Return to Isle Royale National Park - Introduction

When I was 20, I'd planned a two week trip to the Rockies, but my car broke down in Dayton, Ohio.  After wasting several days trying to get it fixed, I gave up on the Rockies, changed my plans, and hitchhiked to Grand Portage, Minnesota, where I caught a ferry to Isle Royale.  I backpacked for four days there, totally unprepared - I had expected to be "car camping" and had no backpacking food or true gear.  I didn't even have a tent.  But it was an amazing adventure, and I always hoped to return.  On September 14, I and five companions from the Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club took the ferry from Copper Harbor, Michigan to arrive at Rock Harbor towards the eastern end of this large island in Lake Superior for a week of backpacking.

Isle Royale, thought of as a single island but really an archipelago of about 400 islands, is located in north-central Lake Superior.  The main island is 45 miles long and nine miles wide at its widest point.  The national park is 850 square miles in size, most of it under water.  The park is the least visited national park in the "Lower 48," being quite difficult and expensive to get to.  But people tend to stay at least a few days once they make the effort to get there.  It took each of us a day and a half to fly there, catch a shuttle to Copper Harbor, and take the ferry 55 miles (3.5 hours - see arrow below) to IRNP.

The large island could take weeks or a lifetime to fully explore.  There are 180 miles of trail, many inland lakes, and several hundred square miles of designated wilderness.  There are 12 species of terrestrial mammals there, including moose, wolves, red fox, red squirrels, and snowshoe hare.  Each of these species had to either swim, walk (over ice), or float on something to arrive here from Ontario or Minnesota.  Our focus was the eastern end, designated by the red box.

The following map summarizes our track over seven days of hiking and camping out, covering nearly 60 miles on foot.  We started and ended near the eastern end.  The eastern most point on the track was a day hike from our initial campsites.

Since this was a large and complex trip, I've summarized the entire week+ in a series of posts, as follows:

September 14 - Getting There
September 14 - Arrival at Rock Harbor, and hike to Scoville Point
September 15 - Hike to Daisy Farm
September 16 - Hike to McCargoe Cove
September 17 - Hike to Chippewa Harbor
September 18 - Camping at Chippewa Harbor
September 19 - Hike back to Daisy Farm
September 20 - Hike back to Rock Harbor
September 21 - Stranded by a Lake Superior Gale
September 22-24 - Back to civilization

If I ever get back...

Yep, that's right - the day we were supposed to leave, a huge gale with 40 knot winds and 16 foot seas raged across Lake Superior, and we were stuck on the island for another day.  We relaxed and did some day hiking.

It was amazing to be back on Isle Royale after so long.  It was quite an adventure!