When I was nearing the end of engineering school I took a short hiatus to work as a surveyor for the Bureau of Land Management. It was a summer job that lasted about 1/2 year. I was on a crew of 4 in northern Minnesota to do what they call cadastral survey for the re-establishment of section lines on property at remote locations. We had an assignment to re-establish section corners on Pigeon Point, which is a remote peninsula on Lake Superior at the eastern-most corner of northern Minnesota hard on the Canadian border. I have to reference Google Maps for my recollections.
There are no roads out to Pigeon Point and nobody out there either. Now it seems to be a popular kayaking destination. Our plan was to hire a boat in Grand Portage to haul ourselves and the survey gear out to what is essentially an island in the Lake. The marina rented boats, but their runabout that was capable of carrying the 4 of us with our gear was in the shop for undisclosed repairs. Instead we headed out there in 2 separate open boats (15'?) with, say, 15 hp outboards. We did 2 days in this manner. In the early morning, the lake was smooth as glass and everything was really pretty. It was basically thrilling to go out there. After we rounded Hat Point that protects the harbor, it was a 2.5 mile run across Wauswaugoning Bay to the protected waters of Susie Islands and Pigeon Point where we made our landings.
The problem was leaving in the afternoon. It was August and the weather was already turning colder. This was in 1977, before global warming (when we were fearful of global cooling ). Both afternoons, the prevailing southwest winds kicked up significant sized waves and the lake water was in the 40's or 50's. I could barely stick a toe in Lake Superior during the entire summer, it felt so cold! In the shelter of the Susies, it seemed ok. As soon as we started crossing the bay in the teeth of the waves, it seemed like the chances of survival diminished. While my life was in the hands of the guy sitting in back running the outboard, I rode the bow with the determination that I wasn't going to let the bow rise so high to flip over. It seemed like that was the danger. We wore our PFD's but with the water as cold as it was, I realized that going in the water would mean death by hypothermia in a much quicker time than any rescue could be performed.
I can't say that I really had any fear. It was more like a realization that a capsize would be the end. I remember being pretty calm and grimly doing my part to balance the boat. Silly me, I signed up for this on 2 consecutive days. For our 3rd and last day going out to the point the runabout was repaired and we had a much more comfortable ride with a sheltered bow and windshield in the 20' aluminum boat.
What we didn't know is that they repaired a seam of some kind that had opened up possibly. When we were heading back on that last afternoon, we were pounding in the waves, but not feeling insecure. Then, when we got back to the marina and were unloading our gear, the boat sunk at the dock! It seems that a seam had opened up again. As long as we were moving, the water had to have been draining. As soon as we stopped, the boat took on water and sunk.
Someday, I would like to go out there to see how well our markers survived. We set them in piles of rock, not having equipment to drill into the bedrock to set them properly. I'm guessing that they probably are not there.
There are no roads out to Pigeon Point and nobody out there either. Now it seems to be a popular kayaking destination. Our plan was to hire a boat in Grand Portage to haul ourselves and the survey gear out to what is essentially an island in the Lake. The marina rented boats, but their runabout that was capable of carrying the 4 of us with our gear was in the shop for undisclosed repairs. Instead we headed out there in 2 separate open boats (15'?) with, say, 15 hp outboards. We did 2 days in this manner. In the early morning, the lake was smooth as glass and everything was really pretty. It was basically thrilling to go out there. After we rounded Hat Point that protects the harbor, it was a 2.5 mile run across Wauswaugoning Bay to the protected waters of Susie Islands and Pigeon Point where we made our landings.
The problem was leaving in the afternoon. It was August and the weather was already turning colder. This was in 1977, before global warming (when we were fearful of global cooling ). Both afternoons, the prevailing southwest winds kicked up significant sized waves and the lake water was in the 40's or 50's. I could barely stick a toe in Lake Superior during the entire summer, it felt so cold! In the shelter of the Susies, it seemed ok. As soon as we started crossing the bay in the teeth of the waves, it seemed like the chances of survival diminished. While my life was in the hands of the guy sitting in back running the outboard, I rode the bow with the determination that I wasn't going to let the bow rise so high to flip over. It seemed like that was the danger. We wore our PFD's but with the water as cold as it was, I realized that going in the water would mean death by hypothermia in a much quicker time than any rescue could be performed.
I can't say that I really had any fear. It was more like a realization that a capsize would be the end. I remember being pretty calm and grimly doing my part to balance the boat. Silly me, I signed up for this on 2 consecutive days. For our 3rd and last day going out to the point the runabout was repaired and we had a much more comfortable ride with a sheltered bow and windshield in the 20' aluminum boat.
What we didn't know is that they repaired a seam of some kind that had opened up possibly. When we were heading back on that last afternoon, we were pounding in the waves, but not feeling insecure. Then, when we got back to the marina and were unloading our gear, the boat sunk at the dock! It seems that a seam had opened up again. As long as we were moving, the water had to have been draining. As soon as we stopped, the boat took on water and sunk.
Someday, I would like to go out there to see how well our markers survived. We set them in piles of rock, not having equipment to drill into the bedrock to set them properly. I'm guessing that they probably are not there.