Hiking Chikanishing
Staying up late watching movies and sleeping really well has us sleeping in until 9am. The anchorage was a bit winder then we had expected and that left us with a feeling of staying put for the day instead of trying to take the 4 hour sail to Bad River. We enjoyed our morning with a big plate of bacon, pickles and a Bloody Mary. Kona got her morning walk and swim and has decided this is a great rock for herself as she can go potty and then go swimming right away all while chewing sticks to mulch.
We decided that we would take a dinghy ride to the Chikansing River and the hike that starts just upstream. We did this hike last year and really enjoyed it. I don’t remember the waters of Lake Huron being this crystal-clear last year and as we came up to the mouth of the river the red rocks stood in contrast with the blue clear waters. Many hikers dotted the shore all around the rocks. Cory got to captain the dinghy all the way up the shallow river. We tied to a vertical cliff that has some spikes nailed into the beds to secure our dinghy. There is a boat ramp here and also a kayak launch for all those back country kayaker/campers that we have been seeing. There is even a parking lot with a pit toilet. I started with my knee brace and my one hiking stick to be safe but almost immediately I realized the brace was causing me to not have full range of motion and the stick was not letting me mimic real life walking. After 10 days, I’m more stiff then sore and walking normal feels weak. I opted to take off the brace and only use the walking stick for extreme moments. It felt great to and also a little unnerving to feel like I’m teaching myself to walk again.
Not long into our hike Cory and Captain spotted a massive blueberry patch with big fat dark blueberries. They plopped themselves down and had a feast. I joined them, picking some for me and some for Kona. We would stop and do this many more times on this hike as the blueberries were plentiful and in full season. I didn’t mind as they were usually near shady spots and a lot of the hike is very exposed on red rocks that were heating up in the afternoon sun.
We scrambled along the trail. Often marked with just panted arrows on the rocks, making it a bit harder of a game of hide and seek. The rocks haven’t worn a bit to all the tourists and you can’t see a well-marked path a good amount of the time.
We finally made it out to the Lake Huron side. The breeze was amazing and the rocks were still blazing. Captain and Cory found a blueberry patch with shade that was near the water so Kona could swim with a stick she found. Captain flew his drone a bit and I was able to find an easy way into the water amongst the rocks that wasn’t slippery and waded in the cool clear waters.
We opted to not finish the hike. We could have gone a little further but we had grossly under packed water and knew it was best to head back.
Thankfully the return part of this hike is all in a beautiful (mosquito free) forest. Not technical and very pleasant. We were back at our dinghy in no time.
The dinghy ride and hike took up the entire afternoon. We came back and relaxed for a short bit before I got started on dinner, Cincinnati Chili. I overate my chili and had a good food coma for a while before I was able to start on dishes. We had a lot of dishes left over from breakfast as well as dinner. We discussed our options at dinner for the next few days. I said we could attempt to go to Bad River and/or the Bustards and then come back to Killarney later in the weekend or we could head to Killarney tomorrow and hope to get a ball (and Captain said we could get a slip if not) and be there on Friday for the all you can eat salad and pasta bar that Cory has been drooling over. We have another 10 days, in my math, before we need to go to Little Current and start heading home. We have a month to go and we all would like to attempt to come down the Michigan coast and enjoy the long beaches still yet this summer. We could do Killarney, then go to the Pool and Lake Topaz now that my knee is spiffy. Maybe find one or two more anchorages we haven’t been to before we head west. Everyone opted for skipping Bad River for this year and going to places we know and really still want to make sure we visit. I’m okay with that. It will give us this winter to get a more powerful dinghy motor that we would need to really enjoy the rapids at Bad river anyhow and I can research those snakes and have appropriate gear.
We were joined by two sailboats later in the day so I played Last Post to an anchorage of 4 total boats. It was calm and beautiful. For some reason I played a little slow. Cory and Captain thought it was lovely. We had already taken Kona to shore for her last walk before Last Post in order to get down inside Ciara before the mosquitos come out. Sunset is just about 9pm now instead of the 9:30 or later it was a month ago. We watched more House and called it a night around 11pm. Excited to go to Killarney tomorrow and hopeful we get a ball, or at least a slip!
