Hole Up on Stockton Island

Day 5, August 4

We had a really bad storm during the night.  It had been predicted and the weather guys didn’t let us down.  It was nice being tied to a concrete pier with a breakwater protecting us from the bashing waves.  They were calling for up to 40 mph winds and I would not have been surprised if we had gotten there.  There were 5 or 6 boats anchored in Presque Isle Bay outside of our docking area and they had to have taken a bashing.  We got up in the middle of the storm and watched out the window as the anchor lights on those boats rocked violently in the wave action.  I was a bit surprised that there were no boats washed up on the beach. 

After breakfast and bodily and boat clean up, we spent the majority of the morning catching up on our reading and correspondence.  The waves and wind had let up but they were calling for high winds for this evening and also overnight, so we elected to stay put in our secure little nook for another day or two. 

Lichens



Later in the afternoon, we decided that we needed to exercise our sedated muscles so we took a ½ mile walk down a nature trail that led us to Julian Bay.  There was a guide that the Park Service has developed that describes the various species and environmental phenomenon that one passes along the way.  This is a truly beautiful ecosystem.  Interestingly, the little plant that I mentioned that looks like a dogwood is actually of the same genus as the Flowering Dogwood that we see in Ohio but a different species.  They call it a Canadian Dogwood.  Another plant is called the Blue Bead Lily.  The ground is covered with a number of ferns and mosses as well as wintergreen.  We picked the wintergreen leaves and, sure enough, the flavor of  wintergreen lifesavers was in evidence.  Along the trail were massive white birch, northern white cedar, eastern hemlock, red maple, mountain maple and sugar maples.  The soils here are quite shallow with a sand subsoil so the entire area is littered with deadfall trees which are covered with lichens.  The guide points out that the lichens are extremely intolerant of air pollutants so their abundance is indicative of a clean atmosphere.  Also on our walk, we ran across three piles of bear scat.  Black bears are in residence and, according to the ranger there is a population of approximately 13 on Stockton Island.  They are quite retiring and are seldom seen. 



Julian Bay



The bay on the east side of the peninsula that creates Presque Isle Bay is Julian Bay.  It is a beautiful large cove the shore of which is made of fine white sand and behind the beaches are dunes that form what is known as a “tombolo.”  The geologists tell us that Stockton Island was once separated from a very small island called Presque Isle.  Over a significant period of time, the wind and waves eroded the sandstone from the lower side of Stockton Island and the sand formed a land bridge called a tombobo that joined the two islands.  The trail that follows the shore around the old Presque Isle is called the Anderson Trail and travels through the lush vegetation of the forest and the rocky shore of the lake.  We made that 1.3 mile walk in the heat of the afternoon and were rewarded with a pleasantly cool stroll through a special sort of paradise. 

Back at the boat, I decided that a bath was in order so I got my bar of soap and waded into the cold Lake Superior water to get cleansed.  It was truly refreshing.

After dinner, we read for a while and I went to hear a presentation on the origin of the earth and its relationship to the environment that we were enjoying here in the Apostle Islands.  The ranger is quite knowledgeable and a talented teacher.  It made for an enjoyable presentation.