Scenario II. The Island disaster

Most of us have been to a lake in Maine at one time or another in our lives. While at the lake(s) most of us have seen islands. Some islands are big, some small, and some very odd in shape and size.

Lets say that you were on a canoe trip and you were camping out on an island in the middle of a lake. The island is 20 miles from anywhere, and 4 miles from shore. Your entry point to the lake where your car is parked is at the southern most tip of the lake on an old logging road. You're campsite is beautiful, and the island is perfectly elliptical in shape. The ground is covered by loose sand and gravel with Birch trees scattered about with wild blueberries as undergrowth. The island has a great shallow sandy beach at one point of the ellipses while the other side of the island ellipse is bouldered and drops off sharply.

You arrive at the island after a couple of hours of paddling you're canoe. The time is 10 am. You are sweating terribly because the July sun is hot and the day is very hazy. By the time you get the campsite set and have a little lunch, it is noon. You decide to swim and explore the island and all its wonders. It doesn't take very long for you to notice that the heat and the haze has increased so much that you can't see the mainland shoreline from anywhere around the island. The afternoon soon changes into early evening, and the haze is very thick on the horizon and clouds have completely covered the sky. You decide to take a swim. When you jump into the water something sharp slices your foot. You quickly hop out of the water to check out the damage. Much to your discomfort you have stepped on a sharp rock and lacerated you're foot badly. The cut takes you a while to stop the bleeding, and you determine that stitches are needed. But This was not the big problem. The big problem was the bone that was sticking through the ankle. One way or another you had to get off the island,get back to your car, and get to a hospital. You still had about an hour or two of daylight left so you had to act soon. So you grabbed you're hiking stick and used it as a crutch to get you down to the canoe. Once in the canoe you shoved off into the water and started paddling. This is when you realized that you couldn't tell what direction to go in. The late afternoon allowed a buildup of clouds that uniformly covered the sky making it very difficult to tell where the sun had set. The haze made it completely impossible. You felt a cold chill go down your back, and the feeling of panic start to work its way in. You know that all you need to do is find the North star or something and then paddle in the opposite direction. You'd be all set but the clouds kept that from happening, and the haze and clouds kept you from seeing the direction of the sunset. There was also no moss on the island that you could remember. There had to be something else that could give you the direction you needed.

What do we know about lakes and islands in Maine that would help in this situation? Using scientific deduction and methodology come up with possible answers for what has happened. Make sure to back up your answers ,assumptions or solutions with as many real scientific facts as possible.

Written and Composed by C. E. Andrews-1998