Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor

Day 15, August 14

We awoke early again this morning, crawled into the Dink and headed for the mainland of Eagle Harbor.  It was another beautiful Lake Superior sunrise. The ride was about a quarter of a mile across the mouth of the bay so we were treated with the rollers that were coming in from the lake.  The little boat bobs like a cork as its little electric trolling motor pushes us along.  Everything we do on this trip we do slowly including riding in the Dink.  It probably travels about the speed of a fast walk but, so far, it has always gotten us to our destinations, and neither of us has perfected the skill of walking on water YET.

Eagle Harbor Lighthouse

In the town of Eagle Harbor, we walked to the lighthouse that was built in the middle 1800s.  It, like the others we have visited, was really interesting.  One thing that this one had was a fog horn building.  The entrance to Eagle Harbor, as I discussed earlier is a treacherous one and finding the narrow rock -lined channel into the inner harbor would be especially tough in the fog.  This building housed boilers and steam generators that were used to blow the fog horn.  We did not go into the lighthouse or museums on the site because the fee to enter was $5.00 per head and I had left my money back in the boat.  I tried my most pitiful poorhouse line to no avail.  The lighthouse mistress was a hard one and told me, “Oh well, you can walk around the grounds!” 

We got under way for Copper Harbor at about 10:00 and immediately realized that there was not enough wind to sail.  We picked a heading of east north east and were immediately beaten up by rollers coming in from the north.  The trip was only 13 miles, however, we rolled from side to side the entire way. 

Copper Harbor, like Eagle Harbor has a narrow treacherous entrance.  We again used range markers to find our way through the channel.  Once past the shoals, we turned back west and headed down through the large well protected basin.  At the far end we pulled into the Michigan Division of Natural Resources dock and put on 6 gallons of fuel.  From there, we eased along the northern shore of the harbor and found a nice quite place to drop our anchor.  I was amazed how very few pleasure boats were in the Harbor.  I would say there were no more than 5 or 6.  I guess that the very northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula is really hostile and we later found out that there is not much here for entertainment if you are a boater.

Ilse Royale Queen IV

Once the boat was secure, we jumped in the Dink to see what the town of Copper Harbor had to offer.  We quickly realized that there was little to entertain us.  We saw a number of motels the type you would have patronized in the 50s, some curio shops, a couple of restaurants, a general store, some kayak rental places and the main thing, the ferry to take visitors to Isle Royale.  There must have been 100 cars in their parking lot.  Isle Royale is approximately 50 miles to the northwest and the ferry makes one round trip per day.  We walked around the town, bought a few groceries and headed back to the Dink. 

Cape Dory Sloop

Back at the town dock, a couple of gentlemen were setting sail in what appeared to be about an 18 foot Cape Dory sailboat.  The older gentleman of the pair appeared to be an accomplished sailor as he demonstrated later in the afternoon beating his way efficiently up the bay. 

Copper Harbor

A bit of personal history.  When I was preschooler, my uncle Jim and his wife and first two children lived near the town of Champion, Michigan here in the Upper Peninsula and I can remember the trip that my family took at least twice to visit them.  On one of those trips, we made the trip to Copper Harbor and I remember that it was one of my favorite places on earth.  For one thing, they had a real fort made of logs and it was the same design that I used to build a fort with my Lincoln Logs.  Well, I must admit it is nothing like I remember. The tour book says that the population is 30! 

Earlier today, as we were fueling up at the DNR dock, a 41 foot power cruiser skillfully pulled into the dock directly across from us.  I helped them tie up, we had a few words of conversation, and then we left.  Later in the evening, we saw them again as we passed in our dinghies coming from town.  Again we exchanged pleasantries.  When we got back to the boat, I suggested that we invite them to our boat for a piece of apple caramel cake that Janine had baked yesterday.  Janine agreed and I took to Dink over to their boat and offered the invitation.  They agreed to come after their dinner.

Filet Mignon with Rice and Mushroom Sauce Dinner

Our dinner consisted filet mignon that was given to us by our friends, Katrina and Ben Carpenter.  They raise long horn cattle that this was some meat from one of their steers.  It was totally awesome! 

Not long after dinner, Bill and Barb Scrimgeour came to Panache bearing gifts of wine.  We spent the next couple of hours thoroughly enjoying these interesting folks.  Over a bottle of wine and apple caramel cake, we shared stories of boating and life’s travels.  It was a pleasant experience and we look forward to following their adventures as Barb undertakes to develop a blog site of her own. We were forced to end this great gathering due to darkness. 

  A decision needs to be made about the activities of the next few days.  The weather appears to be heading down hill.