Perhaps a bit off-topic, but I have a question for those of you with IRNP experience. My wife and I are going this summer. Should we:
1. bring our canoe and our Bwca gear? Inland lakes/big lake combo. We are usually basecampers.
2, rent or borrow UL backpacking stuff and hike?
3. stay at the lodge and do day trips?
4. other ideas for a first trip.
We are thinking several days. We have done bwca 30 or so times.We are in OK portaging shape in our mid-50's. Our budget is very school teacher-like. I fish.
Thanks for advice or ideas.

I've been to IR three times. To your questions, I would answer #1 or #2 with a resounding "YES"!

To #3... unless you want to spend a significant amount of your teacher's salary, I'd definitely skip that option.

Well I guess it all depends on what sort of trip you desire. I know that sounds a bit cliche but thats the truth of the matter since so many vastly differing options exist.

I will give my opinion on the various trips you could put together. They may differ with other peoples assessments so definitely bear that in mind.

I am not particularly impressed with the interior lakes on the island. If you have spent much time in the Quetico you would be better served to go there. Yes they are pretty but not more so than what you would find without a Ferry ride is my point.

The five finger region of Lake Superior however is stunning and rather excellent paddling. These long fiord like fingers offer protected water from which to venture upon for an open canoe. To access this region you can go from Rock Harbor over the Greenstone ridge into Duncan Bay and beyond. The portage over the Greenstone is the hardest in the park but if you are a BWCA veteran it is not nearly the beast that it is made out to be. Rather smooth trail with boardwalk over any swampy areas (LOL). It is long at about 1 mile however.

Another option if you want to paddle the Five finger is to take a water taxi around Blake point to a distant location and paddle back. I would suggest getting dropped off at McCargo Cove and then paddling back to Rock Harbor. A rather leisurely pace could be had. I strongly advise staying at the shelter at the mouth of McCargo Cove if it is vacant. Otherwise you would proceed up into McCargo and be dropped at the dock.

Belle Harbor Island campsite is not to be missed. Be advised it is mismarked on the Nat Geo map. Perhaps it is corrected on more recent versions. Have the Ranger at Rock Harbor mark the proper location.

The fishing opportunities are for northern Pike and Lake trout unless you do the 1 mile flat portage into Lake Chickenbone from McCargo where decent walleye fishing can be had. A pretty lake indeed with birch trees against the hillsides. Campsites on Chickenbone might be hard to come by since the site is shared with backpackers.

Another advantage of paddling the Five Finger region is you will have access to several hiking trails. Access can be had at McCargo, Lane Cove (fantastic 2 miles up to the Greenstone) and at Duncan bay portage trail which crosses the Greenstone (as well as a lookout tower). So a combo type trip could be had.

Another wonderful feature is the use of the 3 sided shelters. These are found at most of the lake Superior sites and are superb. Large, say 10x20, with a screened in front and door. Very comfy cozy with a nice picnic table either inside or just out. There are shelters at Rock Harbor as well.........after getting off the ferry one of you are securing a permit while the other could be securing a shelter before everyone else decides to do the same.........just sayin.

That is, by far, the best canoe paddling option IMO and it is an excellent way to spend a week.

If you prefer to do a hike then by all means why not "go for it" and hike the Greenstone. I think it might be some 40 miles or so but throw in the side trails to get to campsites in the evening and you can add some. The Greenstone has national recognition in backpacking circles and is considered a "must do". The views are rather spectacular and the trail well maintained. Be advised however, that it can be hot at times in some of the more exposed areas and you will find no water on the ridge. You either carry water or drop off the ridge to a lake which might mean a mile detour. You could go from Rock Harbor to Windigo and then take the Voyager 2 back. Reasonable prices.

You have at least 2 options as per getting around the island. The water Taxis are more personal and are on your schedule but they are a bit more expensive as well. The Voyager 2 is a smaller inter island Ferry but you must avail yourself to their schedule. Both will transport you, small annoying children and any watercraft up to 18'.

If I were you I would do the Five Finger tour and use a water taxi to either drop me at Belle Harbor or McCargo Cove and work my way back to Rock Harbor with a few side hikes thrown in. If the thought of the 1 mile portage out of Duncan bay up and over the Greenstone is not so appealing then you could use the Voyager 2 on the return route since it stops at Belle Harbor and a brief 1 hour ride will drop you back at Rock Harbor........EZ Peazy. Belle Harbor is centrally located in the Five Fingers and day trips could be had from that location. It is a wonderful location and well suited for a base camp type trip.

Do not plan to paddle around Blake Point in an open canoe BTW. Not a good idea.

If you go you should contact me via IM and I will help a wee bit with the fishing. All I ask is a Christmas Card ;-)

Not sure if you caught my trip report but you might glean a few nuggets of last summers trip there.



MT Isle Royale

Thanks, MT. I have read your report a couple of times! I trust your advice, so thanks for the thoughtful reply.

I like your option #1. In 2015, a friend and I made our only trip to IR and really had a good time. We treated it like a normal canoe-camping trip and went through interior lakes on the island. Our route was water taxi to Malone Bay, Siskiwit Lake, Wood Lake, Whittlesey Lake, and Chippewa Harbor. We ended up and based camped at our first site for 6 days... we scouted ahead and decided we had the best site and good fishing so didn't move.

Have a great trip!

Fishing
Michigan fishing license is required when fishing in Lake Superior waters. No license is needed to fish inland lakes and streams, but Michigan size and possession limits apply and only artificial lures are allowed.

IR expenses
Cottage $87.20
Ferry and parking $290.00
Water taxi drop off $338.00
IR passes $64.00
Water taxi pick up $181.00
Food $106.27
IRQueen canoe fee $50.00
Pizza dinner $30.70
dinner in Cop Harb ?

$1,147.17

lundojam: "Perhaps a bit off-topic, but I have a question for those of you with IRNP experience. My wife and I are going this summer. Should we:
1. bring our canoe and our Bwca gear? Inland lakes/big lake combo. We are usually basecampers.
2, rent or borrow UL backpacking stuff and hike?
3. stay at the lodge and do day trips?
4. other ideas for a first trip.
We are thinking several days. We have done bwca 30 or so times.We are in OK portaging shape in our mid-50's. Our budget is very school teacher-like. I fish.
Thanks for advice or ideas."

Disclaimer: I am a long-time backpacker/hiker, new to canoe tripping.

I have been visiting IRNP for 30 years. It is a GREAT backpacking/ hiking destination.
I hike the entire length of the island with buddies before I met my wife. I took my wife from McCargoe Cove to Chippewa Harbor after dating just a short time. I took the entire family when my youngest was just under 10 years old. I even accepted the challenge of hiking the entire Minong Ridge trail back to Windigo in 3 days from my teen-aged son. The challenge the island offers is easily tailored to the magnitude of challenge you seek.

I have stayed just one night in the Rock Harbor Cottages. With the whole family in tow it was nice to have one night to shower, dry out gear and eat in the restraunt with a cold beer prior to catching the ferry off in the AM. The lodging is quite dated and is overpriced for more than a one night stay if you are capable of hiking a few miles down the trail. If staying at the Lodge is the only way you can enjoy what IRNP has to offer it is a bargain at any price.

While you could pay extra to get your canoe to the island and back, there are better options available for epic canoe vacations. For a first time vist to IRNP, I think a canoe would be limiting (see disclaimer above).

One last tidbit; from Minneapolis it is pretty close to equal driving time to Grand Portage or to Houghton. Given the choice, the Ranger III is a far more pleasant experience than the Voyager II. Our family trip was on the Ranger III out of Houghton, relatively smooth, quiet and free of diesel exhaust. Most of my trips have departed from Grand Portage. The noise, diesel exhaust and shorter wave tossed length of the Voyager II warrant sea-sickness precautions prior to push-off.

Good luck, enjoy your trip.

Lundo a few further thoughts,

Wouldn't you be taking the Voyager 2 out of Grand Portage? If that is the case you can use the Voyager 2 for all your taxi and ferry needs. Much more economical than a dedicated water taxi.

Bear in mind you are able to only stay 3 consecutive nights at any 1 campground (although I spent a week at Malone bay but it was off season). You could get dropped at McCargo for 2 nights.........spend one day on lake Chickenbone walleye fishing (fish the outside weed edge close to shore > road runners worked nicely).

Then you could grab a night or two at Birch Island.........very nice. Big Pike are in Brady cove but they are quite educated. I suspect the true behemoths over 40" slide back into McCargo. Maybe you will do better than I.

Then off to Belle isle. The Voyager 2 will make a stop in the afternoon some 3 days per week at Belle and stops at Rock Harbor for the night. That could be your Rock harbor lodge night. The following day off to Windigo and Grand portage. Be sure to paddle the short distance from Belle Isle to the lane cove campground and hike the trail there (Alice in Wonderland type stuff > Very charming). It connects with the Greenstone so a full day of hiking could be had.

If you do decide to do the portage out of Rock Harbor (after 1st crossing Tobin bay) into Duncan bay i should probably want to offer some disclaimers. The author of the guide book I used (Dufrseque??) claims that the portage is "extremely difficult". It may be so, I remember switchbacks coming out of Duncan Bay to gain the Greenstone and then not much more than a bit lengthy. I never dropped my boat the entire way and thought the anticipation level we had as counterproductive (yawn)..........BUT, i had a solo and it was at the END of a 10 day trip with strengthened muscles and empty food packs. You would be hitting it early with full packs. I do not think I would like the switchbacks with a big tandem and a wet rainy day thats for sure. In any event, it is entirely doable regardless the written descriptions. I had expected something akin to the Diablo portage which I understand has earned the name.

Some great advice from Masterangler. I have backpacked there 3 times starting in the early 1970's. My last trip there was 20-some years ago. Thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I am partial to hiking the Greenstone Ridge trail. As pointed out by using the water taxi you can setup your trip to whatever your time and distance needs would be. A great park to visit and supposedly one of the least visited national parks. However, I bet almost all of those visitors are there in July and August.

Isle Royale is the least-visited national park in the contiguous United States, drawing on average 18,216 visitors per year over the past 20 years. Isle Royale visitors typically stay there 3.5 days, while the average visit to a national park is about 4 hours.

Great info. I was hoping to make it this summer but won't make until 2019. How does Isle Royale's general solitude compare to BWCA/Quetico? If Lake One on a weekend in July is a 1 on the solitude 1-10 scale and the most interior bushwacked lake of Quetico is a 10........

yellowhorse: "Great info. I was hoping to make it this summer but won't make until 2019. How does Isle Royale's general solitude compare to BWCA/Quetico? If Lake One on a weekend in July is a 1 on the solitude 1-10 scale and the most interior bushwacked lake of Quetico is a 10........ "

You are generally going to see folks on a daily basis at Isle Royale. Much depends on time of year however. It can be surprisingly sparse during off seasons. And more rigorous trails, like the Minong can be devoid of hikers entirely due to its difficulty in route finding.

On the water there is also power boaters and sailing vessels. None of which typically bothered me much. They were not ever present and you go in understanding as much.

The one bit of camping advice I could offer is to not underestimate the weather there. One july we had 3 days of rain and very cold conditions. We spent most of out time hanging out under a tarp. And this last August there was several very cool nights........sleeping in the shelters is definitely colder than sleeping in a tent so bear that in mind.

Good summary MasterTangler! Thanks

yellowhorse: "Great info. I was hoping to make it this summer but won't make until 2019. How does Isle Royale's general solitude compare to BWCA/Quetico? If Lake One on a weekend in July is a 1 on the solitude 1-10 scale and the most interior https://www.cbsnews.com lake of Quetico is a 10........ "

Interior lakes are little used any time of year. Yes, power boats, etc in the harbors. We camped on Siskiwit for 6 nights and only saw one other group. Hiking would be different.

Are you hiking or canoeing?

bobbernumber3: "

yellowhorse: "Great info. I was hoping to make it this summer but won't make until 2019. How does Isle Royale's general solitude compare to BWCA/Quetico? If Lake One on a weekend in July is a 1 on the solitude 1-10 scale and the most interior https://www.cbsnews.com lake of Quetico is a 10........ "

Interior lakes are little used any time of year. Yes, power boats, etc in the harbors. We camped on Siskiwit for 6 nights and only saw one other group. Hiking would be different.


Are you hiking or canoeing?"

Siskiwit.........what a fine lake. How was the fishing? If I were to go back I would definitely be spending some time at that jewel. We popped a few nice pike at Wood (which connects to Siskiwit).

When we did our tour of the inland lakes it was rather busy I thought. Wood lake campground was almost full, Richie and Chickenbone also had a fair amount of folk. But for some reason it never really felt "crowded" and we rarely passed anyone on the portage trails.

bobbernumber3: "

yellowhorse: "Great info. I was hoping to make it this summer but won't make until 2019. How does Isle Royale's general solitude compare to BWCA/Quetico? If Lake One on a weekend in July is a 1 on the solitude 1-10 scale and the most interior https://www.cbsnews.com lake of Quetico is a 10........ "

Interior lakes are little used any time of year. Yes, power boats, etc in the harbors. We camped on Siskiwit for 6 nights and only saw one other group. Hiking would be different.


Are you hiking or canoeing?"

I'd prefer canoeing and finding some fish but depending on the group that goes I wouldn't rule out a challenging hike, etc.

I have only ever hiked on Isle Royale, and I am a teacher so our budgets are probably similar. We don't have ultralight gear, but lighter canoe gear and average backpacking packs, and we had a great time.

We took the ferry from Grand Portage to Rock Harbor, hiked the south shore to the middle, crossed over to McCargo and then hiked the Minong to Windigo. I've done that trip twice, once with my husband and once with my daughter. Lovely trip both times. That way the one really long day is at the end with empty food bags.

My next trip I'm going to start at Windigo and do the Feldtmann Lake route. Though, reading above, I'm now tempted to canoe these Five Fingers.

A bit of history of the island: It was occupied by squatters up until the 1970's when it became a National Park.

Squatters is a bit of a harsh word but I don't know another way to describe them. The land was always Federal land but there was a community of inhabitants that lived there, mostly seasonal to fish. There were roads and cabins on the island. Many of the inhabitants would arrive at the island in the spring for commercial fishing and left in the fall to live in Northern MN or even the Twin Cities.

They were formally removed and their cabins burned down in the early 70's. I'm not making a statement for or against them, just informing people. There is also a lot going on with the wolve/moose issue. If you live in Mn you probably know about it. The Fed's are nearing a decision to re-introduce wolves to the island to maintain a balance between wolves (2 left) and moose (2000).

Tom

mastertangler: "
Siskiwit.........what a fine lake. How was the fishing? "

The fishing was only fair. We didn't have a map for depths and possible locations, so just started trolling, looking for deep water, and hoped for the best. We picked up several lakers before the winds drove us off the water.

On interesting aspect of the island on Siskiwit. It is the largest island on the largest lake on the largest island on the largest freshwater lake in the world. There are rumors on a lake/pond in the Siskiwit island that has an emergent rock which could be called the largest island...………..

It was fun.