And they must stay some 100M from any waterway) the company asked if my father would let them use our own road for access. On the conditions that they put up a steel gate and give us full access to the road, he agreed and they ended up building a road a couple of miles longer than Dad's farm road.Well it's about a 15min drive (the growth in the decade since they finished cutting is insane) in the Jeep, and another 5-8min walk through a trail we cut to get there. We have a canoe out there, and starting in my senior year I set sights on this island in the middle. I'm an avid camper, and that challenge is one I hadn't taken up before. The island is covered in trees and thick green moss. We got an electric trawling motor (Minn Kota) and a marine battery hooked up and over three days 15 people and all their gear made land fall. It was a full on hippie weekend, and we'll just leave it at that.
I have been back a few times, with friends or family, but it has been about seven years since I last was on 'my island'. I have never found any evidence that any other people have camped here, or even made the trip. This lake is where I proposed to Ange (in the canoe on the way over) and we stayed the night there. It was her first time camping. At one time we built a rock man on the beach (just the rocky shore we land the canoe on) and named the island after him. Brock Island. This is our own name for the place, of course. We gave our own names (my sister and I) to other islands out there, like Blueberry and Grass islands. It is an incredibly personal place, and the one place on earth I consider to be my own private Avalon, if you get what I mean.
Well, this summer I vowed to go back. When I booked last week off I made a plan to reblaze the trail and get my family out there. Of course, being the horrid summer of ot seven, it rained for the first two days, but I went out on Tuesday morning to cut the trail. Ivy (my 'little' sister) and a friend of hers helped and we were done in two hours, using an axe, two bow saws (one of which I broke by using it to cut ferns like a machette), and three pairs of snips. Pretty good, really. The city boy got lost once, but no bears got him.
I sped home to pack the Jeep with gear, dogs, and the Wife and Daughter. The skies opened up and it poured.So Wednesday it is. We got there and were on the island by 12:30. Ange is over six months pregnant right now, so she couldn't carry anything but Coira, who walked a third of it. After five trips and two broken paddles, we were there for the next couple of days. It rained Wednesday night, but all day Thursday was beautiful, and somehow we had no bugs. Freaking twilight zone, that. Took a canoe trip around the island and scouted the other side to find some nice hills. Friday morning (4:00a.m.) we had a severe thunder and lightning storm though. Ange is petrified of lightning, and Ivy was in a new camp (about 60' away) that we had discovered the day before. By that, I went for a piss and saw a beautifully flat moss covered area. Friday we ended up packing what we could carry on our back and headed home. I'm going back on Saturday (a week on) to get the rest of our gear home.
I have never stayed on that island when it didn't rain when we tried to leave (Brock must have a lonely spirit). I have even been caught in the middle of the lake in the aluminium canoe with lightning coming down before. That was a hairy trip. In spite of it all, it was easilly the best vacation I've taken in years. Coira loved it, the dogs loved it, Ange and Ivy enjoyed it, and I can't wait for next year. Maybe next time we'll beat the odds and stay dry.
Wow, buy my book!
The home side of the lake, from the island.
The mainland shore near the island, and part of the beach.
Coira on Brock beach.
From up on the hill on the far side.
The new camp, that we dubbed 'Paddle Camp' in memoriam of the fourth trip across.
It's good to be king.
It's my sister's camp (really just a little cabin with no power or water), and we've had it like a sweat lodge in there in the winter. You know, I've never even thought of going in the winter, but now that you mention it I would like to see the lake frozen over. If only I had a Skidoo. 
(I'm so much like my Dad)