On this my last day, I took a sunrise hike out to Scoville Point:

Later in the morning Bryan and I moved Kayak over to the usual dock.

Five minutes after everyone boarded, rain began to fall, the only precipitation I’d seen all week. It was the final trip of the season for Isle Royale Queen IV.

Back to Copper Harbor, Kayak back on top of my car, Bryan to Houghton, and me to a municipal campground somewhere in the UP to sleep for a few hours before heading back home.

Today’s wind speed forecast: 15-25 knots diminishing to 10-20 knots in the afternoon, then increasing to 15-25 knots later in the day. Kayak remains on the rack. I hike to Three Mile for lunch under a favorite tree.

Today’s wind speed forecast: 10-20 knots increasing to 15-25 knots in the afternoon. I look at Rock Harbor. Kayak remains parked on the rack.

For the first time in my Isle Royale experience, Mount Franklin becomes a destination rather than a place to stop along the way to somewhere else. I eat lunch, read books, gaze at Belle Isle and beyond. I puzzle over a dead mouse in the middle of the trail.