Where is That Confounded Moose? Hay Bay is about as remote as a man can get in the United States in a boat. The water is crystal clear and full of life. Moose roam freely in family units and eagles dot the sky. We were fired up for a moose sighting! As we settled in for the evening I kept a constant vigil hoping to pop my After dinner and a great sunset, Dave rallied us up for the required Pusser’s Rum party. We grabbed the oversized barrel off the bow (only place that big ass bright orange thing would fit) and dug into the case of Graciously provided rum courtesy of the fine people at Pusser’s and a couple of bottles of the Painkiller mix. We all happily readied to invade Dale’s boat. He had the bigger boat with the kick ass enclosed cockpit big enough to handle eight fully grown drunks and one little girl. Before the end of the night that little girl seemed like the only adult on board though… We hailed the Dilly Dally on the radio and requested a dingy pick up prompting Eugene to play He took Darren and Lisa across on the first shuttle while Dave and I stacked up the booze and accessories for the second trip. While Dave and I shuffled stuff around we pondered what the switch on the power station labeled “strobe” was for. I decided that the best way to find out was to turn it on. As Dave looked on I flipped the small switch … Suddenly every port and hatchway lit up like we were hit by lightning! Turns out there was an aircraft strobe light mounted on the top of the mast for rescue use. With the thick fog it illuminated everything in a weird blast of light! Everyone on both boats stopped and looked up simultaneously saying in their best Cheech and Chong, “OOOH WOW MAN!! It was really cool watching the light shoot across the fog. Eugene pulled along side with a big grin chuckling in disbelief tying up to the ladder. Dave For the non-boaters, The exhaust from the engine is routed out of an opening somewhere on the back of a boat. The water that is sucked out of the lake to cool the engine is also pumped out the same hole shooting out of with the diesel exhaust. It is like a garden hose being fed through the exhaust pipe of your car. When the ladder was mounted on this boat, it was deemed a good idea to mount it with the exhaust pipe exiting right in the middle of the ladder!!! I hit the starter and the diesel rumbled to life cold and noisy. As I idled it down I could hear Dave From the party boat our boat was lost in the fog except when the strobe exploded through the fog every ten seconds and exposed the majestic Pacific Seacraft for a split second. We mixed up a butt load of Painkillers and fun was had by all. The large cockpit proved to be perfect for the evening's festivities.Once the barrel o’booze was gone we climbed back into the dingy and taxied back home to the The next morning was bright and sunny. As the fog both on the island and inside our heads cleared it was a beautiful day. After a big batch of bacon and eggs we all rallied the dingy one load at a time to the dock on shore ready to explore the island in search for the so far elusive moose. There is a small dock on shore for day visits complete with a picnic table and an outhouse nestled in the woods. It felt good to be onshore stretching our legs and swapping stories of the trip so far. Dave, equipped with his shiny new pocket GPS was looking forward to leading the shore party The beach was covered in fresh moose tracks. Hopes were high that we would see a moose or two. We hit the small stream feeding the cove with spring water that Eugene had found earlier on a dingy ride. The brush is so thick that we resorted to walking up the middle of the stream into the island’s interior. We waded that little stream till it was impassable. The underbrush on this island is scraggly and gnarly having to survive the often times harsh environment of northern Lake Superior. Following Davy Crockett’s lead we cut North through the rough stuff up the hill. Watching for the moose that were no doubt busy watching us, we hiked for miles up the island turning East after reaching the top of the ridge. After a bit Dave seemed to be at odds with the little gadget and we decided that no matter what the magic box said home was most likely down hill so we turned South.
Walking up to the picnic area I looked down to realized that our foot prints from our way out were now covered in moose tracks!! There is no doubt that the moose were just out of our sights laughing their asses off! We rested up while Dave and Eugene made good on an earlier dare about swimming in the icy cold water and jumped off the dock a few times, crazy bastards!!! We all laughed and relaxed before riding back to the boats and readying for the cold long hard journey home…
|
head up at the right time to see a herd drinking along the shore. I wore those binoculars out without any luck. There’s no doubt the moose were having no problem seeing us and as such stayed back in the brush out of sight.
taxi driver for the migration. The fog had settled in hard and thick for the night making the adventure even more fun. Dale’s boat was nothing more than a shadow in the fog as the dingy cut through the darkness and eased up to our stern ladder.
climbed down into the dingy and I handed down the booty for the party. We decided it would be a good idea to fire up the engine and let it run to charge up our battery banks in preparation for the sail home the next day while we were next door away from the sound. While Dave and Eugene sat quietly in the small dingy tied fast to the ladder I hopped back into the cockpit to hit the button to fire the diesel to life…
giant disco light in the sky.
on a venture inland off the beaten path…Come to think of it there were no beaten paths.
Soon we got a great view of our anchorage far below us. After what seemed like forever of climbing through swamps and bogs we popped out on the bay and headed back around the cove to the boats.