Day 7: July 11, 2012

Packed up all of our stuff, including the charged Y.S.I and Sonde probe. We've been having trouble with the Y.S.I holding a charge, which is a shame because it was our way of measuring pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen levels, and temperature. It worked fine right after it was unplugged in the lab before we left, but even though it should've been charged when we got out to Lakes LeSage and Richie, it wouldn't turn on correctly. So we figured we'd try to charge it again at Mott and bring it to our next set of lakes. It worked when we unplugged it this morning, so we're hopeful that it'll still have charge when we get to Lake Angleworm!

The waves for the canoe ride to Daisy were really intense. I was worried that we were going to capsize, and that all of our gear would get lost in the Rock Harbor channel. Getting there was such a relief. We really had to fight though!

The waters were most rough around the opening to Superior. This was a picture of it on a nicer day- pretend there are giant waves and sea monsters out there. That's more of what we were dealing with.

We stayed in a shelter again, but had rude neighbors. They slammed doors and shouted until the wee hours of the morning. Slamming your shelter door is one of the biggest faux pas. It's really loud, and it echoes around the entire camp. I'll admit, I'm guilty of it a few times too- accidents happen. But if you go camping, try to make sure you're not that person. Everyone can hear it. Everyone. Ever wake up in the middle of the night for no reason?

Someone slammed a shelter door at Isle Royale. That's what woke you.

We went to a talk by Candy Peterson, wife of Rolf Peterson, about the wolf-moose study on Isle Royale! It was very informative, and she's a very friendly person too. We got to see several moose skulls, some other moose bones, and a wolf skull! There aren't very many wolves on Isle Royale- last time that they checked, I believe she said that there were 9, and only 1 of those is a female. Apparently, three wolves were found dead a week prior in a mine shaft. :( The question she posed to us was: should new wolves be brought to the island? And if so, should they be brought before the current population dies out, or should a fresh population be brought? One thing's for sure- a large predator is hugely important in the Isle Royale food chain. It's certainly an interesting dilemma to try to sort through.