Hi Capt. Don, Can you tell me how fast reservations fill up for the first Wednesday trip? I have some friends interested in going, but I need to let them know when they need to get the money to me so I can make reservations. I was thinking by the end of February, but would that be too late? Thanks.

I'm still waiting to see if I can get friends to commit to a trip. If I can convince them, I'll be doing the Feldtman loop sometime in May.

Honestly, who thought this would be a good idea? I can probably make guesses (the current administration being what it is), but I won't. Ugh, nobody cares about nature anymore.

So the tent arrived. It's heavvvvyyy (I'd estimate about 8 pounds, though REI said 7). I'm not sure why they called it convertible ... there's not much on it that converts. The tent walls look weak, but I think the fly should make up for it, because it's thicker. It looks like it should be able to ...

Sooo ... If I was to do a trip on the Feldtman loop leaving Saturday May 9th, would I be able to return on Thursday the 14th? That'd give 5 days on the island, with enough time to complete the loop at a leisurely pace. Just depends on the boats running.

As I said in another thread, I'm thinking of the Feldtman loop, and I'm leaning toward early May (assuming things aren't iced over.) That'll give me a break between grad school (ugh) and summer research/work/whatever I end up doing over the summer. Once I find some traveling partners, I should be ...

Hmm ... I did a bit of research on the tent, and I actually couldn't find much. It's been discontinued, so it's not on the BA website. I did notice, however, that the Seedhouse SL is their ultra ultralight model, so I suspect that's why it's not very durable. The reviews for the Madhouse 3 (there ...

Okay, so I have a couple of questions. The first is about a tent: I used to have a Sierra Designs 1-man, but I got rid of it because I realized that I don't like backpacking solo. Now I'm looking at the Big Agnes Madhouse 2 tent here on REI.com because it's 60% off, so it's a $300 tent for just over ...

Wow! I'm glad to see how helpful people are on this board--seems like you really do love the island. I'll take all of your advice into account. My map reading skills must have come in handy again, considering I picked a popular loop based on maps alone. (I love maps, by the way. My souvenir from ...

Okay, intros: I've been backpacking before, but only in the Sierras in the summer (I did 70 miles a few years back.) I recently moved to the Midwest (Cincinnati area, to be specific) and found out about Isle Royale through the NPS website--I was hunting for adventure opportunities near Ohio and ...