In light of a renewed focus on hiking due to an upcoming trip (details coming soon), I’ve had some time to reflect on a past trip I did back in 2018 to Isle Royale National Park. It all went so fast that I didn’t have the chance to properly sort out everything that happen; this is my attempt to do just that.
Table of Contents
Where’s Isle Royale?
That’s the first thing I asked when this was first suggested as a possible backpacking location. Turns out, although being very close to Minnesota, it’s actually part of Michigan (map). I like to think of it as the “eye” of lake superior. It’s located approximately 15 miles off the shores of Canada/Minnesota (info); in fact, while we were on the highest ridge, we could clearly see the Sleeping giant mountain in Ontario Canada. The primary method people use to get to the island is boat. There’s a service that runs from Houghton, MI as well as from Grand Portage, MN, but we decided to take a sea plane instead, reasons to follow. After a bit of deliberation, this was our pick to kick off our first real backpacking trip.
Preparation
Gear
I never thought there’d be so much preparation for a trip like this. It’s a little overwhelming really. How does one fit everything needed for a multi-day trip into a single backpack? It gets even more difficult when you start to consider the weight you’re carrying; it’s a constant struggle between keeping weight down, and yet still being prepared for cold nights, hot days, rain, blisters, dehydration, hunger, mosquitoes, etc… After a bunch of research, my final gear list can be viewed in the YouTube video below:
Clothes
With the gear purchased and setup, I was able to focus on what to wear. There’s really 2 main options for clothing: synthetics or wool. Wool sounds hot and uncomfortable, but it wicks water well, and is a good insulator. It’s also quite expensive, so I chose synthetics. Then came footwear. Boots are what you’d typically think would be worn during a long hike, something sturdy, waterproof, and rugged enough to handle the terrain. This, however, isn’t the case anymore. Many hikers are now switching to trail-runners, which look a lot like running shoes. They are breathable, light weight, and have a wide profile and decent tread to help with grip. This also means there is less support for your ankles and will get wet in the rain and during water crossings, but because they are breathable, they dry quickly, especially when choosing the right socks (wool). I was quite happy with my trail runners, and chose to wear a single pair of my “Darn Tough” wool socks two days in a row and had no issues at all. When they got wet, they dried out a couple hours later, and my feet had good breathability. My YouTube video detailing my clothing can be found below:
Food
Last but not least is food selection. They key is to bring along as little water as possible, so typically dehydrated or dried foods are what people bring. There were some good choices I made, and some bad ones. Here’s the breakdown:
Good Choices:
- Vacuum sealed meals. Very convenient, easy to pack out, quick to make, dry even if your pack gets soaked.
- Cliff Bars. Excellent on-the-go source of food. I probably ate half of what I packed while hiking.
- Alpine Start Coffee. I love coffee, and this was a good mood booster and pick me up, also a good way to warm up.
Bad Choices:
- Lack of variety. I had the same thing everyday, and it wore on me. I actually ended up getting some food from the guys to change things up. If nothing else, variety gives you something new to look forward to.
- Lack of fat. Yes, amazingly, I felt like I was starving on the 3rd day. Yes, couscous is filling, and tuna is a great source of protein, but none of that provided raw fat fuel, which is why I think I was devouring my Cliff bars so frequently.
- Mountain House Breakfast Scramble is terrible. Sure, the first morning it was ok, it certainly was hot and filling, but it got gross quick. Pro tip: Oatmeal and peanut butter. On my next trip I plan to pack this for breakfast, and probably will mix in whey protein and other additions.
Houghton Michigan Arrival
After meeting up at a park-and-ride near Wausau, WI, we headed up to Houghton where we found an Airbnb to stay the night. We hit the town for a meal and a couple beers, then went back to review our gear together. This is a pretty good step I’d recommend everyone do when backpacking in groups; it has the potential to save people from carrying redundant gear, and gives you ideas for who has what supplies in case something comes up on the hike. Once finished, we hit the hay early, attempting to get as much sleep as possible for the days ahead.
Day 1 – Seaplane
Although a somewhat expensive choice, we chartered a ride to Isle Royale (Rock Harbor, to be specific) in a Seaplane for several reasons. The first was that it would get us to the island 3-4 hours before the main crowd arrived on the boat, which allowed us to get an early start to set ourselves up on a nice campsite at Daisy Farm Campsite. At Isle Royale you pick your route and where you plan to stay so the DNR is aware of capacity and whereabouts of individuals, but you cannot reserve a site, so it’s first come first serve. The second was that it was a really great time! It was about 1 hour 10 minutes from takeoff to landing, and was really a fun aspect of the trip. On the ride out to the island we were seated in the back with a few other passengers, all ready to backpack on the island.
Once we arrived and deplaned, we headed for the DNR office to get registered. They had a gift shop and a place where you could get last minute supplies, as well as a lodge/resort and a small restaurant. After a bit of reassuring we had everything we needed, and filling up our packs with fresh, clean water, we headed out.
This leg of our journey was largely a flat and relatively straight shot right along the south side of the island with regular views of superior. It was a good way to break in our gear and get a feel for what we were getting into. For example, I remember very distinctly learning how synthetic shirts can quickly turn into the smelliest object on the planet. In fact, I was amazed at how I had somehow developed the worst B.O. I’d ever had, and thought, “boy, this could be a really long hike”. Turns out it was just the shirt.
After arriving at Daisy Farm, we setup our tents and site, then explored along the shoreline and down to the dock. This dock was an exceptional addition to this site, and really let you get out on the lake and enjoy the cool wind. In what ended up being a successful attempt at getting the putrid stink off me from that synthetic shirt, we chose to jump off that dock into what was shockingly 50° water. All I remember is hitting the water, getting fully submerged, and having a fight or flight response to get back on the dock. Very much worth it, and a great start to our backpacking journey.
Day 1 – Hike Breakdown
For each day, I provide my Fitbit data, which I found to be really helpful in understanding (and recording) where we went, how hard the trail was, and things like elevation and pace let me understand how we moved across the Isle.
Day 2 – Awe
Because we were unable to “guarantee” a spot at the location we were hiking to, this unfortunately pushed us to get up early, and hike a little faster than I think we’d ordinarily like to. We set off from Daisy farm after breakfast, but before most others did, giving us a clear trail ahead. I remember going through somewhat dark pines which ended up opening to a valley where you could see the main ridge of the Isle, which is where we were going. Getting up that hill was tough, but once up, we were able to walk at a pretty steady elevation for several miles. As you can imagine, the views from up there were amazing. We could see Canada from the north side, and see what looked like some sort of DNR base or scientific study area to our south on an island off the Isle. At the peak of the ridge was a tower which we were able to climb to get an even better view. To me, this Isle reminded me of a very beautiful and untouched Michigan, which is a state I also love.
We ended up running to one of the guys we flew in with who gave us a rundown of the remainder of our day’s hike, as he was coming from where we planned to go. We were on our way to Crystal Cove. Before he continued on, he took a picture of the three of us, which can be seen at the top of this page. Onward we went, down the steep descent and into the marshy beaver filled bogs.
After making it down the other side of the ridge, we knew very well that our morning was going to be the toughest part of our hike, as we needed to use our poles to get down safely. This was our first spot we saw evidence of Moose; it looked like someone threw several grenades into a grove of trees. The trees were pushed down, splintered, and broken, where I’m guessing the Moose ate the leaves and left the tree to die. We also ran into a beaver, crossing its dammed up pond. Eventually we arrived at Crystal Cove where we dropped our bags, hydrated, and setup camp. I will say, as one of the more popular locations on the Isle, this particular location was a beautiful view of a Lake Superior Cove, quite shallow, and filled with loons. Once we setup camp, we explored a small lake (name unknown) north of this site where we attempted to fish, but ended up getting rained out. We each had a dram of whiskey, Chris had his long coveted Mountain House raspberry crumble desert, and we slept to the sound of light rain and loons.
Day 2 – Breakdown
Day 3 – Mending shoulders with Beer
It was pretty clear we were each struggling with, and were unprepared for, the pain induced by our packs on our trapezius muscle, and we had yet to surmount the climb out of what was the most beautiful camping site we had the privilege of staying at during our time on Isle Royale. With motivation on our side, and the end in site, we set off from Crystal Cove and up the steep hillside. As we were headed up the hill, I heard something down in the bog, turned and looked, and there it was. One of the biggest animals I’ve ever seen, effortlessly crossing a section of deep, muddy, water to flee our loud and likely unwelcome presence in her woods. It was a moose, and she was beautiful. We arrived at the top of the Isle and took a short respite, preparing ourselves for what was hopefully a much easier descent. I remember distinctly, at this point, that it felt and appeared as though we were in the clouds; thick fog covered the Isle and we were in the heaviest region of it. Descent was a bit quicker and easier, though I felt our pace increase in anticipation for the completion of what was a journey not to be taken lightly. Arriving at the portion of the trail system where “locals” were doing casual hikes, we knew we were there, back at Rock Harbor. As usual, we were quite early in our arrival to the camp site, and had many sites to pick from, this time picking a rather large site we could sprawl out at and recoup. We each went down to the harbor, bought a shower token, and briefly enjoyed our timed, yet hot and refreshing shower. Once finished, we sat down at a table at the only restaurant at Rock Harbor and enjoyed….well, I have no idea what I got, but it was amazing. It was back to civilization, and it was good.
When we arrived, we noticed a cooler with beer at the gift shop; not just any beer, but what appeared to be craft beer. It turned out to be Keweenaw Brewery beer. We bought a 6 pack, and found our way onto the lodge patio which overlooked the east side of the Isle. We were likely not supposed to be there, as we didn’t have a room at the lodge, but nobody bothered to kick us out, and we were quiet and content. An hour later, Mike ran back over to the gift shop for another 6 pack, where the attendant pointed out that he’d just been there for a 6 pack already. Little did they know, we were from Wisconsin.
It was time to focus on getting off the Isle, and with all the fog, we were a little nervous we were going to get stuck. We had no cell coverage, and no WiFi, but noticed there was a lodge WiFi that was password protected. Chris ended up socially engineering one of the guests and got us the password, at which point we checked the weather and contacted friends and family.
“Isle Royale trip was a success, and we are all well. We get picked up tomorrow, weather permitting, by the sea plane. In the meantime we’ve commandeered the lodge wifi password and are enjoying beer along the lake Superior shoreline.”
Day 3 – Breakdown
The Flight Home
We were scheduled for an early flight, but because of the fog, it was delayed, and we didn’t get picked up until closer to noon. As we took off, it was clear how much fog had surrounded the Isle, and we were all thankful to be headed back to civilization.
Takeoff
Landing
Our drive back to Wausau (park-and-ride) was filled with “this worked, and that didn’t”, recalling our journey and what we thought could be done better next time. Isle Royale was a great stepping stone for our next backpacking journey, which will be happening in August of 2020.
Credits
I want to give credit to Michael Gumtow for sharing his photos and videos, and for both Chris Ondercin and Michael Gumtow for sharing this experience with me; what an amazing time we had.
