Where WhimSea Takes Us

Willow River Campground

We were all packed up and ready to head out for a nice RV weekend at the Willow River Campground. Close enough to home that holiday traffic won't affect us much, far enough that it would be an adventure.

And suddenly it strikes us, we won't have a power hook up! What to do? Of course we must pick up solar panels, that will get us through. We did try to switch to an electrical site, to no avail.

We got to the site and were all set up fairly quickly.

Saturday we set up the solar panels without issue and got the frig turned on. Afterwards, we decided to go on an excursion to the nature center. Little did we know, it would be quite a trip. The trail to the Nature Center (via bike) was quite hilly with some trips down hill being a little scary even!

The Willow River area without the damn was wild, to say the least. Large blocks of stone that appear to be dropped willy nilly in the riverbed. Overgrown with weeds yet abutting what was clearly a swimming beach.

The return trip to the RV was particularly hard, given it was completely up hill. There were multiple times the boy gave up and just walked his bike uphill. I can't say I blame him. We likely covered a good four miles on our bikes.

We had dinner made over the fire. Very relaxing after a taxing day. Dylan did pull out his new lawn game and we played a couple of times. Of course, he won.

Sunday we decided to hike to the falls themselves. The path down was exceedingly steep. We were disappointed by the amount of garbage along the trail, but the boy was quite the trooper and did a great job picking up garbage along the way to the river.

We did stop at the old gravesite along the way and saw their view of the river. The machinery strewn along the riverbed was quite the sight to see.

The falls themselves were quite remarkable. The way the water fought the stone to make its way to ground, so amazing. The only negative being the garbage of those that came to visit and that they left behind. Disgraceful really.

The trip back up the hill was much harder then the trip down. I barely made it, despite multiple stops along the way. But up the hill we made it and back to the RV we were.

The boy also discovered the playground and how much he enjoyed it. So many kids, so much fun. We woke early on Monday and packed up while the boy played. Back home early enough that he's ready for his first day of school.

So many days ahead of us and zero plans except to drop Bug with John for his vacation. Do we go back to Isle Royale? Do we bum around the islands? We have supplies for either option aboard.

Before our trip, Troy had commissioned the marina to replace our starter. This will turn out to be very important. But they got the work done before we headed up.

Saturday we headed out to Frog Bay to anchor for the evening. Given the lack of wind we motored the whole way and anchored without incident. The boy enjoyed swimming (of course) and we enjoyed not being tethered to land and not having to bring Bug ashore. An excellent anchorage and a very peaceful evening.

Sunday, after coffee and listening to the weather, we decided to head towards Stockton Island. We started the engine, pulled up anchor and headed in that direction. We had some wind an decided it would be a good day to take our time and sail there. The wind was somewhat fickle, but we stuck it out until we reached Stockton.

But then. No engine.

No matter what Troy tried, she just wouldn't start. We had plenty of battery power, but no dice. We pointed towards the marina and debated trying to sail back, but when our speed dropped to half knot, we called for a tow. Thank goodness for Black Warrior and TowBoatUS unlimited towing insurance. At least it was Sunday, we reasoned, the marina would be fairly empty and we wouldn't attract too much attention.

Alas, the fate's were not with us as the breakwall in the marina was lined with former shipmates from Knife River! I guess we were meant to head back to catch up with them. We had a great visit and hoped that the marina could fix the engine Monday.

Monday, it did end up being a quick fix and the marina felt badly about the issue. We were back off the dock and heading out again towards Stockton and Presque Isle Bay. Thankful that we didn't go to Isle Royale.

We dropped anchor and Dylan went swimming. After a bit, he convinced Troy to take him ashore and I dropped a line in the water. We had seen a boat go into the dock that looked remarkably like Rain or Shine, but convinced ourselves that it couldn't be Dave and Debi. The boat was too small, the canvas not brown.

Soon, however, I heard a familiar voice from the kayak visiting the boat anchored next to us. It's Dave! We couldn't believe it. He came over to WhimSea and chatted me up a bit before heading ashore to visit with Troy and Dylan Shortly after, there was a commotion ashore. Dylan's submarine had gone missing. All three searched for it for quite some time before Dylan eventually 'followed the clues' and 'discovered' the submarine buried in the sand and marked with a rock, right where he left it.

Eventually the boys bid Dave goodbye, making plans to meet up the next day and returned to the boat.

Tuesday dawned bright and clear with a fair wind to sail out of the anchorage. Though we hit some areas of little wind, we were eventually cooking along on our way to Raspberry Island where we planned to anchor with Rain or Shine.

Along the way we saw our old marina mates from earlier in the week and spent time hailing them on the radio. Suddenly, we were hailed by a new, yet familiar voice. It was Ted and Carol, formerly of the Seven C's. They had sold the boat and left Knife River before we did. They had another boat and were anchored in Raspberry Bay, not far from our intended anchorage. They would let us get settled and dinghy over for a visit. What an amazing trip with so many voices from the past.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be as the engine wouldn't fire as we went to anchor. Once again, we were forced to consider a tow back to the marina. Unfortunately, Black Warrior was having technical difficulties and we couldn't reach them. We decided to begin sailing back after making arrangements to meet up with Dave and Debi at Cornucopia Marina the next day.

We eventually got the tow company via phone and they towed us back once again. Hoping, of course, for an easy fix. Luckily it was, but by then it would be too late to get the boat all the way to Cornucopia, so we decided instead to drive there and meet up with Dave and Debi for dinner. Unbeknownst to us, the local restaurant had closed so we ended up driving to Bayfield for dinner. We had a great dinner and a wonderful visit before returning to the marina for the night, intent on heading back out again in the morning.

The next day found us heading to Raspberry Bay where we were able to connect with Ted and Carol for a great visit and loads of swimming. We also spent some time exploring ashore, more swimming, fishing and boat watching.

We were able to spend the last days bumming about the islands and enjoying ourselves immensely before returning, picking up Bug and reluctantly returning home.