Stockton Island

Saturday 2 September
The temperatures are on the increase, heading up to a high of 89F (31.6C) for the day. Today, we took a boat to Stockton Island, the largest island of the National Lakeshore, at 7.25 miles long and 2 to 2.5 miles wide. It has a history of fishing, logging and quarry industries. It has waterfront campground, sandy beaches and hiking trails. Throughout the 1990s and the first decade in the new Millenium, it was also known as the island with the highest density of black bears! Since then, the numbers have regulated themselves, as the island can only support so many bears. Some bears swam to other islands - apparently they are very good swimmers, which I hadn’t realized - females had fewer and smaller litters and several smaller bears were killed and eaten. Fortunately, we didn’t come across any today!
We took the trail to Julian Bay beach, and because of the heat and humidity, Roger and I decided to stay there, while the girls continued along the beach and did a loop back to the dock. The top left of my collage was taken from the boat, leaving Bayfield, the others on Stockton Island.
When we arrived back in Bayfield, we enjoyed lunch at a rooftop restaurant, fortunately with plenty of umbrellas offering shade, affording lovely views over the lake - see extra. In the afternoon, we did another shortish hike to some waterfalls, see extra, Lost creek Falls. The hiking was quite tough in the heat, but once we reached the waterfall, it was much cooler and refreshing down there, so we all took our boots and socks, and paddled our feet in the cool water!
Step count: 20,415