Day 36-July 19, 2010

Today: 25.11 mi
Trip: 524.27 mi

After an early morning thunderstorm the north wind began to blow and a fog rolled in. Neither was too terrible, but we still took our time charging up phones and enjoying coffee. We did eventually make it out to the water after chatting with the local trail maintenance crew.
Even though Mom and I have both hiked the Porcupine Mountains, paddling it was a whole other experience. The entire paddle from Union Bay to Big Carp was the most rugged we have seen. Not olny was the shoreline literally vertical rock sheets, but there were also two and sometimes three rock shoals between us and shore. We picked our landinging very carefully and stood in the water holding the kayak rather than touching the shore.
Now we have had our eagle days, fish days, loon days, and deer days but today was the best/worst of them all. Today was bear day. We saw one bear strolling the beach about six miles into our paddle and thought ourselves lucky to finally see one. When we say our second four miles later again patrolling the beach we had other thoughts. Seeing the bear was great but the idea of camping on shore has now changed.
From Big Carp to Presque Isle River cobble beaches came frequently. After Presque Isle though, came long stretches of sand. Just what a fiberglass tandem loves.
We ended our day at the Black River Harbor, my personal favorite for the trip thus far. The harbor was quaint and had a large day park complete with a screened in pavillion with wood and fireplace. We camped on the beach to rest up for another day.