Devils Day 4

Monday July 11^th, 2005

An interesting day. Hot and flyful again. First visitor was a kayaker who last summer kayaked from the Mississippi headwaters (Lake Itasca, MN) to the gulf of Mexico. Sounded like a very interesting 2.5 month journey. Two groups hiked up from the S. landing. I met a fellow I had met at Manitou Island last summer as well as a couple I remembered from Outer Island two years before. At 5 pm I hiked west trails looking for tractor without success. At 6 pm, a very noisy bunch floated past on a sailboat, flying the “jolly roger”. I was very tired and preparing to sit down for dinner so I posted a note on the door: “Lighthouse Keeper off duty. Tours 9-4;30 pm”. Sure enough, as I sat down to eat, a group of noisy teenage boys in swimsuits came running up the trail swatting flies. They read the sign and and ran back. I felt only a little guilt and some relief. They apparently left while one kid was still in the outhouse because he came running past 7 minutes later and then there was lots of shouting on the east shore.

Note: the "tractor" refers to an old bulldozer that the Coast Guard had on the island. More about that later. The trail to the south landing is about 1.2 miles long and leads to the island's only campsite and a fairly large dock. I am responsible for checking the campsite and outhouse on an occasional basis.