We woke up this morning to the call of the wild….and drained batteries. So making breakfast we started up the gen to have power and charge the batteries yet again. Enjoying our morning coffee on the back deck we watched two of the boats leave and wondered what the rush was all about. After some time we decided to pack up and head to Killarney which was about a 45 minute run. Short compared to those hours on the lakes. In Killarney we stopped at Mountain Lodge Marina. The attendants there commented on how slow the start was for the season this year. Only 2 boats stayed overnight and only 3 coming in for tonight. We filled up the diesel tank and headed to the corner store for a few added extras to spend the next 3 nights on the hook out in the middle of nowhere.
We left Killarney and traveled about 30 minutes to Covered Portage Cove. A sweet cove with high bluffs all around. It is quiet here. At the entrance to the cove is a local known rock formation that resembles and called Indian Head. I decided not to have the gen start up for lunch so instead we had a BBQ homemade muffin quiche with fruit and provolone cheese on the side . Turned out rather well on the grill. Then Low Voltage came off the davit and we took the dingy into the areas close to shore. The cove reads about 6 feet on the charts but the depth finder says it is 10 feet. Since we draft about 3.5 feet it is always nice when there is deeper water. The water levels up north are significantly higher than usual. The water temps this year are running around 70 degrees F. Chilly, yes!
Taking the dingy to the end of the cove we found a trail to the top of the bluff where the mosquitos had us for lunch. Bug spray helped but not entirely. At the top of the bluff we could see Manitoulin Island and the waters around the island. We eventually lost the trail even though the information we read said it was a 2 hour hike. So we spent about a half hour trying to find the rest of the trail. In doing so we got separated. Aiden and I and then Scott . We had already made up a plan to make a loon sound if we did get separated. Scott has a tendency to wander away because he has a much quicker pace than Aiden and I. So as he was trying to find the trail in one direction, Aiden and I were trying to find it in another direction. Scott did have a cell phone with GPS so I wasn’t worried about him. He realized that when he did call out for us we didn’t answer. So he was worried that we had lost him. Which of course, we did. Aiden and I decided to go back to where we knew the marked trail was and figured Scott would meet up with us. So we walked slowly and enjoyed the view of the cove with its pines and black water. We kept calling out every once in awhile but not with the loon call anymore. So through the northern forest the calling of “Scott, Dad” rang out every 5 minutes or so. I heard a very far off call back after about 40 minutes of “I’m coming”. We did catch up with each other and found out what had happened. As Scott went off in his direction he ended up by the water and called us. We didn’t answer so he knew we were out of range. His hope was that we didn’t try to follow him. He didn’t know exactly where he was so he climbed the bluff again to get his bearing. That is when he discovered that he had somehow hiked to the next bluff. So back down he went hoping again that we didn’t follow. Once he was in the valley between the 2 bluffs that is when he heard our faint call to him!
So now the boys are out fishing again. I’m enjoying the sound of the gen again booting up the run down batteries from the day. I’m sure we are PO’ing the sail boats here in the cove. 3 hours is a long time in complete quiet with a gen running. It is what it is!
FYI for our non-boater friends – “on the hook” merely means to be anchored!
