… down to the minute, I’d hope to be awake, full from breakfast, campsite packed up, and already on the trail leaving Daisy Farm and headed north-northwest across Isle Royale, up over the Greenstone Ridge and down into McCargoe Cove to set up camp for my second night on the island.

Day 2 is gonna be a beautiful one, and a tough one too. I guess all of them will be tough, and hell, comparitively Day 2 is probably gonna be the second-easiest (hardest to easiest, estimated by day: 5-3-4-6-2-1-7). Day 7 doesn’t really count because there’s no scheduled hiking, that’s the day I wake up in Windigo at the western tip and take the ferry ride back around to Rock Harbor, where I will camp again if I can’t catch a ferry home that day.

But back to Day 2’s beauty: It’s gonna rock. From all I’ve read, the Greenstone Ridge is the most scenic part of the island, mostly because it’s the consistently highest walking line, being right down the middle of the island. I’ll just be crossing it, but there will be a point when I hit the top that I’ll have quite a view.

The Minong’s views aren’t so sprawling and grand as the Greenstone, but to me more valuable because you’re right along the water — and you camp along the water, whereas Greenstone has you landlocked most of the way.

Anyway… a couple weeks ago a gas hand at the marina dock got me nervous when he said the rangers will be questioning me about my preparedness since I’m going solo. That got me freaked out thinking “oh no, what if I fail their little pop quiz? what if they tell me to fuck off?!” But I was comforted by a couple things — one, that I seemed to know more about the island than the guy at the Isle Royale class at REI, and two, that no matter how many preparation tipsheets and checklists I read, I have covered every base and then some. The last thing I have to do to feel 100% comfortable is to just keep brushing up on first aid skills. I remember a lot from boy scouts, and I’ve been reading on that too, but it’s just the only area where I feel like I might still need to consult the little handbook that comes with the kit on some things.

So to be prepared for this possible line of questioning, I started reading up on national park rules and regulations, just to see if anybody had put together a list of things to be prepared for. Of course, again I was grinning ear to ear when I saw that I already knew all this stuff like the back of my hand — that is until I read the sentence about some national parks not allowing solo hikers.

FUCK. OH. NO.

Quickquickquickwww.nps.org/isleroyaleohmotherfuckernononoohshitohshit… gimmeaphonenumberyoufuckingwebsiteohshitohshitohshit… okokoknumber… cellphonecellphonecellphonebeepbeepboopboopbeep…

“Isle Royale National Park, how can I help you?”

Holy shit, there’s somebody there… a human. With a phone. And a voice. Ok, breathe…

“Hi, yes I’m going to be arriving there in about 2 weeks and I just read online something about national parks not allowing solo hikers and I thought I’d better check…”

DO. NOT. FUCK. WITH ME. ANSWER FAST AND CLEAR.

“Oh yeah, we have solo hikers all the time!” I LOVE YOU. “People come up here to do it as a challenge or a spiritual thing, ya know whatever the purpose, we support that all the way.” I LOVE YOU.

Heart rate normal again. Sweat drying. Brain unfucking itself. Remember, you’re at work, do not holler in celebration.

“That’s a relief, thanks very much.”

“Huh? That’s it? Well, that was easy!”

Oh yeah, I guess this guy probably sits around all day waiting for a real person to call. Maybe I could ask more…

“Well, have you heard how the Minong is yet this year?”

“Oh yeah, I hear there’s still snow patches out there, and it’s a little wet from the slow melt goin on. We’re not expecting any big rain any time soon so probably by the time you get here it’ll still be moist, but probably pretty nice. Bugs are a little late this year they think, so you’ll probably be good there too.”

Awesome! I hadnt even considered actually CALLING these people until now. Hahaha! In my mind, I guess I had ruled out that option, as if calling were cheating or something. Like it wasn’t an adventure if you could talk to somebody who’s already there. But it really was helpful. Guy said the temps would be in the mid-to-high 40s and then probably still frost at night.

That was good to know, because I was planning for 50s and low 60s with 40s at night. So I pack warmer. I had to rush on the phone a bit because I was at work, but I plan to call one more time before I go up, probably next week, just to shoot the shit and see if they have any more helpful tips.

I’m kinda just rambling at this point.

Isle Royale is all I think about right now. I need to look back and see when I first mentioned it here…

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