It seems a travesty that it was August before we got "Unit 1" into the water this summer. But thanks to a combination of the backyard rebuild and our daughter's horse racing, the first two months of summer were jam packed.
But an opportunity presented itself one weekend when we were due to meet the girls' dad to drop them off at his lake. And Twin Island Lake is quite near there, and was the second lake we ever put "Unit 1" into the water in. So, we decided that this was the perfect opportunity to sneak in our first canoe trip of the summer. ... Sigh. ... But we play the hands were dealt, right?
Twin Island Lake is a bit of a mystery. It's located off Becker County Highway 143 in the middle of the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge. But try finding it on Google, and what you see is a no name lake connected to a non-existent lake called Carmen Lake. But you can actually find it on the official Becker County map, which clearly identifies it as Twin Island Lake.
The lake is only a bit over 100 acres (115 acres according to the best information I could find), and neither time we have been there did we see anyone else on the lake. It is small, and so it's not going to attract anglers, and it's remote enough that people aren't just going stumble upon it. But it's just a complete gem for canoeing!
The water is sheltered by forest, which protects it from big wind-produced waves. It's got a current that flows through the lake from the Egg River that exits on the western end. And the lake is big enough that it provides an entire day of canoeing. Additionally, there are two islands (surprise, right?) that provide some additional opportunity to explore nature.
The lake does have fish. Shelley caught a really nice northern pike the first time we were on the lake in 2018. And we've seen many bullheads and sunnies through the very clear water on both trips.
There are also plenty of birds for watching. Last time we had a close encounter with a mallard, and saw a blue heron and a bald eagle. This year, we saw likely that same eagle, whom we unfortunately seemed to chase all around the edge of the lake as we paddled our way around the shores. We also saw a family of swans, a cob, a pen and two little cygnets, who stayed away from us at quite the distance, but never left the lake.
It was fun to be able to check in on the beaver lodge we spotted the last time were on the lake. The lodge was there this year, but it did seem that it was unused this season. There were no new logs, and none of the green vegetation that seems to go along with an inhabited lodge. But, I'm not an expert, for certain.
However, way over on the eastern side of the largest island on the lake, there was what looked like a new beaver lodge. It was located in the middle of a sea of wild rice that was 8 feet tall. We stopped by to say hello, but no beavers came out to say hi. We did take one of their finely crafted smaller logs that was floating nearby to add to our collection of beaver wood that is on display at on our fire pit patio. ... I hope they don't mind!
The day was a beautiful canoeing day. In the 80s, a calm wind, and brilliant blue sky as far as one could see. We spent the day paddling, working our way from the western end where we put the canoe in at the shore landing, along the shores. It seems in my opinion the best canoeing is along the shores, where you can see the water meet the land, and there seems to be so much more sign of life.
Being this was August, the lake had a different nature than when we first canoed it. The wild rice had spread over most of the lake, and gave us interesting challenges, and of course changed the nature of the water travel. We ended up canoeing around large swaths of wild rice we wouldn't have had to earlier in the year, but it added to the adventure.
The bulrushes were also 8 to 10 feet tall and had taken over much of the lake as well. In fact, the active beaver lodge I mentioned above was located deep inside one large swath of the bulrushes on the eastern side of the larger of the two islands on the lake. And in my hubris, when we went to leave, I thought we were just going to paddle through it. ... Well, 20 yards into it, we weren't going anywhere, and had to back track out to our original path we made when we came in to see the beaver lodge. ... Live and learn, right?
The most memorable part of the day was when we disembarked on the smaller of the two islands. It was kind of a whim. ... After we had canoed a long way around the bulrushes, we found ourselves grazing the eastern side of the small island, and I saw a small opening on the shoreline. So I ran the canoe up on shore.
Shelley and I got out and explored the island, which wasn't really that big, maybe 30 feet west to east and possibly twice that north to south. But there were some beautiful conifer trees and one ancient oak tree, and we found some beautiful rocks that we picked up to bring home to the fire pit patio.
But I have to share that while the beauty of the island will stick with me, we ended up finding more than 20 empty shotgun shells that were just left to spoil the water and land. So obviously someone found that island to hunt ducks last fall, and they never cleaned up after themselves, which made me burn with anger. ... Now, I'm not against hunting. But I am against hunting that isn't responsible. And leaving your empty shells to spoil nature isn't responsible. We picked up as many as we could find. But I'm sure there were many more left we didn't find. ... Maybe this will require a return trip for us to finish the job.
Finally, the trip also reminded me of an important lesson: Never underestimate nature.
About a day after the trip, Shelley's body broke out in a severe rash, from leg to chest. It was awful. She ended up in the emergency room twice and once in the urgent care, and three weeks after our trip, she is still suffering from the effects of the poison ivy. I blame myself. My wife's body reacts immensely to many troubles, bug bits, allergies, etc. And I should have known better than to drag her up on the shore of a wild island. But, again, hubris got the better of me, and I just assumed that I was going to be able to spot all of the troubling plants. ... I, of course, didn't. And Shelley is paying the price.
All in all, it was a great day in "Unit 1." But of course any day out canoeing is a good day. And this was a good lesson to remember that we should never underestimate Mother Nature. ... Lesson learned. Again.
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