Henry

It was a breezy and sunny early afternoon on Thursday when the medium sized SUV pulled into the campsite next to us at Cunard Lake. Out popped three boys and their dad, and the family dog. We had been fortunate to reserve the Tuesday morning prior to their arrival (the day we arrived) a lake side site that sits high above the water with a steep drop to Cunard Lake. We knew someone had that site reserved for part of our stay, but we obviously did not know about Henry. I never met Henry, but here he is having the title of this blog post.

Map of Cunard Lake Campground
With notations.
Source: WI DNR

Henry, about eight years of age, was likely several years younger than his tall teenage brothers. Henry may not reach the height of his dad or brothers, but he can beat them out in one aspect--talking, or chatting. The mom joined them later in the day pulling up in a Prius, so Henry had his mom around to talk to. I am not sure how much attention his older brothers paid to chatty Henry. For a while, before the mom showed up, I wondered how they would fit three tall males and Henry in the rather middle sized tent, and maybe with the dog. Mom brought a small tent, and I don't know who slept in it, perhaps the two teenagers, but they would not even be able to kneel in it. If they slept in it, it would almost be like a cartoon with the feet hanging out the door of the tent.

If Henry were to kneel he may have been about the height of their large dog. My wife became enthralled with Henry, well actually his chattiness. To the other side we had campers in our demographic group and for two nights they gathered with neighbors to their opposite side. They were rather chatty too, and I cannot imagine what it would be like if they got together with Henry.  The adults departed Friday morning, so we mainly had Henry for talking on Friday, before we departed Saturday morning. It would have been trying to be sandwiched between the chatty adults and chatty Henry for another night.

Fungi on a stump, Cunard Lake Campground, site 30

Cunard Lake, is one of two quiet campgrounds in the Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest (NHAL), the other being Starrett Lake, which is further northeast, not exactly too far from the heavily used Musky, Crystal and Firefly lakes. For several years Cunard has been one of the three least used Campgrounds in the NHAL. Why this is the case, I am not sure, but the lake does not allow craft with gas powered engines. It does not allow generators, or radios to play. Although the way things are moving, like electric bikes, which are scooters powered by electricity over gas, they may need to keep abreast of what is being marketed for water craft. I doubt it is not long away there will be an electric powered paddle board. 

Anyway, annually, the NHAL puts out a small newspaper with varied information, but mostly ads, to pay for it, and they list the most used and least used campgrounds and sites at the NHAL. In 2024, Cunard was second least used, but in 2025 it was the third least used. The other least two used sites are Big Lake and Sandy Beach. We drove through Big Lake one time after biking from Manitowish Waters toward Boulder Junction and back, and it was logged or had significant downed trees, so I can see why people do not camp there, or they logged it because it is not in high demand. We have not driven to view Sandy Beach Lake, that I recall. If we did, it was not memorable.

Yet, Henry was so memorable that he gets one of my famed blog posts named after him. All I know about Henry is he liked to chatter. It may be sexist, but speaking is not necessarily a strong suit of males, ask any female. I hardly heard a peep out of his two older brothers except for one time as they were setting up. The one thing that occupied Henry's time when he was actually did not say much during the day was when he pounded in the tent stakes. 

They had their tent set up, Henry was chatting, the dad getting other camping gear out and the oldest son rather than helping his dad went to the lake to fish from the beach. The middle son was using a hand pump to fill an inflatable kayak. I was walking by their site and all of a sudden, as I am opposite the boy pumping there is a large horrendous boom. The kayak exploded, as I looked I saw the boy looking down to realize what had happened. His dad stopped what he was doing and asked what happened and the son said he had just completed pumping it up and opened a zipper on the side, wondering why it was there and it exploded. The dad was calm, perhaps more so than I would have been, and examined it and then made a call. I was back at the campsite and the wife was wondering if everyone was alright and what happened. She then overheard the dad's conversation and the kayak had just been purchased and had been a floor model. The oldest son, who was fishing came up and I think was about to give the third degree to the his next in line brother (the middle child)  when the dad intervened and said he thought it was defective after having been inflated too long or something. Later that afternoon they made a trip, perhaps to Woodruff or Minocqua and brought back a canoe. We middle children are well versed in taking grief from older and younger siblings.

I am not sure what it was about Henry that made my wife comment on him. Perhaps, she could not believe a boy could talk so much. She worked at elementary and middle schools as a nurse for part of her career, so would have familiarity with a large group of children and their tendencies. Normally, I don't think one expects the youngest to be chatty, on the other hand one would expect teenage boys to be taciturn, which they were. 

The one thing that would have produced more noise than the boom of an exploding inflatable kayak, would have been if my wife, whose favorite time to get into water is bath water, went by chance into the water at the beach and was approached by the common water snake. That snake seems to find comfort at the beach in the late evening. I saw the snake last year and it was rather disconcerting. I have tended to only notice the water snake at around dusk. My wife ventured to the lake and did not see the snake. Last year the snake came out of the water a bit lifted its head and hissed at me. I backed up as quick as I could. People say, don't be scared they can bite but not poisonous. That is like saying, cut yourself, with a knife that is not dipped in poison. Who wants a bite even if it is not poisonous? Whether Henry saw the snake at the beach, I don't know. This year I thought I would take charge, so I took a determined step to the snake and it backed up slithered over the way a few feet and then started to lift its head, and I decided I best not do that again. The snake probably knew I was more scared of getting bit then it was of me grabbing it.

Snake at Cunard Lake Beach, July 2026

Henry was pretty talkative through the night and after we went into the camper about 9 pm. However, at 9:30 Henry was quiet, so I am thinking he reached his bed time. Non-campers can occupy the park from 6 am to 11 pm, and those happen to also coincide with quiet hours. I think quiet hours starting at 11 pm is rather late. If I got up a 6:30 or 7:00 am and made the noise my wife thinks I do, I think other campers would be upset, so is it acceptable to be upset with a good deal of Henry noise at 9 pm?

Campground for large RV's near Hancock, WI

As much as Henry was annoying with his constant chatter, I am not sure he ever breathed, my wife commented that it was nice that his parents and siblings took him camping at campground in the NHAL rather than some of those where large camper after large camper are on top of each other, such as the one near Hancock, WI which you can see from Hwy 51, otherwise known as I-39. Camping at the NHAL, even with Henry would be a better experience than at a large RV park.