Website states that all gear must be contained in pack. What do people do with trekking poles? Or other things that are strapped to pack like camp pads, tents, fishing poles?

Thank you for the info and spreadsheet, very helpful!

This is good to know - we are trying to decide about staying the the hotel or the campground the night before. Anybody have any feedback on which is more convenient for the early morning ferry? I was leaning toward the campground, but wondered it putting down the tent and getting everything re ...

I have been collecting some freeze dried meals (Mountainhouse and Backpackers Pantry) but I am wondering about peoples experience with these for portion sizes. Most of the pouches usually are for 2,4, 5 servings. We will have 5 people (all more or less adults). So I am looking at things like MH ...

Thanks! It is reassuring to hear from others with experience. Months of excitement building to a boiling point!

Bumping this for any feedback - we are heading out soon, but this whole trip is based on theory. I would be especially interested if anyone has had experience with being dropped off and picked up at the alternate locations (McCargoe and Chippewa Harbor) or getting a mid-trip resupply (Daisy Farm). I ...

I checked into renting tents at REI. They rent the half dome 4, but the cost for 9 days would be more than half the cost of purchasing the tent. And we would need two of them or at least one and a two person tent. The weight of two of these would be over 14lbs. Our 12x10ft tent has maybe a penalty ...

I have a Garmin Oregon 450 that I use primarily for Geocaching. I downloaded the free Michigan Topo map into basecamp from GPSFileDepot and installed on the GPS with no issues. While it is not route-able, it seems to show a high degree of detail for Isle Royale including topography, marsh areas ...

We are planning a trip in mid-July. I have read lots of good information in the posts here, thank you all. I appreciate the effort you all make to share your experiences. My wife and 3 daughters will be going along and have never backpacked before and I have done Isle Royale before, but about 25 ...

Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions. I know that July is a busier month, so I hesitate to count too much on the shelters. Getting my wife and girls to make the jump from pop-up camper to trails has been one thing, asking them to sleep under a tarp may be too much, too fast! I roughly ...

We are starting to plan for a July trip to IR for a family of 2 teens, 3 adults. I have not been to IR or backpacked in over 20 years. The 4 ladies have never backpacked, but we did do some day hikes on the Appalachain Trail last summer. We have a Coleman Elite Sundome 6 person tent (12x10ft) that ...