You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.
Driftwood marvels on the Lake Superior shore, and a worthy 'celebration' for our special friend Cousin Rob
2 August 2024, fine weather, it's time for the obligatory NE march up the shore from the 'South Beach' cottages to the Flintsteel River. That's looking SW towards the magic Porcupines barely hinted at in the far distance. We're going . . .
. . . the other way, with a practiced eye open for amusing bits of famous Lake Superior driftwood, large and small, especially the ones that look seriously improbable.
Like that one, like the long tail of some prehistoric sea beast. And there's Kristin on the left.
Nature herownself must have placed that squatty thing up on end, looking like a seal just about to flap its flippers. The log in the water looks like just a log in the water.
We know of cities in which, if you leave lawn chairs and what not out by the curb, they're meant to be adopted by those less fortunate than ourselves. Probably that's not the situation here.
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A wooden space rocket with two launch boosters strapped on alongside? No, that's not it. Actually, however evocative that assemblage may be, it's not ringing any bells. But we can't help wondering if they all washed in as a group.
That's a furry sort of obscene thing.
There's a hastily scrounged together survival hut as a mountain storm is coming in, maybe? Or a vast pile of pale dead oversize worms?
We're approaching the part of the walk where a certain vile eagle is known to hang out, and . . .
. . . bingo. Taking a brief rest from the floating-dead-fish patrol. The US national bird deserves a break from his carrion hunting, from time to time.
For the most artistic driftwood in this area, it's the beach walk in the other direction that's vastly more rewarding, but in fact it's so rewarding that it's not a beach walk at all, frequently, it's an obstacle course.
But this looks more promising -- a field of whitening dinosaur bones, perhaps?
-- Damn. It tried to grab my foot.
More than a few residents of the beach along the Bear Creek dirt road make playful leisure time use of their driftwood.
Why waste it? It's all going to get buried here or washed back out to Canada otherwise.
There's a nasty looking thing that appears to have just speared itself into the beach here recently.
Look out, it's still rolling round.
That one, too. It's an Incomer.
Looks like we're here. For one who (for nearly-forgotten athletic reasons) does not wish to walk in bare feet, the choice of comfortable beach walking shoes is de rigueur, but . . .
. . . this beach-plodder seems to get it catastrophically wrong every time. Oh, owiee.
We're here: the mighty Flintsteel has, this year, burst out into Lake Superior as the good lord had always intended. And this photo is meant to spread the good news to the host of other family members who will be soon coming up to enjoy the 'South Beach' cottages.
Whilst Kristin admires the newly revivified Flintsteel River, another member of the party is headed for that log on the right, which might pass for a park bench when deciding what to do about these unsatisfactory water shoes.
A test for this lame iPhone zoom lens -- that's the Porcupine mountain range on the horizon. 27 miles (43km) off, that's not bad (though not terribly revealing).
Time for what might be a semi-uncomfortable return 1.6 miles for some of our party, but in the meantime we're admiring the white thing on the horizon, which is a huge sort-of-factory at the mouth of the Ontonagon River, which seems to change hands from time to time.
-- Incoming!!!
-- Stay back! It's coming round.
Kristin is leading our return march, having taken custody of the inappropriate water shoes, with our gratitude.
Another righteous specimen for our photographic collection.
(We've learnt that clever 'righteous' commendation during some misspent years in Oklahoma.)
This part of Lake Superior appears to be occupied at the moment.
It's probably just another . . .
. . . shampoonista.
Mind the rip tide!
Dinner at Paul's in Silver City, southwest of Ontonagon, look what we've discovered resting up in the carpark. What a worthy operation, and so well done. Michigan rules!
And the crew even gave us some informative brochures. When we asked the restaurant waitress where all these admirable scientists were at the moment, she said 'they're all in the bar, of course'.
Good on them.
Enough of Lake Superior for the moment. (Kristin went back up with her mom & some other family members in early September . . . but twice in a summer can suffice for some of us.)
Back to Wisconsin
Hydrobikers pedaling in at the Mussent Point dock find Kristin and Cathy trading gossip (about us maybe). Or just news; or recipes.
Oscar can be so patient, most of the time.
Little George is getting ready for the whirligig. Let's go.
All ready to ride
-- Faster! Faster! More!
A brief exploration round the north end of wee little Pink, 5 August 2024
Pink Island (map below) is off-limits now, as part of the new Forest Reserve, so we won't stray ashore at all.
But surely it's okay to splash along the shoreline.
That's the sandbar leading most of the way across to the point of Tigertail.
We've tried exploring inland on Pink before, back when that was legal -- it was legal but very nearly impossible.
Suitably posted by the Northwoods Land Trust, but nobody in their right mind would be daft enough to wander into that mess. Maybe in a hazmat suit, with a machete.
The cute little woodland creatures, if any, can have it.
Another of Nature's Wonders
That was fun. Time to head home.
The North Bay is strangely peaceful this afternoon.
This mirror-lake effect happens so seldom that this may be our first photo of Mussent Point at rest.
Kristin's cottage (called 'Manor Mouse') is at the end of the point.
The beat-up old catamaran is just moored there to keep jetskis & water skiboats from coming in too close.
The sorry state of some of the aged trees -- both the vertical ones on shore and the horizontal ones in the lake.
Our little path to the hydrobikes depot -- it's only early August and the ferns are turning yellow.
A Celebration for Cousin Rob
The Annex at Point o' Pines, with about . . .
. . . 60 Cousin Rob fans gathered to recall anecdotes about what Rob has meant to all of us.
Of probably about 12 speakers making brief interventions (that's John Visti, a longtime friend), we're only including a few here to convey the idea.
That's Elke, Cousin Rob's wife of nearly twenty years
Kirk Beattie with a thoughtful review of Rob's life, and . . .
. . . Liz Beattie, Kristin's sister, with further reminiscences.
Oscar Marquis describes happy recollections of his times with Cousin Rob, especially . . .
Dwight Peck's personal website
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All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 5 September 2024. 
