Originally, I was highly disappointed when plans for summer travel to Acadia fell through. But then my travel buddy came up with a brilliant Plan B: Isle Royale National Park.
Yes, it's in the middle of Lake Superior, which means you can't drive to it. And without ferries operating this year, the only choice was seaplane, so that's exactly what we decided to do and we went ahead and booked our travel - we'd be spending roughly 4 days camping and backpacking on the island. Plenty of new experiences would lie in store...
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| view of landing from seaplane |
To borrow a line from one of my favorite musicals, "Come From Away," Welcome to the Rock - Rock Harbor, that is. We decided to visit the east side of the island, the other side being Windigo. Some people backpack across the entire island (roughly 45 miles), but we did not attempt that. There were plenty of hikes in and around the east side, so we were content to just give that a try.
On our first afternoon/evening there (as we got in around 3pm ET), we checked in, got our camping permit (which was free! as well as free entry to the park because we still had our annual pass from last year), and set up our tent in the Rock Island campgrounds. Then, we did a small amount of exploring on some super short hikes before settling down in our camping chairs to watch sunset over Rock Island harbor (over by the lodge, which isn't open right now).
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| one view from campsite as sun came up |
After a long first day (as we had gotten up before 4am to start our journey to make it to the sea plane place on time), we ended up sleeping in till 8 or so on our first full day. This ended up being lucky for us because a moose wandered right by our campsite as we were finishing breakfast, which we cooked on our little portable stove (you buy the gas for it on the island)! On a side note, we actually ate pretty darn well overall - you can't possibly imagine the kinds of food they make compatible for backpacking these days! We had pad thai in a bag (where you only add hot water), risotto, and lots of oatmeal with dried fruit. Mmm...
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| we had dried veggies every night! |
And then we had a LONG hike ahead of us - we took the Tobin trail (on the northern side of the island that is more through forest than along the rocky shore) up to the ridge (though in getting there we got lost and luckily ran into a family hiking through who pointed us in the right direction - trail markings not so clear at that point) and then back down and south to Three Mile before returning to our campsite via the Rock Harbor Trail (opposite side of the island through mainly rocky open portions - personally my favorite). It was a good hike except that I couldn't figure out how to best adjust my backpack and it kept pulling on my shoulder so much so that I ended up with a burn that bothered me the whole trip. Don't worry, by our final hike I finally had it figured out and in place.
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| Another moose just enjoying the water |
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| view from the top |
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| view from Rock Harbor Trail |
Well, that was about all we could do that day, as you can imagine, as it was close to 10 miles in all. And considering we were planning on doing a sunrise hike the next day, we ate a good meal and then turned in pretty early.
We were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise the next morning as we made our way via the Stole Trail with the help of our headlamps through the dark to the easternmost side of the island (Scoville Point) for sunrise.
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| first light |
We then made it around the rest of the trail on the opposite side and back to our campsite for breakfast, coffee, and a short nap. We then packed up all our gear (including the tent), loaded up on water in our Camelbacks and platypuses (because there was no fresh water source where we were going), and hiked the Rock Harbor Trail (but west this time) to Three Mile, where we set up camp for the night inside a shelter. [These shelters were pretty cool, as they provided a little more warmth and protection from bad weather, which we weren't sure if we would have or not at that point. You pitch your tent (without stakes) inside the shelter (which is screened in and more free of mosquitoes), and then there is a picnic table outside where you can sit.]
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| Yes it's a sloping ceiling...and I hit my head many times |
Day 4 started with viewing sunrise from the dock located right by our campsite. As we were finishing up breakfast, 2 rangers stopped by to check on our camping permits and to see how we were doing. (National Park rangers are the best!) They said there was a chance of storms later in the day starting around 1pm, so we decided to get packed up and head back to Rock Harbor for our final night of camping (as we had an early seaplane flight the next morning out of Rock Harbor). We went back partly by way of Rock Harbor Trail until we got to Suzy's Cave (about the halfway point), when we switched over to the Tobin Trail (opposite side of the island). Once we claimed our camping shelter/tent site for the night at Rock Harbor, we played some card and dice games for a bit, hung our sweaty clothing out to dry, and managed to not have much rain at all other than a quick sprinkle. Later that evening we went for a walk by the harbor and then we went to the northern/NW side of the island to view sunset from the Tobin Harbor dock, where we found a family fishing. The boy (who was probably in high school, if I had to guess) caught a fish, and that was quite the excitement for all of them and very fun to watch. Even later (about 3am), we got up and walked a short distance (again, with the assistance of our headlamps) to Rock Harbor marina to look up at the stars. It was magical! (Sadly no pics of those, though.)
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| I got my pack to fit by this point so I was happy :) |
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| Suzy's Cave |
Still with me? Phew. Day 5/leaving day. At this point we were both starting to feel a little on the dirty side, as you can imagine without shower facilities available. But we were determined to make the most of our final hours. So we were up early yet again for a magnificent sunrise over Rock Harbor, and we were praying hard that the forecast for fog did not interfere with our ability to get off the island.
We had to be down to the seaplane dock by 8:15, as we were scheduled to leave by 9am, so after sunrise we made coffee and breakfast, packed up, and headed on down to check out with the ranger and get to the dock. (While waiting I decided to start writing out postcards - I didn't buy nearly as many as I usually do, so apologies if you usually get one from me but don't this year.) We were the only ones scheduled on the flight so we actually got out early, and we were back to the mainland of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by 9:30am. And then we began the long drive home, which included much rain as well as having to fill up the air in the tires to make sure the pressure light didn't stay on. (At one point we thought we may have a flat, but it all turned out well! Yay!)
Overall, I would highly recommend Isle Royale - it has the least visitors a year (but some of that is due to that they are only open for summer season) but has the most repeat visitors and the longest average stay (around 4.5 days). That's saying something! Here to chat all things Isle Royale if you ever want to - just let me know.
Now, my summer vacation (of 1 week) is sadly over and it's back to the reality of school prep and moving. Fun times...
