Long and heavy enough to knock you over if you weren't being careful!  An older couple came down to the lake all bundled up in their hoodies and rolled out some blankets and sleeping bags and proceeded to take a nap, cuddled up together, in the sunshine.  I kept on going, and in the bend that leads to the point, I found my spot.  There was no wind, lots of sun, tons of rocks and the rest of the afternoon to dig.

At some point the clothes came off and I took a very quick dip.  There were helicopters flying up and down the coastline due to "no swim" warnings due to the high waves and rip currents, so I figured I would be a good girl and stick to wading.  A family tried moving in on my little stretch of wind-blocked beach while I was in the water, and of course the kids wanted to swim too.  After plenty of whining, the parents finally caved in and allowed them to go in, up to their knees.  In the end it was way too cold for them and they got out of the water quickly. HA!

This section of beach had huge rocks, half buried in sand, along the shore and in the shallows.  I wish I could have taken every one, but they were much bigger than I needed.  I would dig around these large rocks and found some beauties buried in the sand around the edges.  If I had more time, this would have been my go-to spot the rest of the week.  And I will certainly be back here in the future!

The sun was low and the winds shifting again by the time I bundled up and headed back to my car, taking the long way via the North Country Trail.

Back at camp, I was getting ready for the coldest night so far.  The winds had shifted and were blowing more directly towards the front of the cabin.  I made a dinner of gnocchi and used the hot dog buns to make toasted bread to go with my meal.  Each night I would make some chai tea and add a few splashes of Chila to "warm up" and this night I left a cup constantly simmering over the fire, and later the wood burning stove.  The next day would be my last full day and I needed to get organized so I could pack out enough gear so Friday, my departure would be as easy as possible.