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Isle Royale end-to-end solo loop hike part 12: Zero day at Washington Creek Campground at Windigo
It was my seventh day on the island, marking the halfway point of my trip. I’d backpacked from Rock Harbor to Windigo on the Minong Ridge trail and the plan was to hike back to Rock Harbor on the Greenstone Ridge trail.
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Good morning Windigo!
I got up at 6 a.m. which had become normal for me after a week on the trail – rising & sleeping with the sun. I was well rested and content to have enough Advil (see part 11). It had rained the evening before, which turned into thunderstorms overnight. It was good to be in a shelter and not in my tent as I had been for the last thunderstorm. I walked the 1/3 mile into Windigo, thinking I’d take a few pictures of the harbor.
Hiking the Windigo Nature Trail (one mile loop)
In Windigo, I saw a sign for a one mile loop nature trail, and decided to hike it to see if there were any moose around. I wasn’t really dressed for hiking – I had on my thin camp pants and a pair of sandals – but I did at least have my raincoat. Everything was wet from the overnight rain. The trail was pretty, but no moose in sight and now I was soaking wet. I managed to give myself some new blisters by hiking in wet sandals.
I went back to my shelter to get dried off. On my way I stopped at a spigot to get some water (no filter needed!) As I waited behind a woman filling her bottles at the spigot, a bull moose wandered out of the woods behind me. I whispered “moose” and we both silent watched him cross the trail and head into the woods near the shelters. No photos, no video – I just watched. Apparently they prefer the campground to the nature trail!
Was I up for another week of hiking?
Back at the shelter, I was beginning to think about the hike back – and wondered if I was up for another week of hiking. I was still remembering how terrible I’d felt after the long (12+ miles) hike into Windgo. Leaving Windigo I would have over 11 miles to the next campground, and my pack would be heavy again since I had the new food shipment. Could I do another day like that with a heavier pack?
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Get the Isle Royale guidebookWhen it was late enough for things to be open in Windigo, I trekked back there to buy stove fuel at the store, tokens to do laundry, and to talk to a ranger about what to expect on my first day out of Windigo.
I talked to Ranger Val – who it turns out knew my name because of the package I had mailed myself. She appreciated the artwork I had put on the box! (A picture of a moose and some pine trees). She told me that on a scale of 1-10, if my trek hike from N. Lake Desor to Windigo on the Minong was an 8, the hike from Windigo to S. Lake Desor was a 3. There would be wide, easy paths; a walk in the woods. What a relief! Yes, I could manage that.
Laundry at Windigo
Windigo was my first opportunity to do laundry. I had rinsed some things along the way to reduce the stink, but now I could really get them clean. You buy tokens for showers and laundry in the Windigo store.
2019 prices for shower, laundry and more:
Shower (5 minutes): $5.51
Towel rental & soap: $2.65
Clothes washer per load (requires 2 tokens): $10.99
Clothes dryer per load (required 8 quarters): $2.00
Ice (8 lb bag): $3.52
Expensive, yes, but all hikers know you can’t put a price on the smell of clean laundry!
Windigo ranger station and ranger programs
They put on various programs at Windigo, and you find out about them at the Ranger station. They had a sign outside listing the programs and what time they start.
The ranger station at Windigo is full of interesting things! There’s a lighthouse lens, a moose skeleton, and so much more. They have cards that identify the plants and animals on the island, and I spent some time going through them to identify things I’d seen in my first week.
I went to the “Bone-anza! Life of a Moose” talk in the afternoon. It was raining so I went in full rain gear, but we met under a pavilion so we all stayed dry. It was really interesting – I learned that moose noses are 4 times more sensitive than a german shepherd’s (this information would be useful to me later in my trip).
Relaxing at Windigo
I spent some time talking with a group of fishermen who come to the island every year, alternating which end they meet at. They invited me to eat with them, but I declined since I needed to eat the food I brought. They gave me some amazing beef jerky, which I carefully rationed for the rest of the trip. Well, until I was having a tough day and ate the rest of it in one sitting. It helped:)
The ferry had come and gone and the shelter next to mine opened up, so I moved to that one (#14), getting a better view of the river. While I was at my new shelter, a moose came from across the creek, ate some vegetation in the water, then walked up the bank near me and through the site next to mine (yes, my old site). It was great to see another moose, and I wasn’t even on the trail.
Showers at Windigo
After some time at the shelter, I trekked back to Windigo to shower one last time before hitting the trail. For a zero day, I logged a lot of miles walking back and forth to Windigo! The shower was $5.51 for 5 minutes (it shuts off at the 5 minute mark) and $2.65 to use their towel and get a bar of soap. You can buy two tokens if you don’t want to rush!
Outside of the showers I ran into someone I had hiked with before (small world!) She was on Isle Royale with a couple of friends, and they were in a shelter near mine. They invited me to stop over, and I spent the evening with them watching the moose as the fog rolled in. I love to solo hike, but it was good to talk with people again!
Moose watching was a perfect way to end my one rest day on the island. Tomorrow I would start the trek back to Rock Harbor.
Start from the beginning with Backpacking Isle Royale Part 1: Planning & Training.
