Summer 2012 on the Isle

Although this is the inaugural post of the Snug Harbor Reporter for 2012, the season is long from "just beginning." For more than two months, the island has been warming up, with employees working the trails, opening buildings, repairing boats, beginning their research, fishing and hiking and eating and camping. Now the days are stretching on to their nigh-infinite sunny lengths, the lake is just about swimmable, and the numbers of visitors are creeping upwards. I am delighted as anything to be back on the island.

It's looking like a good year for orchids, weather (and by "good" I mean extremely variable), and potlucks. The orchids are everywhere - look for striped coral-roots in the Rock Harbor Campground and around the auditorium. The coral-roots are our only non-photosynthetic orchids on the island - they receive all of their nutrition from a fungus that lives in and around its roots. There are also a myriad of ladyslippers, both pink and yellow, clustering the Greenstone Ridge and the North Shore. The weather is currently sending a fleet of eager waves into the harbor. And the potlucks are rising up from the green shores of Mott Island to fill our plates with corned beef and coleslaw and potato chip casserole.

As many of you know, the island is rife with newcomers this year, from Windigo to the North Shore to Mott Island - to right here in this blog's own interpretive division. Justin Olson, our new lead interp, is heading up an impressive crew, if I do say so myself, the five of us hailing from five different states. We have Melissa from Minnesota, Alina from Wisconsin/the Keweenaw, Erin from D.C./Miami, and myself, back from the lower peninsula. Justin, somewhat of a nomad, is originally from Colorado, I believe. Introductions will be forthcoming.

Stay tuned as the summer progresses for photos, updates, stories, and jokes from the Snug. As always, send your photos, questions, and comments to snugharborreporter@blogspot.com, and keep it real.

Sincerely,

Liz Dengate

Snug Harbor Reporter