Friday August 20 1999
Left Three mile campground about 8:15am. Jeremy, Arius, and Ryan arrived at Rock Harbor at 9:15 and reserved 2 shelters for us. Ben Lalasa and I took the slow route. BY way to Rock Harbor we explored Suzy's cave. We then took the Tobin Harbor trail to Rock Harbor. Just before we reached camp we hear a big splash. It was a big cow moose out on an island. She swam out to us and proceeded up the hill to eat. It was a treat to see a moose swim. Ben and Lalasa followed her up the hill and took about 2 rolls of film. Hopefully they got more pictures then the flies around the moose's behind. After the moose excitement we continued to camp with a short detour to Tobin Harbor to see the sea plane dock. The plane was due in 10 minutes, we waited over an hour and gave up. We arrived at the shelter at 11:30. Becka and Greg waited for the ferry to see if they could get on today instead of Sunday. They made it. It was sad to see them go, but we'll see them back home. After lunch I went on the nature walk. The pearly everlasting flowered are neat. Also learned about the bane berry. We saw a lot of these too, bright blue or white or red berries. The red clover and buttercups and red hawkweed came over to the island as seeds with the gravel for the foot paths. All the yews and ash which covered the island 100 years ago are gone now because the moose ate it all. They are replaced by thimbleberry, the poplar, paper birch, fir and spruce. There is only one small rodent, the deer mouse. Twelve miles away in Ontario there are 6 varieties of mice alone. The NPS (National Park Service) ship the Ranger III came in this afternoon on its usual rounds. It leaves at 9:00am tomorrow for Houghton MI. At 7:00pm the Ranger program was on the Ranger III on navigating around Isle Royale. Also a tour of the bridge by the captain and a hot-dog "barbque" with lemonade to celebrate the $1.8 million rededication of the boat. It was built for $1.2 million. But is now worth about $18 million. Beautiful boat! I can hardly believe our adventure is over. It has been a challenge. This place is beautiful. It is breathtaking. Not very many people in the world even get the opportunity to see this kind of natural beauty. I am just grateful to be able to take this trip. I will never forget this trip. Everyone in this crew is special to me and I owe each one of them a deep thank you for a wonderful trip. Thank you Ben, Arius, Jeremy, Ryan and Lalasa. Thanks for a great experience. I'll always remember this awesome trip. Keith.
Lalasa and Jeremy are not buff because they wouldn't write in this book. Maybe they are buff, we'll see.
Day 8 Bill Fale
From the Desk of William F. Fale, Committee Chair, Troop 820
To the Leaders and Scouts of the Renegade Venture crew:
If you "Thought of the Day" program is going as planned, this should be the final day of what I believe will be one of the most memorable experiences of your lives. As I share these comments with you I am looking out of my window on a very dreary, gray sky and damp day, appropriate for this election day. My thoughts are wormed by thinking where you will be on Isle Royale on August 21st, a future event that I can only guess about with envy but an event which is now almost concluded for you and filled with a host of memories and experiences that will hopefully urge you on in Scouting, both as a youth now and as a future leader, possibly even of Troop 820. I am very proud of each and every one of you. You can't imagine how much I have always wanted to experience something as adventurous as the trek that you have almost completed. I look about this room and see pictures, a phone, calculator, clock, computer, CD player and basically all the amenities that makes my office state of the art and prepared for any job a client asks me to perform. You on the other hand, are experiencing God's handiwork first hand. While I can enjoy my scented candle, you are probably sitting around a campfire. I can hear the crackling of the fire, the sounds of the wildlife in the background and even smell the wonderfully fresh air that you have had a chance to enjoy this past week.
