Isle Royale Forums

Occasionally there's a question about building/maintaining boardwalks and moving the lumber. Here's a pic from the NPS site, on Siskiwit Lake. The pic is on the "Work With Us" page--that looks more appealing than carrying them down the trail (which of course they'll have to do too). https://www.nps.gov/isro/getinvolved/workwithus.htm

Nice human powered tri-hull pontoon.

A couple years ago, when hiking down the Ishpeming and you get to the river crossing and the bend to the east (as it rounds the lake) we came across a trail crew working hard to restore the planks. Then another half mile or so up the trail, we came across a huge cache of planks and bases, and somewhat of a footpath that lead down to the water's edge. We surmised they must use a boat in some way to paddle them over from Malone Bay CG, and this explains it. Thanks for posting!

This is incredible. Thank you for sharing this pic.

I can visualize those canoes folding up in the middle, like a leaf. I guess they're heavy-duty canoes.

DonNewcomb wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2017 8:20 am I can visualize those canoes folding up in the middle, like a leaf. I guess they're heavy-duty canoes.

They look like the 80-90 lb aluminum canoes I grew up with. And water does a remarkable job of distributing the weight.

A few years ago, I stumbled across this picture of a park employee on boardwalk duty. Doesn't look like it would be much fun compared to the canoe duty.

Is there any talk this year of continued helicopter lifts similar to those that were done last year?

Midwest Ed wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2017 5:11 pm Is there any talk this year of continued helicopter lifts similar to those that were done last year?

What, exactly, were they doing (lifting) with the helicopters?

Chorizo wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2017 5:51 pm What, exactly, were they doing (lifting) with the helicopters?

https://www.nps.gov/isro/learn/news/hel ... royale.htm

Very cool Tortuga, thanks for that.

I have a lot of respect for the trail crew having done work like that when I was young. I would take board walk building duty over erosion control duty that grub axe work is back breaking. I met one of the trail crew guys on the island and I had to shake his hand and thank him for the work that they do . It would be nice if every one did that. Thanks Ingo for starting the topic.

We just returned from our trip. We found a couple of these plank drops while we were out there. I suspect they dropped enough for a few years worth of trail work.