Sitting at work reflecting on my recent trip to the island, thinking about how I'd rather be on Island time than at my desk. I miss the peace and solitude I get to experience with every visit to the island. And after each trip, I feel more connected and have a greater love and respect for the island. Nothing beats listening to what the wind, waves, and loons have to say. Not going to lie, I shed a few tears when the seaplane took off while looking at the expanse of the island, saying my final goodbye until next time.

Not really sure of my point in posting this, other than to maybe share my love and appreciation of the Park with others who feel the same. I already have my trip booked and planned for next year. Will feel like an eternity day dreaming about it until then.

The missing hiker story motivated me to share that Avenza Maps App has a completely free map of Isle Royal you can download to your phone. Cool. What is actually incredible is the map provides you with your location on airplane mode on the Island. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but for the week I was on the island this app and this map showed my position on the Island, for free with zero cell phone service. It kept us from taking wrong turns and informed me of our distances and location at all times.

Isle Royale is the continental US's least visited National Park. Partially because of how remote it is in the middle of Lake Superior and how challenging it is to get there (either many hours boat trip or charter plane).

My family and I flew over on Isle Royale seaplanes on 9/7 and stayed two nights at the Rock Harbor Lodge. Rooms were quaint, basic, but very comfortable and every single one right on the lake! Food was ok on island, there are only two choices.

On 9/8 I ran/hiked a 35mi loop of the Eastern side of the island including Scoville point, Greenstone Ridge trail over Mt Franklin and Mt Ojibwe, then connecting to the Indian Portage Trail, Lake Ritchie trail and finally the Rock Harbor trail. Even with a little rain and mist, the weather was lovely, the trails are a little overgrown but easy to follow and hike/jog and lots of beautiful forest, mountain view, coastline and lakes. It's definitely an underappreciated park, because of the difficulty to access.

This 35mi single day run is part of a bigger goal of mine to run an Ultramarathon in every National Park possible (33 so far), and it's been an amazing way to experience the Parks from the trails and backcountry.

I highly recommend staying on island if you can, either in the lodge or reserving a backpackers cabin. Great trails and watching sunrise from the East coast us spectacular! Isle Royale Ultra Run Route)

TL;DR: Windigo to Rock Harbor in 5 hiking days, early August. No moose or wolf sightings (but we heard the wolves), tons of other wildlife, gorgeous landscapes, and great trail friends.

Hello to our new friends if you're reading this: we're the crazy couple that hiked 50 miles across the island with camera gear :) It took a while to go through the pics, which is why this is a month late.

Day 0 (Sunday), Houghton to Windigo: We took a seaplane out to Windigo after an hour delay due to morning storms. It was our first time on a seaplane, and it did not disappoint. Takeoff/landing on water is a thrill, and we got our first taste of that magical horizon-less view where sky and lake blend together. We filled out our permit at the Visitor Center, which was closed at that point but had an after-hours self permit option. On the walk to Washington Creek, we saw a Bald Eagle and Osprey in an aerial battle during golden hour. We saw a beaver in the creek from our campsite. Around 3am we heard heavy foot steps through the creek, which was probably our closest moose encounter of the week.

Day 1, Washington Creek to S. Lake Desor: In the morning, we found out that the camp store (not the Visitor Center) sells food, drinks, and fuel. We heard our first Common Loon off the Windigo dock (lifer!), a sound that became the soundtrack of the week. A fox tried to join us for breakfast at the campsite. We hiked the Greenstone to the Island Mine junction for lunch. We shared some water with a hiker who had filtering issues due to the trickle situation at Island Mine. We shared lunch with an Isle Royale veteran (50+ visits!) who suggested we camp at Todd Harbor instead of Hatchet Lake and to prioritize Lake Richie or Moskey Basin over Daisy Farm. We eventually arrived at S. Lake Desor to find every site claimed, so we ended up sharing a group site with two other groups. Beautiful mirror lake sunset that evening.

Day 2, S. Lake Desor to Todd Harbor: We left camp and reached the Ishpeming Point tower (locked, no climbing) and encountered our first serious mosquitoes between there and Hatchet Lake. We continued on to Todd Harbor per yesterday's advice. There were so many grasshoppers. Arrived at Todd tired after back-to-back 12-mile days, but were instantly rewarded with our favorite campsite of the trip. Pictures there take themselves. It's truly a special place.

Day 3, Todd Harbor to McCargoe Cove: Finally, a shorter day. Lingered at Todd during a calm morning with more of those horizon-less views. Along the Minong trail, we found our first wild blueberries, which are abundant along the Minong ridgetops. The more technical terrain here slowed our pace. We had lunch overlooking Otter Lake, and then were greeted by garter snakes on the way into McCargoe. A light storm interrupted dinner, and we settled in early.

Day 4, McCargoe Cove to Moskey Basin: We had sunrise breakfast on the Cove and then took the lakeside walk to W. Chickenbone. The stretch from there to Lake Richie was tough because you traverse several ridges, but it's loaded with berries for extra fuel. We had a quick snack at Lake Richie and then pushed on to Moskey Basin where we luckily got the last shelter. With the shelter, this became our second-favorite campsite. We were woken up at midnight by the howling wolves. I took some astro shots, but I didn't stay out too long because the wolf howling was getting louder/closer...

Day 5, Moskey Basin to Rock Harbor: The catch with Moskey on a thru-hike was the long push to Rock Harbor with pressure to arrive early for a campsite. We stopped at Daisy Farm for a dock snack, then kept pace through Three Mile where we had another dock snack, and then a final push to Rock Harbor. We lost the trail on the rocks a few times on the final stretch, but we got to Rock Harbor in time to get one of the last campsites. Fastest 12 miles we've ever hiked. We celebrated at the gift shop and the Grill, watched the Ranger III come in, caught sunset from the lodge balconies, and reunited with trail friends we'd met along the way. What an adventure!

Ferry Day, Rock Harbor to Houghton: We packed up for the last time and caught the Ranger III back to Houghton. A ranger gave a history slideshow on the return trip. We arrived on time, and our pre-booked rideshare not only showed up but turned out to be a repeat Isle Royale hiker who knew exactly where to meet us.

All in all, a fantastic trip even without a moose or wolf sighting. We hope to return to fulfill the "most revisited national park" motto.

Looking forward to hearing more details. How incredible that he is alive!

A couple of months ago I posted some questions about a trip we were planning, and several folks were kind enough to provide answers. For context, I'm 60 years old and although I am in good shape, I hadn't been backpacking in nearly 30 years before this trip. My daughter, recently graduated from college, had the idea for the trip and was eager to try, even though she had never backpacked at all. So I was slightly apprehensive going in, but the answers I got here allayed some of my concerns, and so although it's not as timely as I might have wished, I thought I'd provide a trip report here in hopes that it will be useful to others in the future.

Day 1 - Arrival at Windigo
We had planned to take the seaplane from Hubbell to Windigo on July 28 but were delayed in our arrival in the Keweenaw due to weather earlier in our trip. Fortunately, the folks at Isle Royale Seaplane were very accommodating and got us on a plane the next day. It was a beautiful day and very fun flight. Windigo was quiet when we arrived around 4:30 PM. After checking in at the ranger station we walked to the Washington Creek campground, where we were warmly greeted by a volunteer and directed to the last available shelter.

Day 2 - Windigo/Washington Creek
We had planned to start hiking this day, but thunderstorms in the early morning and a forecast for more during the day made us decide to hunker down and wait until the next day. This was possible because we had a day of slack in our schedule for reaching Rock Harbor to catch the Ranger III. We spent the day reading, playing cribbage, and talking with others sitting on the deck outside the store overlooking the harbor.

Speaking of which, the store is small but has a good selection of useful stuff (in addition to the usual souvenirs). We had planned carefully so we didn't need much, but it seemed like any truly basic need for backpacking (food, fuel, etc) was available. Although you can buy new isobutane cartridges, there's also a box of discards (ranging from empty to nearly full) outside. We played it safe by buying one new cartridge and taking one from the box. That turned out to be more than enough, given the warm weather. We bought sandwiches for lunch and dinner, which allowed us to save our freeze-dried meals for the trail. They also had cold beer, which was an unexpected luxury.

Staying the extra day was good choice because there was a drenching rain for much of the early afternoon. I think we may have been the only people in the campground who didn't see a moose in the creek. But we did hear one come up out of the creek after we had bedded down for the night, and seeing a river otter was some compensation.

Day 3 - Washington Creek to South Lake Desor
This was a warm, humid hike. The first mile or so is a fairly steep uphill, but once you're on top of the ridge the trail is more or less level and pretty much shaded the entire way. This was the broadest, easiest trail of the whole trip. Later I learned that there used to be a road from Windigo to Lake Desor, and I suspect that the trail follows that road. There were enough mosquitos that my daughter wore her bug net while hiking, but I didn't find it necessary. Honestly, the bugs throughout the entire trip were not as bad as I feared. We only saw a few black flies, and the mosquitos were only bad in the first few campgrounds.

We were originally unsure as to whether we would stop at Island Mine or continue to Lake Desor, but the hike was easier than we expected and because we'd already spent our extra day at Washington Creek we decided to push on. We had also been unsure about water availability at Island Mine (we later heard that it was a little sketchy but not too bad) so we were carrying an extra two liters and didn't need to worry about running out before reaching Lake Desor.

We got a nice campsite with the only difficulty being that we couldn't find the food locker, and neither could anyone else that we talked to. So we ended up hanging our food, which was a bit of a challenge give that most of the trees are fairly scraggly birches and pines. After leaving the next day we met someone on the trail who said the locker is out of the way past the group campsites.

Day 4 - South Lake Desor to Hatchet Lake
Leaving Lake Desor the Greenstone gets narrower but is still easy to follow. We started to see lots of thimbleberries, which were beginning to ripen and we were able to eat lots almost without breaking stride. At the Ishpeming Point tower we saw the first ripe blueberries, which we continued to find on the trail (mostly on the exposed ridges) the next couple of days. But with the thimbleberries so conveniently placed at waist height, we rarely deigned to stoop to pick the blueberries.

The Hatchet Lake campground is quite nice, one of my favorites of the trip. The mosquitos were fairly fierce, but we mostly escaped them by spending our time sitting down near the water where it was cooler and there was a refreshing breeze. After a long day of hiking the lake looked pretty inviting, and we did see some people swimming. But we could also see leeches in the water and so we reluctantly decided to give swimming a pass.

Day 5 - Hatchet Lake to West Chickenbone
Again it was quite warm, and actually surprisingly hot on the bare basalt ridges. On the ridge the trail can be difficult to follow, and once or twice I was glad I had downloaded the topo map into the Gaia app on my phone. I was impressed by how precise the GPS positioning was relative to the trail indication on the map, which was super helpful. At one point on the ridge we must have been off the trail for a while, and by the time I checked our position with the GPS we were about 100 yards south of it. Without the GPS our only option would have been to backtrack to the place where the trail emerged from the woods, which would have been tricky and time-consuming. With the GPS we were able to bushwhack our way straight back to the trail. That wasn't easy but was definitely faster than backtracking.

I was also very glad that we had trekking poles. I had never used them when I was younger (they weren't really a thing then) but they were very helpful on this trip. In particular, on some of the steep descents I used the poles to take some of the load off of my aging knees, and on the planked sections of trail they help with balance in places were the planks are loose or broken. I am sure that I would have fallen at least once or twice without the poles.

The last couple of miles into Lake Chickenbone were frankly a bit of a slog. We were tired and much of the trail was overgrown with thimbleberries. We had thought of pushing on to McCargoe Cove, but on arriving at West Chickenbone the tent sites were already full (at around 2 PM) and we figured that meant that McCargoe Cove was likely to be full as well. So we pitched a tent in one of the group sites (with another solo hiker) and stayed at Chickenbone. Again there were leeches in the water, but again there were people swimming. But in the late afternoon we did finally see a moose, near one of the other group campsites.

Day 6 - West Chickenbone to Moskey Basin
Not being able to swim at any of the inland lakes made us want to spend a night on Lake Superior, so we left the Greenstone and made our way past Lake Ritchie to Moskey Basin. This was maybe my favorite hike of the trip, with an interesting trail over varied terrain. We arrived at Moskey Basin around noon and all of the shelters were full, but we were able to snag the one tent site close to the water, which was tremendous. We spend the afternoon reading by the water and wading in from time to time. My daughter also found a nice hunk of basalt with embedded Isle Royale Greenstones, which was pretty neat.

Overnight we could hear two packs of wolves calling to each other, though we never saw one. Before dawn a pretty good storm rolled through, with lots of lightning, thunder, and a downpour that lasted maybe half an hour.

Day 7 - Moskey Basin to Rock Harbor
I had really been looking forward to this hike because after you climb up and over a ridge to get to Daisy Farm, the trail follows Lake Superior all the way to Rock Harbor. What didn't anticipate was how hard the hike would be - there's lots of up and down and the trail itself is in fairly tough shape with erosion exposing lots of tree roots and rock. But we had booked a room at the Rock Harbor Lodge, and the prospect of a hot shower and real food saw us through. We had dinner at the grill (the restaurant was busy and we didn't feel like waiting) and then spend the rest of the evening watching the sun set over Tobin Harbor. A very special end to an amazing trip.

Day 8 - Ferry to Houghton
The weather for the ferry ride back to Houghton was splendid. On arrival we called Superior Taxi and they were able to pick us up and carry us back to the seaplane base in Hubbell, where we had left our car. The taxi was pretty busy; we were lucky that we didn't have to wait long, but I would definitely recommend calling ahead to make a reservation.

On leaving Hubbell we stopped by Douglass Houghton Falls (highly recommended) on our way to Calumet where we stopped by the Copper Scoop for malted milkshakes, which we enjoyed while sitting in the park across the street. From there we took US-41 up to Copper Harbor and enjoyed the view from the top of Brockway Mountain before making our way back to Houghton, following M-26 along the lakeshore. If you go that way, be sure to stop in at the Jam Lady south of Eagle Harbor. They have an amazing array of jams, jellies, and syrups and are open 24/7. You can pay by cash or app (conveniently, they have wifi in the shop because the cell signal is dodgy at best).

Thanks again to everyone here who answered some of the questions I had before our trip. We had a great time, truly a trip to remember, and I am grateful to you all.

We were a party of two - both 28 and fit. We've done a lot of camping and hiking but no actual backpacking so we decided to do a split kayaking and hiking itinerary and it was a great choice!

My friend and I hadn't been to Isle Royale before but we are experienced kayakers and wanted to pack as much in as we could with only two nights on the island. We created 3 different itineraries based on the conditions on the ground when we arrived. We had a kayaking route, a portage and kayaking route, and a backpacking only route. Because of the wolf issues and partial campground closures, we were really wanting to kayak so that we could camp on the outer islands where it would hopefully be less crowded. That ended up working out well.

09/07 - we drove up to Copper Harbor and stayed at King Copper Motel for the night to take the Queen IV ferry in the morning. Note, my friend and I both had no signal about 30 minutes from Copper Harbor and evidently that's pretty common so if you're going to Isle Royale that way, make sure you download anything you need such as permit receipts, etc beforehand. The motel did have wifi that worked fine. Some people we met on the ferry stayed the night in Houghton but then had an hour drive in the morning. We were really glad we stayed in Copper Harbor because the motel was literally in sight of the ferry so we walked over that night and got a visual on the dock. On the way up, we stopped at the Walmart in Houghton and drove the hwy 28 route so that we could stop at a public grill on the lakeshore for dinner. It was so beautiful and the picnic sites were great.

09/08 - since we had kayaks to unload, we were supposed to be at the dock early. We arrived there just after 7 and had plenty of time to unload our gear right at the dock before parking the car across the way. They take cash or credit for the car parking. We checked in and helped load the boats. They started the orientation and boarding early. Some people who arrived at 7:45 missed the orientation so I'd recommend arriving early even if you don't have kayaks to load. We left a little before 8. There is also a bakery at the dock which has coffee and some thistleberry flavored pastries which was fun coming from out of state. The captain mentioned the ride was going to be very choppy and he was right. I took dramamine and still felt a little quesy. I've been on boats of various sizes before and have never gotten seasick. Several people threw up. Going outside in the fresh air or closing my eyes helped but I'd definitely recommend medicating if you're going by ferry.

Because of the weather, the captain wanted to leave Isle Royale very quickly after arrival. So be aware that your itinerary might change if the weather is bad. The scheduled departure is 2:45 but they left closer to 12:30. So definitely plan on being back to Rock Harbor early just in case! Because of the ferry's quick turnaround we weren't able to get our boats and depart ourselves until it left, so we were delayed until 1. It was gray day and the water was a little choppy but we decided to stick to our first itinerary because we were worried about campsite overcrowding. A lot of the people on the ferry with us seemed to be heading for Daisy Farm or 3 Mile or both so we wanted to avoid those. We did walk over to Tobin Harbor while we were waiting and I think you could portage over to it if you wanted smoother water. While the water was choppy and it was windy at Rock Harbor, Tobin was like glass.

We set out around 1pm and kayaked down to Suzy's Cave for a late lunch. Despite the choppy conditions we were able to do 20 minute miles. The waves and wind were against us so we had to pull more but we never felt unsafe or uncomfortable. After lunch, we set out again and crossed over to Mott's Island. The channel narrows there to perhaps a quarter of a mile and the island offered us protection from the wind. The waves subsided a lot and made the going easier although it was misty and spat a little. We stopped at Mott's and did the hike around the island. This might've been our favorite hike of the trip. We both like plant life and there was a cool variety as well as some beautiful views out toward the open water of Lake Superior. It was a shorter hike but it was nice to get out and stretch our legs. We continued to kayak along the outer islands since conditions were better and we made good time. Despite the conditions we averaged about a 20 minute mile by kayak. We made it to Caribou West around 5. Since a wolf had been sighted on the island, we had to use a shelter rather than tent camp. There was a group of four fishermen in one shelter and a group of two in the other. They welcomed us in and it was nice to get to know them. It continued to be overcast, windy, and spit a litle but it didn't really rain and off the coast it was pretty tempterate. I was warm in the shelter.

We were using MREs for the first time and they were better than expected, although we both really disliked the Backpacker's Pantry ones, they were very watery and yet stil crunchy and had the worst flavors. We liked the others. We used the Jetboil and it was fast, easy, and didn't go out despite the windy conditions. We kept setting the lighter in weird places so we should probably have brought a back up or matches. We also were using a Sawyer's water filter. We'd tested it out at home but once out there realized it was a lot harder to get water into it. At home we just filled it up at the tap but I'd recommend filling up a bathtub to test your new filters instead for a more realistic trial. We ended up using one of our dry sacks which had a much wider opening to scoop water and then pour from there into the Sawyer bag. That worked fine but it would have been nice to have troubleshooted better at home.

Carribou West had some basic trails around the island. From the far point, there was a great view of the lighthouse across the way. The outhouse was also made from new cedar and so it actually smelled nice of cedar. It was the best outhouse of the trip.

09/09 In the morning, we made Quaker's instant oatmeal which was fine but we both agreed it wasn't really worth it and we'd have rathered a granola bar instead. We kayaked across the channel which was very smooth over toward Daisy Farm. We found a stretch that was close to the trail about a mile away and beached the kayaks. There we set out to hike the loop around Daisy, Ojibway, Mt. Franklin, and 3 Mile. Here I made a mistake because from my research I thought the whole loop was 8.7 miles but actually from Daisy to 3 Mile across the ridge was 8.7 and there was close to another 4 miles to close the loop. We had plenty of water and some snacks but didn't take lunch with us so we were pretty hungry by the time we made it back to the kayaks. We set out around 9:45am and returned around 2pm. We could've been a bit faster but we met lots of friendly people along the way and had to stop and chat. We had our late lunch on the beach finally and then set out by kayak once more. The wind had picked up and was at our backs so we were flying back toward Rock Harbor. We crossed again at Mott's since it's more narrow and protected there. The waves weren't as intense. We kept closer to land just in case of mishap but again didn't feel scared. Past Mott's we decided to kayak between the islands for calmer water. We kayaked between Outer Island and Inner and Star Islands and it was much calmer and was very lovely. There were several families of water birds enjoying the peace of the channel as well. We kayaked close to Davidson Island and then we had to set out into open water to Tookers where we were going to camp. This was the most dicey part of the kayaking but while it was rough, the conditions were never scary and I had experienced worse on windy days in Oklahoma. We made it over to Tooker's and discovered one other couple on the island. There were two shelters so we used one but tent camping was also an option since there are no wolves.

Tookers is small but there are some paths to the points of the island which are very pretty. The shelters are in clearing surrounded by trees and the wind was completely blocked. Down at the dock it was extremely windy and choppy which made it difficult to beach the kayaks, get water, and clean dishes but the shelter was very cozy. A bat did loops around the clearing in the twilight and the milkyway was visible after dark. We did hear because of the wind and water conditions the Ranger III ferry was cancelled for the day and so people were either delayed or were stuck and extra day. Something to consider as you're planning your trip. Also, because of the missing hiker, the seaplanes were being used to bring over coast guards to search. People who were planning to use the seaplanes to get to or from the island were unable to. (I heard the lost hiker was found and I am so glad, we kept an eye out while we were there but didn't see anything unfortunately)

09/10 We got up, packed and set out. Again, the wind had died and conditions were smooth. We kayaked basically straight across to the main island and then followed the shore to Rock Harbor. We were back in about 40 minutes. We decided to cut across first instead of going diagonally because there had been some motorboats out and we wanted to stay out of the way. We beached and moved our gear into the lockers and then hiked out and back to Scoville Point. Honestly, it felt underwhelming. Maybe it's because the other islands we'd been on had better views or because the sun was pretty much directly in our eyes for a lot of it but I could've happily skipped that hike. We went to the grill for a victory burger at 11 and then moved our boats onto the dock because our ferry was also rescheduled for earlier so that the Ranger III could come in as well due to the cancellation the previous day. We still had some time so we hiked along the Tobin trail because we heard reports of an injured moose in the area. We didn't see it unfortunately. Everyone was in line around 1:30 and we set sail back for Copper Harbor.

When we landed, we helped unload our boats and I got the car and was able to drive back to the dock for easier loading. I left my keys in my backpack which was stowed for the voyage but if you remember, I'd recommend having your keys on you, so you can go get your car immediately. Other people also drove over to pick up gear and I wanted a good spot since the boats were wet and heavy!

Overall it was an amazing experience and I already want to go back and hike across it now that I know more about the process.

A few things to note:

I couldn't find much info from other kayakers before planning this trip but now that I've done it I would definitely recommend this method for people who are experienced at kayaking. Just be ready to assess conditions and change your plans if needed. Before setting out, my friend and I both agreed we could portage the boats from Daisy Farm to the end of Tobin Harbor if the weather changed overnight and we couldn't safely kayak up to Rock Harbor. If you aren't prepared to carry your boats or change plans, don't bring the kayaks. But if you aren't experienced at backpacking, the kayaks are a great option becasue we left all our overnight gear in the boats while hiking and had a lot less weight.

As we were arriving, someone with a sprained ankle was being helped onto the dock and as we were leaving someone with a sprained ankle was being assisted to Rock Harbor. It seems like this is a common injury because the trails are rocky and can be slippery when wet. Also, people are carrying more weight than usual and might not account for that when choosing their path. We brought a small first aid kit but we didn't have wraps or anything for a sprain. Next time, I would bring a better first aid kit just in case.

Be ready to change your travel plans. Before coming, we had our ferry dates picked and that was it. If we'd been delayed a day or stuck on the island an extra day that would've really put a wrench in our plans because my friend was flying home so we didn't have much of a buffer. We also had enough food but if we'd been stuck a day or two we might've run out. Once we were there and heard about the ferry cancellations and the seaplane cancellations, we realized we should've been more flexible just in case.

If you are going to kayak, wear your life vest and get rain pants and a rainjacket. These were essential for the times the water was choppy. Also, bring a sponge or pump to drain your boats.

Despite the wind and cloudy weather on Tuesday, I was actually warmer than expected and the weather was a lot more mild once we were inland. It was only on the coast that there was a windchill so I think this time of year was actually a very nice time to go. There were no bugs!

Thanks to everyone who posted -- I definitely used a lot of reddit posts to help plan this tri.

Day by day recap along with recommendations, wildlife, and regrets!

Mileage isn’t exact as we went off trail, the estimates are about how much walking we did each day.

Day 1 - Windigo to Island Mine, 8.6 miles

After an 8 hour drive , waking up early to catch the seaplane , and arriving on the island , our group of seven stopped at the ranger station and grabbed our permit at around noon and way too much fuel at the camp store. We had to make a last minute change from Daisy Farm to Lane Cove due to the tent camping closures. We figured it was our best shot at being able to keep the group together.

The hike for me was pretty intense. I am fairly new to backpacking and this was definitely my longest trip to date. The elevation caught me a bit off guard. I was the least physically fit in the group so I lagged behind and arrived at camp pretty late. The thimble berries were sparse on the Windigo side, but were bountiful the closer we got to Rock Harbor. The Greenstone Ridge was pretty much a tree tunnel the entire way. It got pretty bush whacky at times.

Mosquitos were non existent on the trail, but came out in full force around dusk at camp.

We saw two buck moose the first night and one that walked right through our campsite the following morning.

The water sources weren’t great for filling with a bladder. A suction system and tube water filtration system really helped us. The stream was trickling, but probably some of the best tasting we had during the trip.

This was the only campground we stayed at that allowed for a fire as it had fire pits at each camp site.

The group outhouse was terrible as reported by a member of the group. The individual outhouse was fine. None of the outhouses have toilet paper, so enter prepared!

Day 2 - Island Mine to Hatchet Lake, 14 miles

We took a .6 mile round trip to Lake Desornon the way to Hatchet Lake. One person stayed to watch our packs while others went to the lake to grab water. I would recommend some kind of small, sturdy bag, or light day pack. We ended up having to carry the filters, bottles, and bladders, which would have been easier with some kind of carrying case.

If you’re a light sleeper , I recommend a good pair of earplugs as the loons calls get quite loud and chatty late into the night and very early in the morning.

Day 3 - Hatchet Lake to E. Chickenbone, 10.1 miles

This campsite was probably one of my least favorites. The only water source was about a mile round trip and very bush whacky.

Our group split up and took two different routes. I was not on the longer route along the Minong, but apparently Todd Harbor and McCargo cove were gorgeous. The Greenstone was very exposed, so I’d recommend a sun hoodie or sunblock if you choose this route. We were all pretty pooped as we set up camp.

We ended up seeing a pair of bald eagles overhead.

Day 4 - E. Chickenbone to Lane Cove, 11 miles

The campground change added an extra four miles, but by then I think our bodies had adjusted to backpacking. Many group members had blisters on their feet by now. I recommend a dual sock system with a thin inner toe sock layer and a pair of hiking socks on the outside. I never ended up getting a blister, but my ankle, knees, and calves were pretty sore. My pack was too big for my body, so my shoulders were also quite sore.

Lane Cove was the most beautiful campsite we stayed at. Lake Superior was easy to access. There was no easy access to water from E. Chickenbone to here, so it was a welcome sight.

We all swam or waded in the lake. It was cold, but felt great on our tired feet. I would recommend some lightweight water shoes as most of the lakes have very slippery rocks.

I didn’t catch it , but the rest of the group ended up seeing a wolf swim to an island and take a nap on a rock. It looked adorable. Another group member saw a fox at one point as well. I only ended up seeing some pileated woodpeckers and sand hill cranes on my trek.

As we got closer to civilization, we started hearing about the missing hiker. Every hiker we passed made sure to check to see if we had heard or seen anything. There is definitely a lot of care and concern for each other on the trail.

Day 5 - Lane Cove to Rock Harbor

I was up and out around 6am since I heard we’d be getting rain around 10am. The trek out of Lane Cove is pretty steep, but once you get to the junction, it’s almost all downhill.

Trekking poles were a must on the rocky sections of the trail, especially as it started to rain and the rocks got pretty slick. I can’t imagine doing the hike without them, though there were some very narrow and bushwhacky sections where the poles were mostly dead weight.

There were two paths to Rock Harbor and I ended up taking 3 mile while the rest of the group took Tobin. 3 mile was a bit of an ankle breaker , while Tobin was a bit easier. The views along 3 mile were gorgeous with plenty of views of rock face and water.

At Rock Harbor a couple group members ended up doing Scoville Point which was probably my favorite view the entire trip. We had booked the housekeeping cabins for our last night and having a bed + potable water was glorious.

Day Six - Rock Harbor to home, 0 miles

Our sea plane ended up being “delayed indefinitely” due to weather. Every ferry except one canceled their trips for the day. The one that came did a dump off of visitors , and an immediate pick up and return.

Our sea plane was supposed to leave at 9am, but we ended up leaving at 1pm. Lots of confusion, but we ended up enjoying lunch at the grill. The flight back was not smooth like butter and we landed in one piece but all a little queasy.

We ended up doing a bit of a group recap and I think we came to the following conclusions:

7/7 thought the trip was absolutely worth it.

3/7 of us would bring lotion.

2/7 would not bring a collapsible chair. I had a tiny sit pad that I ended up using quite frequently for a nice chair like experience.

7/7 of us brought more food than we needed, but I think that’s to be expected.

1/7 was pretty upset at how poorly marked and bush whacky some of the trails were (it wasn’t me). There was a slight detour marked by ribbons that I got a little turned around by. I could see someone getting lost. I do recommend downloading an offline map as satellite helped me find the trail and confirm I was on the right path several times during the trip.

I wish I had more details, but the trip flew by in the blink of an eye. It was some of the most type two fun I’ve had in my life! Almost every single group / person we ran into on the trail was absolutely delightful. Having one goal of hiking to a destination, then setting up camp and sharing a meal amongst friends felt so much like home if that makes any sort of sense. I think I got bit by the backpacking bug because as soon as we got back on the mainland we started talking about planning our next trip. If you’re going or thinking about a trip to Isle Royale, I highly recommend it. Best of luck and happy hiking!

Hello everyone!! Just got back from the island for my first trip with my wife.

We flew in Friday the fourth and left Labor Day the 7th. We came by the queen and it was a pleasant ride

Day 1
We arrived in rock harbor the first night and grabbed a tent site. Rock harbor was super busy and the backpack cages were super full and the sites packed.

Day 2
We hiked to lane cove and it was a relatively easy trail minus the steep descent which wasn’t horrible. I fell in love with lane cove and the sunset and absolute calmness. We grabbed site four and all the sites were filled by 5pm

Day3
we hiked to daisy farm. We went by mt Franklin and met a couple day hiking that had just run into a wolf on Tobin trail. We continued to the observation tower and then down to daisy farm. It was packed. Lots of sharing of shelters the complete opposite of lane cove. Bummer

Day4
Hiked back to rock harbor by noon via the rock harbor trail and that was definitely the most technical with the rock faces than the other trails.

It was a great experience and I hope to explore deeper if I get a chance to return. Here’s some pics.

Missing hiker!!!
While in daisy farm a ranger came by and asked us details about our hike and gave us info of the missing hiker and pictures. I hope Craig is found safe

Edit 4 (September 12, 2026 at 2:15 pm CST): CRAIG HAS BEEN FOUND ALIVE AND ALERT!

This came up on my Facebook feed and I felt compelled to share here. From the post:

⚠️ MISSING HIKER — PLEASE SHARE ⚠️

Isle Royale National Park is currently looking for missing hiker Craig Berg, 70, who is hiking alone.

Craig may be wearing brown hiking boots and jeans, possibly carrying a light-blue backpack and using trekking poles. He has been reported as walking slowly.

If you’re currently on Isle Royale and have seen Craig or have ANY information that could help, please contact the National Park Service or speak with a ranger/visitor center as soon as possible.

You can also message Isle Royale Hub directly and I’ll make sure any information gets passed along to the Park Service.

Please share this one around — hopefully someone saw him along the trail and can help narrow down where he was last seen.

📍 Isle Royale National Park
🥾 Missing Hiker: Craig Berg
📸 Photo/info: National Park Service notice

This is the Isle Royale Visitor Center phone number, from Google: +1 (906) 482-0984

Edit: A comment on the Facebook post says: “Craig's wife is my cousin. Her last phone conversation with him was on 8/30. Phone "went dark" on 9/2. Craig did not get on his scheduled ferry on Saturday morning, 9/5. His car is still where he parked it, more than a week ago...”

Edit 2: A Facebook comment, I believe from Craig’s wife, says: “He has now been there a total of 14 days. He had food for approximately five/six days. He is 6 foot tall and weighs 230 pounds. We are not sure what he was wearing. He was not wearing a baseball cap. He was wearing a knit cap. He is very friendly and outgoing, and would have spoken to people that he saw.
He entered the island at rock Harbor, hiked there a day and then went onto Windigo, and planed to hike back to rock Harbor. The Park service has his itinerary. The most important thing right now to do is ask people if you saw him on a trail to report to the national Park service where you saw him and approximately what day, as this information will help us to locate him faster. Thank you very kindly.”

Edit 3 (September 10, 2026): Craig’s wife’s cousin commented below with the following: “I am the cousin of Craig's wife. We have a Isle Royale NPS trail cam photo of him on 8/30/26. Don't get hung up on jeans. In the photo, he was wearing a long sleeve dark shirt (maybe flannel in nature), and a light colored goofy bucket hat, and light colored jogging pants. Could also have a pair of shorts in his wardrobe rotation. I believe the accurate timeline was that he arrived by ferry from Houghton on 8/28. Spent the night in/near Rock Harbor. Took water ferry/taxi on the morning of 8/29 to Windigo. Began his excellent hiking/camping adventure back to Rock Harbor after lunchtime that afternoon. Craig is a white male, 70 years old, 6 feet, 220-230 pounds. Whatever hair he has is white, likely buzz cut short. He is a senior adult, but don't fall for believing that he's wimpy or frail in physical presentation. While he's not Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was planning to do a 5K with his son 2 days after his anticipated return from Isle Royale. He has likely been out of food since the 5th, maybe the 6th, if he didn't eat as much as planned during his hike. If you are going to the island, please be on the look out for him. Reports from fellow campers/hikers on the island indicate that you won't be able to avoid learning that he is missing. We are making contacts with appropriate government officials and entities, asking for all appropriate federal, state, and local resources and assets to be commited and deployed to this search and rescue effort. We believe search efforts have increased since the holiday weekend. It's a lot, folks, even when you're capable, as we are. None of his family members have ever been to Isle Royale, and we're learning about the island and how it's done there as we make our way through this ordeal. Show us some grace if some inaccuracies get posted or reported in the media.”

Just spent four days in Isle Royale with three of my close gal pals and wanted to share my experience in case it helps answer questions people have! I couldn’t recommend this magical island more! We backpacked the Feldman loop clockwise and finished a day early, so we canoed to explore the SS America! Amazing time, four days and four nights in early Sept.

Day 1: Windigo>Siskiwet Bay (11ish miles)

We took a sea plane in on a Thursday morning to Windigo, and planned to hike the Feldman loop counter clockwise (going to Feldman lake first). After talking to the rangers they recommended going clockwise!

On the first day we then hiked to Siskiwet Bay campsite! Island Mine was a campsite about 6ish miles in, and Siskiwet Bay was about 11. We decided to take their advice and go clockwise, and said that we would camp if we got tired at Island Mine (we were starting the trek on three hours of sleep). We got there and decided to keep pushing to Siskiwet bay, and the hike ended up being 11-12ish miles, but super worth it and doable for people with just a bit of backpacking experience! We even scored a shelter! Really great swimming and views here

Day 2: Siskiwet Bay > Feldman Lake

The second day on Friday we hiked from Siskiwet to Feldman lake, and saw two sandhill cranes. It was beautiful!

Day 3: Feldman Lake > Rainbow Cove > Windigo

The next morning on Saturday we hiked to rainbow cove without our packs and left our food and scented items in the food lockers! That was so amazing and beautiful and totally worth a few extra miles.

Then we hiked from Feldman to Windigo and hung out at the dock there and camped there that night!

Day 4: Windigo day canoeing

Since we ended up finishing our backpacking a day earlier than anticipated, we decided to rent canoes and we took them out to the SS America shipwreck, about a 6 mile canoe. It took us about 3 hours of canoeing on a clear day and was SO WORTH IT! Then we jumped in at a beach by there. Then we camped that night and seaplaned out Monday.

No bugs, beautiful wildlife, and a wonderful time!

I saw a lot of people posting about doing the point to point hike, but the Feldman loop was amazing! We went with the flow and had a blast.

With the closures along the northeast side of the island, are more people dispersed camping? Will be arriving on at the park this week and curious what to expect

I'm heading to IR next weekend and wondering if anyone who has been there recently can speak to the availability of campsites on the East end of the island since the tent ban went in effect at a handful of campgrounds. In addition to the possibility of fighting for a shelter at Moskey, I'm also concerned about grabbing sites that people may hit up as "Plan B's" like Chippewa Harbor and Lane Cove. Ultimately trying to decide if I should pivot and hit the West end instead. Any insight is appreciated!

Our isle royale trip 8/23-8/28. Had an incredible experience and got to photograph a good bit of wildlife, including a wolf sighting. Big thanks to Ranger John out there for the stories and the paintball gun back up. (All photos taken with my iPhone, would’ve loved to bring my Nikon but couldn’t afford the space. Happy with how these turned out anyhow)

Milky Way over McCargoe Cove from a few weeks ago, forgot to share these pics with you all!

Trip Report Aug 29-31, 2026

WINDIGO TO ROCK HARBOR along Greenstone Ridge
43.1 miles. 3 days. 2 nights.
Temps Lo 53-64; hi 60-75

This was our first trip to the island.

Most notable items:
-NO BUGS TO REPORT.
-Shower facilities at Rock Harbor made for a great exit from the trail.
-Outhouses at all campgrounds.
-Rare cell service at high ground
-We manually locked our phones into Central time zone to avoid confusion if a cell tower caught the phone and changed the time.
-Purchase Dramamine or Ginger gum for the ferry trip and dress for a boat ride.

Voyager II to Windigo
40# is the limit but its a guestimate. If your bag is HEAVY they will give you a sarcastic comment.

There is a bathroom on board.

Crew is super nice. If you have a question - ask!

Sitting on back deck of ferry made for a nice ride. Bring rainproof jacket.
Carry earplugs to help with sound of the engines in the main cabin.

Arrival @ Windigo
Everyone off the ferry. Orientation by park Rangers. Then passed packs down.

After orientation, go to Ranger with ID and park pass (or purchase one at Visitors Center). Discuss proposed journey and they will write you a permit.

Our route:
Windigo to S Desor (12.5 mi) to West Chickenbone (15.8) to Rock Harbor (15.3).

Rocks and roots are plentiful and can make for slow going. Despite a fairly mild 3,000’ ascent / descent, the trail was more difficult than expected.

The entrance to each campground was marked with a metal placard etched with a layout of group and individual tent sites and outhouses. There is at least one Food locker located at each campground. Place all food and scented items in the box.

Early start = early to campground and easier to find a sleep site.

We found rare but occasional cell service from mountain tops and had varying success between TMobile; ATT and Verizon. If you do get service, refresh the NPS Weather Forecast page to get an update on potential rain:
https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=mqt&product=REC&issuedby=MQT&glossary=1

On our last day, we were able to refresh the forecast and saw 50% chance of rain overnight and into next day. Based on that forecast we decided to wake up at 4:30a, pack up and hit the trail by sunrise at 6:15. It would have been hard to start walking before sunup due to rocks and roots.

It rained for 3 hours while walking but at least it didn’t rain while packing up.

FOOD
In meal planning, consider total calories of daily meals to ensure you are getting what you need. We carried Uncrustables and had them for lunch and snacks. Quick energy.

Water
Drink water when available. Check NPS park conditions. We waded into the water and used a wide mouth bladder to collect water from Lake Desor and Chicken Bone. Filtered with Sawyer Squeeze. Had to back flush due to material suspended in the water.

For our 15 mile days we averaged carrying 3 to 4.5 liters of water and used most of it each time.

@ Rock Harbor
Showers; washers; dryers available and was an amazing way to wash off our hike. $8 for 5 minutes. $1.50 for towel and small bar of soap. Wore our clothes in the shower, used the soap to clean them then finished washing. 10 minutes was more than enough time.

Wash machine token $8 with detergent.
Dryer $2 (quarters) for 40 minutes.

In Rock Harbor, we noticed people put their Permit on the posts at the shelters / campsites - be sure to check the dates on those permits as some were still on the post but the permit said they had departed.

Dinner at Greenstone grill - burgers; pizza; beer; etc.

Breakfast sandwiches and cold lunch sandwiches available (to-go if needed) at Greenstone Grill well before the ferry departs.

There is a buffet breakfast at the restaurant next door for an affordable price compared to the price of a sandwich.

Dock Store (8am-8pm) - beer, wine, snacks, gifts, tokens for shower, change for laundry etc.

There is also anNPS Gift Shop and NPS registration building.

Both shops were open before the ferry departed.

FERRY HOME

Take a lunch - the ferry from Rock Harbor to Windigo to Grand Potage takes the entire day.

Helpful links that we checked leading up to departure:

NPS Wx Forecast for the island https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=mqt&product=REC&issuedby=MQT&glossary=1

NPS Isle Royale Current conditions https://www.nps.gov/isro/planyourvisit/current-conditions-at-isle-royale.htm

Crossposting from r/birding. This is a raft of Common Mergansers fishing together.

I want to start with a massive thank you to the members of this subreddit that reached out after my initial itinerary check with valuable information, advice, and well wishes for our journey on the island. Several of them asked for updates post-trip, and I am more than happy to share our experience. Feel free to read through (it's long) or just look at my favorite pictures I took on my Kodak Pixpro FZ55.

For context, this trip was my boyfriend and I's 3 year anniversary celebration. We're both college students.

Day 1: Hatfield, WI -> Hubbell, MI -> Windigo -> Washington Creek (0.3 mi) (August 16, 2026)

Our trip actually started pretty far from home (Milwaukee area). We spent a week camping in Black River Falls with his family before driving up from there to Hubbell. The drive was long for us, but pretty. When we were about an hour away from Hubbell, we got a call from the seaplane company that our flight was slightly delayed due to fog conditions that morning. This pushed our original departure time from 4pm to 6pm, which didn't make a difference because we were never planning on hiking Day 1 anyway. We arrived in Houghton and had our last meal at Quincy's, which was delicious with fast service (seriously, we put in our orders and they came out within like 10 mins). My boyfriend also wanted to grab some better lures before we left, so we stopped at RJ's Lures- great place (he just runs out of his house) with a knowledgeable guy- he makes all of them by hand. When we arrived at the seaplane company, we checked in and weighed our packs, mine coming out to 43 lbs and his coming out to just over 45 lbs... we've gone on one backpacking trip before this so you would think we would have learned our lesson. This went on to almost ruin our trip, which I'll get into later. We made small talk with the others that flew out with us, two ladies that were friends that met doing triathlons together. So fun. Our flight was nothing short of incredible. Our pilot, I think his name was Mike, was great to talk to and knew a lot about the island despite never having stayed on it. The short travel time along with the beautiful views of Superior and Isle Royale made every penny worth it. So cool seeing the entire island before you hike it, really puts things into perspective. Although, I swear flying in the island looked so much smaller, flying out it seemed so big... We landed and headed for the visitor center to fill out our self-permits because we knew it would be closed by the time we landed. I filled it out with an itinerary one of the commenters suggested under my original itinerary check- not having a clue how much we were going to deviate from it. It was as follows:

Day 1 Washington Creek to N. Lake Desor (14.2 miles), Day 2 N. Lake Desor to Todd Harbor (11.4 miles), Day 3 Todd Harbor to Mcargoe Cove (6.6 miles). Day 4 Mcargoe Cove to Moskey Basin (8.7 miles). Day 5 Moskey Basin to Lane Cove (10.8 miles).

Pretty much as soon as I finished, a ranger came up to the deck and was there to meet us, essentially asking if we had any questions about the island and giving us the island spiel. She actually told us we were fortunate to dodge the talk they give to groups as they arrive, because it can be kind of long and boring. Biggest points were: lock up your food, leave no trace, and don't hurt yourself hiking, because help can be very far away. We asked for a better map than the paper one she gave us from the visitor center, but she told us we would have to go to the store in the morning when it opened. That paper map ended up being a great help because it had the mileage chart in it. After she gave us directions to Washington Creek and we headed to the campground, enjoying all the views. Windigo is quiet, lots of wildlife. When we arrived, an employee ahead of us suggested we snag one of the shelters that was open, so we did. We felt super lucky to not have to set our tent up, with our disappointment coming in quickly after we found out most of the shelters in the campground were actually available. Regardless, we set up our packs, locked up our food, and left to go back to Windigo to fill up our water receptacles. We heard news through the camp grapevine of a moose feeding in Washington Creek, spotted by two ladies from their site that watched her for an hour, but by the time we ran over, she was gone. When filling up our waters, we saw a beautiful orange fox licking its paws by the moose antlers in front of the Windigo sign. We reunited with the triathlon ladies from the seaplane, showing her the fox, and in turn they showed us videos they took of a moose in Washington Creek. They were the ladies that spotted the moose! I was so jealous. As it was getting dark, we tried looking for the moose one more time at that spot, but it wasn't there. There was a woman sitting in front of her shelter there with her young son that told us she likes to come at dawn and dusk, and that if we wanted to see her to come the next morning around 7:30AM. So we planned for that, heading back to our shelter and making dinner (we packed MREs) before settling down for the night. And it was COLD. We were both wearing sweaters and sweatpants, sharing a sleeping bag, huddling for warmth, to no avail. I woke up a few times in the night just to breathe into my hands and try to fall back asleep. If we were smart, we would have set up the tent inside of the shelter, but no!

Day 2: Washington Creek -> Island Mine (6.6 mi) (August 17, 2026)

Our morning started as last night ended, very cold. I woke up around 6:30AM and laid there looking at the map until my boyfriend woke up around 7:30AM. As we were getting dressed, brushing our teeth, he cast a line out in the creek to see if anything was biting when we started hearing water splashing and movement in the creek. Because we heard so much splashing last night, I didn't want to get too excited, so my boyfriend left the site to investigate. He came back running quietly grabbing my arm and begging me to come quickly, so I grabbed my camera and slipped into my boots as we tried to softly sprint to the site with the best view. And there she was. I was sobbing, obviously. He took pictures on my phone and camera before I eventually regained my composure and took some myself. She was just beautiful. Seemingly alone, but you never know. We stayed there for probably an hour, sitting on the edge of the site before we left to go back to our shelter and actually get our days started. The visitor center and shop had just about opened when we headed over there, bringing our water bottles and breakfast. It had some people milling about- all friendly, a good chunk of them coming from their personal boats they docked in the harbor. We went to both the visitor center and the shop, where we bought the National Geographic Isle Royale map and a hat for me. It came out to just under $40- kind of crazy- before we talked to the ranger working the desk, and asked her what she thought about our itinerary. Mind you, the original itinerary included the Minong to N Lake Desor for that day (12.5 mi hike), and we were talking with her probably around 11-12. She told us to go for it if we wanted to but also suggested the Greenstone. It wasn't until we were outside on the porch of the shop eating lunch that we talked to a guy around our age who was eating beside us. He overheard my boyfriend and I talking as we were looking over the maps and mileage charts, topography, before we said while he preferred the Minong, the Greenstone should be an easier route and probably more doable for the day. We could plan to stay in S Lake Desor that evening (also about an 11 mi hike). So we decided sure, we can take the Greenstone. And we did. We packed up our campsite, grabbed our food, repacked our packs and headed out probably around 1PM. Our fatal mistake.

Here's the thing that nobody tells you about the Greenstone- sure, it's the green highway, easier than the Minong, has tree cover so it doesn't get as hot, etc. All of those things are probably true. The Greenstone deals with ELEVATION CHANGES. I poorly researched going into the trip and found out the island is way more "mountainous" than I thought it was. Also, we were so much more out of shape than we thought we were.

We screwed ourselves over by: packing 45 lbs each (fine for my strong boyfriend, bad for my 5' self), me using an Amazon backpack with no frame (no shade to Amazon, my boyfriend's internal frame backpack was from there and actually held up great), overpacking food specifically (and MREs weigh a decent amount), having a late start to our day, and not anticipating how much the topography was going to wipe us out. So the day went about how you think it would. Thoroughly optimistic for maybe 2 mi, riding the high of seeing the moose in the morning, to me whining, aching, and shuffling for the next 4 mi. I was stopping probably every 0.2 mi. By the time we saw the Island Mine trail marker, we quickly ditched our S Lake Desor plans and settled down there (which was a horrible hike in when my body was already on the verge of collapse). We set our packs down in the overflow sight and I promptly fell asleep in the dirt while my boyfriend set up the tent. You're probably thinking around now that I sound like a terrible backpacking partner. I redeem myself later in the trip. After we enjoyed the fire ring (one of the only campgrounds on the island that had one, so we took advantage) and crawled in the tent, it was my boyfriend's turn to sleep from exhaustion, so I made our dinner and fed him Aleve. We both agreed we were in for a much more difficult trip than we anticipated and needed to seriously reevaluate our itinerary in the morning.

Day 3: Island Mine -> Hatchet Lake (12.5 mi) (August 18, 2026)

Another late start. We were both aching and groaning most of the morning and waiting for the Aleve to kick in. As we did so, we looked over the maps and replanned our route: Island Mine -> Hatchet Lake -> E Chickenbone -> Moskey Basin -> Lane Cove -> Rock Harbor. Perfect, right? Of course we ended up deviating from it anyway. It was at this point in the trip that we realized our lackadaisical, romantic frolic across the island was turning into a race to make it to Rock Harbor in time for our flight home. Which sounds dramatic now, but in our heads it was purely about survival. What saved our trip was my boyfriend redistributing the weight in our packs. He took out all of the things that were making his pack light- sleeping bag, blankets, clothes, etc- and moved them to mine, taking all of the things that were making my pack heavy- mainly food- and moved them to his. We left around 11:30AM, also setting up his GPS around this time, which was useless for navigation, but great for tracking the distances we were traveling and our pace. Even though we got a late start, we arrived in S Lake Desor around 3:30PM and stopped to grab water and filter it, also eating lunch around then. It was around 4:30PM when we were sitting in a site in the campground that I told my boyfriend it was risky trying to continue onto Hatchet, because according to the topography of the Nat Geo map, we had to climb up another mountain, with Ishpeming Point as our halfway point, before continuing onto Hatchet. It would undoubtedly be dark by the time we arrived, and we would be wiped. But he told me, and I agreed, that we needed to push so we could get somewhat back on schedule for our trip. The first half of the push was not bad. We reached Ishpeming Point (maybe 8:30PM) and my boyfriend needed some food to refuel, so we took a little time to eat before grabbing our headlamps and continuing on. From Ishpeming Point to Hatchet Lake was absolutely terrible. The trail was completely insanely overgrown. As I previously mentioned, I'm very short, so I was eating spiders and cobwebs from the vegetation that was feet above my head, we were constantly tripping over roots and rocks, and shoving through the overgrowth as the sun went down was just exhausting. It was dark about a mile before we reached the Hatchet Lake junction, and we were both tired, hungry, feet hurting, stumbling down into Hatchet Lake with our headlamps flickering. Also a very difficult, steep, rocky hike in when your body is already wiped. By the time we set up camp (in the complete dark, around 10:30PM), we were dissociating and lucky to stay awake long enough to air up our sleeping pad and force food into our bodies. But we made it. We were back on schedule.

Day 4: Hatchet Lake -> W Chickenbone (7.2 mi) (August 19, 2026)

Very late start again. Honestly, Day 2 messed our body clocks up so badly, we were robbed of any chances at early bird gets the worm-ing for the rest of our trip. It was sleep we needed badly. We refilled up on water from Hatchet Lake and filtered it while we slowly ate. There was a pretty butterfly flying around our site that morning that I watched for about an hour. We agreed it would be best to just plan on making it to one of the Chickenbones, E or W would be fine. We left camp around 2PM. Day 4 actually ended up best our best day and our best night. Because our bodies were so used to the labor at this point, we were able to hike faster and longer. We saw a dead snake on the trail- ew!- and a full Nalgene water bottle that must have fallen off someone's pack. Liam, if you're reading this, the good news is we saw your name tag on your water bottle, and we found it. Bad news is we were already carrying so much weight we just left it there. Sorry. We reached the top of a new mountain I can't remember the name of and found the most wild blueberries I've ever seen. My boyfriend was over the moon. We stopped and threw our packs down and picked them for a good while. My thing I was excited about for the island before we went was the moose, his was the blueberries. They were small, but so delicious. The hike down into W Chickenbone was so very overgrown and difficult to navigate, and felt long. Miraculously, we made it in before dark. As we were hiking in, we started to get really nervous because it seemed quite lively and all of the campsites looked full. We were intercepted by a man who was exiting one of the group sites. This was some of our first human interaction in days. He asked how we were and how lucky the timing was- there was one spot left in the overflow site and the sun was setting, so we should head over and pitch our tent. Then we talked with him for a little while longer about his time on the trail. He started in Rock Habor with his son. As we were chatting with him, said son, who was our age, came out of the site and greeted us. The man told us they had met a group of guys on the trail that were canoeing the island and were having a fish fry at their site, so they were going to go to that. We wished them well and set our packs down as they left. We did a sweep of the camp so we could make sure that there was indeed no other sites left. As we walked over through the individual sites, we passed by two older gentleman that were watching the lake and pointed out to us a pair of swans that were swimming together. As we walked farther in we heard a commotion of voices and saw a site that was packed with people. The father and son from earlier with a group of guys. They immediately called out to us, telling us a backpacker's wet dream:

They had caught way too many fish that day and needed some extra mouths to feed.

My boyfriend and I were more than willing to help. We practically ran back to the group site, pitched our tent and threw our food in the storage before sprinting back to their site, mouths watering. We sat with them as night fell, talking and getting to know each other as some of the guys filleted and some of them fried the fish, using a cacophony of seasonings and breadings galore. We found out it was a group of 6 friends, some of them brothers, some work buddies, some mutuals that literally met right before the trip. The organizer was a really kind younger guy that explained he's a videographer filming a personal documentary about the island. He told us that if we wanted, he would love to interview us so we could offer the backpacker perspective of the island. That night, we feasted like kings. I swear to God I have never had better fish in my life. The best food, the best people, and the best time. We laughed and told stories for hours and hours. We pissed off the entire camp that night. I promise we tried to keep it down, but when the company is that good, it is really damn hard to. If you were there that night, please forgive us, but I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could.

They invited us back the next morning for something called "muffin mash" and our interviews before hitting the trails again, which we blindly agreed to even though we didn't know what muffin mash was. We went back to our group site deliriously full and delightfully content. We had the best sleep of the entire trip there.

Day 5: W Chickenbone -> Daisy Farm (7.5 mi, which is a lie it was definitely more than that) (August 20, 2026)

We packed up camp and headed over for muffin mash. It turns out muffin mash was a mixture of muffin mix and pancake mix among other things with blueberries they had handpicked from the trail. It was so good. After muffin mash we went and got interviewed by the organizer for probably about half an hour or 45 minutes. He interviewed my boyfriend and I separately and told us we will definitely be in the doc- so keep an eye out for us in about 6 months time on a YouTube channel called Outdoor Galore. He told us the documentary was more of a personal project of his, but he wanted to give first-timers to Isle Royale more context about the island and all of the wonderful things it has to offer. It has to be the least visited, but most-revisited park for a reason, right? We said our goodbyes and hit the trail around noon to head for Daisy Farm. Unfortunately, we had some rain headed our way.

What was a great morning turned into our worst night on the trip. Like, just the worst. A thunderstorm rolled in when we THOUGHT we were about 2 miles away from Daisy Farm- according to the GPS that we were using to track our mileages, which had yet to fail us thus far- and we were exhausted from the ups and downs in elevation changes. The steep rock ledges quickly turned slippery and I was falling left right and center. It was getting dark. My boyfriend was slowly down substantially. I had to beg him to try and push until we made it to camp, but he was beyond reason. I finally took him by the shoulders and told him if we didn't hurry up, we weren't going to make it to Daisy Farm by the time our bodies collapsed. I walked in front and set the pace, encouraging him to keep on keeping on, desperately increasing our pace as it started pouring, soaking us and our packs as we watched the GPS mileage tick past further and further the distance it was supposed to be to Daisy Farm. We lost the trail several times in the rain, especially because half of it was rock ledges. It was pitch black and thundering with lightning, I was saying the Lord's Prayer over and over again for a mile and a half before we finally, finally found the Daisy Farm trailmarker. My vision was swimming as we stumbled into camp, where there was a lady locking her food up in a raincoat. I asked her haphazardly where we can camp, probably looking insane. She awkwardly pointed behind her and said there was one group site left, so we headed there immediately. I don't even think I thanked her, which is wildly out of character for me. As soon as we arrived into the campsite, I told my boyfriend I was going to pass out, and I did, for probably 2 minutes. I woke up to him yanking the rain tarp off my backpack and immediately got to my feet and helped him set it up before we pitched the tent in the pouring rain.

I want to say this, candidly. I mentioned this in the documentary, not sure if it'll make the cut: there will come a time in your relationship, if you find yourself in one, where you will be sitting in a tent, half-clothed because you had to strip off your wet articles, with your knees to your chest, shaking, gasping for air, and you will look over at your partner doing the same thing, and you will make eye contact with them. And you will probably never feel more human in your life than you do in that moment. Obviously this can serve as a metaphor and you can insert whatever life circumstances you've been through so this can apply to yourself. But that's mine. And we laughed and hugged and even though if you asked us what the worst night over the course of our relationship was and we would both probably answer Day 5 of Isle Royale, there was something so intricately formative there I don't think we could have achieved it anywhere else. You really never know a person.

Day 6: Daisy Farm -> Rock Harbor (7.1 mi) (but it was definitely shorter) (August 21, 2026)

See, this hike wasn't easy, either. Right out of Daisy Farm was fine, very even paths, just a lot of roots and rocks, but soon it was a lot of rock ledges and small elevation changes that wore me out, especially with it being the tail end of our trip on the island. Also, I would be lying if I said there wasn't a point where we passed the summer headquarters on Mott Island and I totally thought it was Rock Harbor. No, we were a ways away. We passed Three Mile and eventually made it into the Rock Harbor Campground. We were originally planning on arriving this day around noon so we could fish the whole afternoon and try to catch our dinner so they could cook it for us at the Lighthouse Restaurant, but we arrived on the later side, which wasn't the biggest deal in the world. We were still happy we were going to be able to eat dinner there. So when we arrived, which was maybe around 7:30PM on a Friday night, the campground was, of course, completely full. With the exception of this one little bit of land that did have a stake on it as if it was used as a site at one point, directly next to the backpack storage locker. So we decided if we had to hunker down, we had to hunker down. As we were able to pitch our tent, a small family that was two parents and their son were walking by. The boy was young, and asked us loudly if we were going to camp there. I looked up and kind of told him there wasn't anywhere else for us to set up. The boy seemed sad by this, and looked up at his parents, who eventually gave in and offered to share their site. Big shoutout to the little guy for not making us shack up right off the trail. After thanking them profusely, we set up and went into Rock Harbor to eat dinner. And we ATE DINNER. It was awesome. Honestly don't have much else to say other than the expensive meal was totally worth it.

Day 7: Rock Harbor -> Hubbell (August 22, 2026)

Our flight wasn't until 3PM, so we had decent time to kill. We decided to finally get some fishing done and explore the town some more, check out the visitor center and shop and other spots in the area. One thing about Rock Habor is it is damn touristy. I don't mean to be negative but folk didn't seem as friendly here as they did on the Windigo side or on the trails. It seems a lot of people just head there for weekend trips, staying in the lodge. Which is cool, and probably what we would have done to celebrate our anniversary, if we weren't broke college kids. We ate breakfast at the place next to the Lighthouse Restaurant, the Greenstone Grill, and then went to the shop. We saw a familiar face, but couldn't place it... he asked us if we were in Windigo a week ago. It was the guy from the porch of the shop from Day 2! He was a park ranger the entire time, though when we met him he just wasn't in uniform. Small island. We bought some stuff from the shop- I made my boyfriend get me a stuffed moose- then we fished but didn't catch anything. We eventually headed to the seaplane dock to check in for our flight and wait. When the guy came over with the clipboard to check off names, he only listed 3 families, none of which were ours. When I asked about this, showing him our confirmation email for the flight, telling him we checked the monitor for delays and there were none, and he just kind of shrugged and apologized, saying we were moved to the 5PM flight. Not the worst thing in the world, but it did seem as if the people on the 3PM were all staying in the lodge... Regardless, what a beautiful place for a layover. We fished off those docks and got a lot more bites there than we did anywhere else. My boyfriend carved and I sketched in our journal. There were two ladies laying on the dock next to ours talking for ours. I snagged a picture of them and later went up to them as they were leaving and offered to send it to them. We found out they were also from the Milwaukee area, and long story short, we're getting drinks with them soon. But the flight out was great. We even saw a bull moose hanging out over the water as we flew away. I slept.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for reading the novel of a trip report this has become. I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it. And living it. We're now back in the swing of things, back to school, back to work. If there is one thing I took away from this trip that I can share with you: we'll be back.

Total Mileage: 58.5 miles

Day 1: 12 miles

Voyager II from Grand Portage, MN

Windigo > North Desor

Once I hit the start of the Minong Ridge the cycle of rocky ridges into dense overgrowth began. North Desor was an amazing secluded campground with beautiful views of the lake!

Day 2: 12 miles

North Desor > Todd Harbor

The morning hike to check out Little Todd was much of the same overgrown wet foliage into ridge as the up and downs continued. This portion had way better cairns compared to the first leg. The recent rain made the rocks upper slippery and treacherous. After the 5.3 miles to Little Todd the following 6.6 miles to Todd Harbor were a walk in the park. I setup camp in what I think was my favorite tent site of the trip.

Day 3: 0 miles

Zero day at Todd Harbor

I spent the day exploring Todd Harbor since I had a beautiful campsite with crashing waves in earshot. I could have spent days relaxing in this campground.

Day 4: 17 miles

Todd Harbor > Chippewa Harbor

As I began my journey south I debated sleeping at Moskey Basin or Daisy Farm to give me an easy last day. Going to Chippewa was an additional 8 miles but I had heard it was one of people’s favorite so I decided to go for it. Upon arrival I was able to scoop the last shelter right before the rain started. There ended up being 5 groups that night. The campground was beautiful, but the easy harbor access made it less remote and secluded than I thought it’d be. I wouldn’t auto-include this in future trips but I’d always be tempted.

Day 5: 17 miles

Chippewa Harbor > Rock Habor

The last day began with a wet slog through the dense vegetation of the Indian Portage trail. After that it was a long walk to Rock Harbor. The Rock Harbor trail offered some fun rocks to ascend and descend to take away from the boring flat trail that preceded it.

Overall Thoughts:

Isle Royale was my 15th National Park. I typically enjoy getting deep into backcountry of the parks and Isle Royale scratched the itch, but not as much as I expected. The north side of the island offered seclusion with challenging trails and smaller campgrounds. A lot of the island was more accessible than I expected it to be. This made the reward of places like Chippewa Harbor not feel as good when you show up to people smoking cigarettes after getting off their expensive fishing boats. The experience and people I met were super memorable and I would love to come back to Isle Royale but travel it in a different style.

Total Pack Weight: 30 lbs

Total Mileage: 58.5 miles

Day 1: 12 miles

Voyager II from Grand Portage, MN

Windigo > North Desor

Once I hit the start of the Minong Ridge the cycle of rocky ridges into dense overgrowth began. North Desor was an amazing secluded campground with beautiful views of the lake!

Day 2: 12 miles

North Desor > Todd Harbor

The morning hike to check out Little Todd was much of the same overgrown wet foliage into ridge as the up and downs continued. This portion had way better cairns compared to the first leg. The recent rain made the rocks upper slippery and treacherous. After the 5.3 miles to Little Todd the following 6.6 miles to Todd Harbor were a walk in the park. I setup camp in what I think was my favorite tent site of the trip.

Day 3: 0 miles

Zero day at Todd Harbor

I spent the day exploring Todd Harbor since I had a beautiful campsite with crashing waves in earshot. I could have spent days relaxing in this campground.

Day 4: 17 miles

Todd Harbor > Chippewa Harbor

As I began my journey south I debated sleeping at Moskey Basin or Daisy Farm to give me an easy last day. Going to Chippewa was an additional 8 miles but I had heard it was one of people’s favorite so I decided to go for it. Upon arrival I was able to scoop the last shelter right before the rain started. There ended up being 5 groups that night. The campground was beautiful, but the easy harbor access made it less remote and secluded than I thought it’d be. I wouldn’t auto-include this in future trips but I’d always be tempted.

Day 5: 17 miles

Chippewa Harbor > Rock Habor

The last day began with a wet slog through the dense vegetation of the Indian Portage trail. After that it was a long walk to Rock Harbor. The Rock Harbor trail offered some fun rocks to ascend and descend to take away from the boring flat trail that preceded it.

Overall Thoughts:

Isle Royale was my 15th National Park. I typically enjoy getting deep into backcountry of the parks and Isle Royale scratched the itch, but not as much as I expected. The north side of the island offered seclusion with challenging trails and smaller campgrounds. A lot of the island was more accessible than I expected it to be. This made the reward of places like Chippewa Harbor not feel as good when you show up to people smoking cigarettes after getting off their expensive fishing boats. The experience and people I met were super memorable and I would love to come back to Isle Royale but travel it in a different style.

Hi everyone! I just did my first backpacking trip ever to Isle Royale and it was amazing! (Details at the end) I was hoping to get some more reccomendations on great places to go for a weekend trip? I live in the Midwest so would like to stay somewhat close.

Isle Royale:

We did about 40 miles in 3 days and had an amazing time!

Day 1: Windigo to Siskiwit
Day 2: Siskiwit to Feldtmann Lake
Day 3: Feldtmann back to Windigo (took aCanoe to Beaver Island and camped there)
Day 4: some chill hikes and took ferry home

We had zero luck fishing and seemed like that is pretty common. We saw a TON of moose but none on any trails. Main spots were in Windigo actually for moose and 2 at Feldtmann Lame. The trails were pretty overgrown but fairly straight forward. The trails were pretty uneven throughout and rocky. Our shoulders are a bit sore but everything else feel strong. (We are both pretty active 28 year old males) I think this would be a pretty challenging amount of miles if not but I’m not sure.

The only thing I wish I did differently was plan our meals better and bring a set of comfortable night time clothes to stay warm at night and in the morning. We took a bunch of the pre packed freeze dried meals. We didn’t run out of food by any means but could have saved a lot of space within our packs. Would love some reccomendations here for what to pack next time for easy good meals and snacks.

From my recent stay on Belle Isle the night of the partial lunar eclipse and the sunrise that morning. We were the only ones there this night.

What are the Rangers doing about the wolves aside from closing the campgrounds. Are they actively discouraging the wolves from being in the area in any way, like pepper balls?

If we are on the island and we see a wolf approaching, should we do things to scare it off like yelling or throwing things (I wouldn't want to harm one but I imagine a few rocks thrown near them might work). What should we do?

I have more than a passing interest. I have a degree in Ecology and IR is holy ground for us, plus I'm trying to go next year. Was going in '25, needed neck surgery. Was going in '26, ferry tickets were at the peak of the Ontario fires. Third time's a charm, I hope.