Today’s wind speed forecast: 10-20 knots.

I suppose I could hike to Daisy or Lane Cove or up to Mount Ojibway. But Kayak is lonely, and I have no intention of leaving the relative safety of Rock Harbor. So I carry Kayak over to the closest slip, where the floating docks are by the marina office, just before a crew starts removing the floating docks for the season. There are signs every day of Rock Harbor shutting down. The store had opened some during the first couple of days, but now remaining merchandise and shelving began to be covered in white sheets. Park ranger sightings are few.

I suit up in my rented drysuit and start to bend over to pick up my paddle. I can’t, because I am puffed up like the Michelin man. So I unzip a bit to release the extra air.

Finally I am in Kayak, and we begin to make our way to Tookers Island. The wind is such that I find myself paddling almost exclusively on one side in order to maintain direction. Kayak has a rudder, and I had forgotten to deploy it.

Ranger Carrie had warned me that waves look bigger when you’re in the water, and she was right! They weren’t so large as to intimidate me, but for the first time I felt the size of me relative to Lake Superior and the power of the water.

Tookers is about a mile from Snug Harbor, and in due time we arrived. I explored and then wished I’d brought enough to spend the night. In reality, I had a bailout bag and would have been fine to spend the night.

On the return trip, I deployed the rudder and found maintaining direction much easier.

Whatever the wind speed forecast was going to be, Tobin Harbor was nearly always going to be a calmer choice. Since I wanted to paddle every day for the rest of my visit, it made sense to move Kayak to Tobin Harbor.

So upon my return, I encountered the Brown family from St. Paul, a couple of whom I’d met on the way over, and asked for help. They kindly said yes, and thus the rest of my week was set.