Fortune Bay Expeditionary Team

Notes of Chuck “Papa” Hill of the Manitou Islands Expedition 2003

Wed. 9:50pm: Main team arrives at D.H. Day camp ground, Glen Haven, Michigan. Advance team has secured campsite.

Chuck “Papa Hill, Expedition Leader

Chuck Hayden, Pathfinder

Bill “Wapiti” Smith – Photographer/mission specialist/sweeper

Dane “Kramer” Proctor – Sweeper

Brian “Paddy” Hauenstein

Russ “Counselor” Cole

Quinton “Duck” Merrick

Vic Weeks – QuickSilver captain

4:30am: We are awakened by thunder and lightening to the West. We strike camp and sleep in vehicles. It was hot.

7:30am: We head to Empire, MI for breakfast and park passes.

8:35am: We move to the Glen Haven Cannery to launch our kayaks. Waters were relatively calm. Our Pathfinder, Chuck Hayden sets the course for the team.

The team stays tightly grouped for the first mile. Then Quinton begins to fall back. He has no rudder and sees his Yak shift in the rising waves now 2-4 foot. To compensate for the shifting he back-paddles on the right side of his Yak slowing him down. Smith and Hauenstein keep a close watch on Duck. I also look back over my shoulder regularly to count heads. We are confident yet the seas begin to get ugly.

I now get confirmation from our Pathfinder his GPS has failed. We must now rely on our compasses. I don’t even remember if he gave me the heading. I just keep paddling, counting each man repeatedly, watch the skies, and keep my third eye on the waves rising against my port side.

There it is! We see the lighthouse on South Manitou! We can now use dead reckoning for the remainder of the crossing. Pathfinder is relieved and so am I. He heads back to assist with the Duck. By the way, Duck lost his Velcro duck and Detroit Red Wings flag on his Yak. The duck was lost by mistake and the flag was removed, as it seemed to be creating drag.

I saw Duck was in good hands and gave the rest of the team the order to paddle hard to the Island as a thunder head had moved in, lightening was nearly on us, and we were now in 6-8 foot waves. EXHILERATING!

We pulled in at the dock next to the Manitou Island Transit ferry. They had been delayed because of the weather.

We ate lunch and discussed the possibility of making it to NMI today. Ranger Rachel convinced us it might be more prudent to camp here for the night and let the storm blow over. We chose the option of least resistance, staying. Soon after, we paid for our camp sights Ranger Rachel informed us, a tornado watch had just been issued. We counted our blessings and headed to our campsites on the bay.

Around 3pm, we packed lightly for a short hike on the island. Our first stop was the lighthouse. The volunteer was a retired gentleman who let us know he equated our choosing to cross that day with the mystery’s of Darwin’s theory of evolution. He gave us an excellent tour and bid us good-bye.

We then headed out together to the wreck of the F. Morazon 4 miles to the west. We took pictures and speculated on the history of the roads and paths we were walking.

THE BLACK FLIES! I have never been so bothered and bit by black flies as I was during the days of the Manitou Expedition. They seemed immune to nearly every bug dope combination we could conjure up. Vic

Suffered with large dark purple bites around his socks. Not nice.

The following day Team South; Duck, Wapiti, Counselor, and myself headed south out of the bay on our way to the Morazon. The black flies followed us on the water and it took until noon to fully rid ourselves of them. Team north; Pathfinder, Paddy, Kramer, and Vic made their way to N Manitou. Vic and Pathfinder were in the QuickSilver for most of the morning.

Team South got some good video and still shots of the Morazon and endless beaches and high dunes. We took off near the Popple Camp ground area and headed for NMI on a bearing of 75 degrees as I recall. The crossing was successful with no major events and took one hour-twenty five minutes. Team North joined us minutes later.

I took Duck and Counselor with me to scout out a camp sight. We went up the coast about ¾ of a mile and found some spots up on the bluff. Previous campers had built a terraced walk up from the beach which aided our ascent.

The next couple of days were relatively uneventful. We were hiking, kayaking, and running around in the QuickSilver and then…Sunday hit. Sunday was our scheduled day to head home. We struck camp and headed out that morning with 20 mph winds and gusting out of the south (our general direction we were to travel). After an hour of paddling, we had only managed to travel 1-¼ miles. We should have gone 2-3 times that far. The winds were now nearing 30 miles per hour and we saw lightening coming. After observing the lightening Pathfinder made known his observation to me and I called the men to shore on NMI. Some thought we could have continued but later saw the wisdom in heading for land.

The rest of the day we struggled to get dry. We took turns glassing on the side of a dune behind some small cedar trees blocking the wind and looked for Vic who had left for fuel. I heard on one of our marine radios that there was a drowning on SMI. Pathfinder and I both thought it was Vic. Come to find out later Vic thought it could have been one of us. As it turned out a woman had lost her life in a diving accident. A short time later Pathfinder was talking to a ranger on a cell phone when he was informed to secure the kayaks and go strait to the ranger station on NMI. It was a 10-mile round trip hike. One member had five blisters from hiking 13 miles the day before but he and the rest of us packed up and headed for the ranger station.

Early in the hike, Pathfinder requested to go ahead with one other at a faster pace to check out the situation and perhaps save the main body some unnecessary miles. I approved the plan and Hayden and Cole took the lead.

As the main body progressed Wapiti decided to see if the rangers had left any messages on his cell phone, they had. He called off the phone number, I wrote it down and called it back to him. Sure enough the rangers merely wanted to know that we were all accounted for. I order the main body to rest and wait for Hayden and Cole. We waited about a half hour and ate dinner, most of it cold.

Our two lead hikers met up with us about 1-½ miles south of the NMI ranger station and confirmed what we had known from Wapiti’s phone call.

All were glad to be going back to set up camp. We camped light that night and wanted to be well rested for a daylight launch.

Well we did get up before dawn but with breakfast (I wanted each man to have the energy to paddle) and packing up and packing the Yaks it was 7:25am before we headed on a bearing back to Glen Haven, 12 miles away.

We hadn’t been on the water maybe 1 hour when we heard the whine of a 25 hp Mercury motor to the south west, IT WAS VIC! He had found us. He had spent the night in a marina and slept in his QuickSilver. He did not know our condition until 7:30pm the night before. Although we were well prepared for the crossing it was a comfort to have Vic and his craft there.

WE hit the beach at Glen Haven with relief and enthusiasm at 11:48am. Not bad.

These team members were overall disciplined in their behavior and dogged in their determination, every one of them. If any one man was at any time unsure of his ability’s he hid it well. I would not hesitate to take each of them on the next expedition on open water. However, no one knows a mans heart and where it will lead him until he’s asked to be a part of the whole.

Respectfully submitted by

Chuck “Papa” Hill

28 August 2003

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