Awesome! Thanks for the alert.

both routes look great! And (supposing your connections work out) you won't have to commit to one or the other until you wake up on June 19th in Moskey, and face the decision of whether to pack up and leave or not! If the seaplane is delayed a whole day, you could follow route 1 but omit the zero da...

THE RELIEF MAP IS AWESOME! I love the nonconformist trench running oblique to the prevailing corduroy from Siskiwit to McCargo. I wonder if there was ever a trail following that trench the the whole way?

Hiking in the Sierra, I wear trail runners and DG gaiters. But IR is muddier, including mud wallows it's impossible to negotiate in a way that's both consistent with LNT guidelines and conducive to dry feet. So on IR I wear . . . La Sportiva Mid Synthesis GTX, and gaiters slightly burlier than DGs.

This has made my day! I might be able to rival Base654 for PO sensitivity---and now I can lighten my IR baseweight by several ounces of PO amelioration measures!

I'd second thesneakymonkey! The western end of the Greenstone is very rich in trees.

that looks great! I'm psyched about your parents' escalating backpacking ambitions! WCB vs MCC: Both great options. Because it lacks lake (Superior) access, WCB might feel quieter and more wildernessy. If you stay at McCargoe and you're still up for an adventure after you get there, the Minong mine ...

The Greenstone Ridge Trail between LL and the Mt Franklin junction feels more secluded than the GRT west of the junction. It's a lovely trail, alternating between forest and meadows. For my money, though, it can't really rival the open views you'll get from the GRT on the way to Daisy Farm on the th...

that looks like a lot of fun, and also a very resourceful use of transportation options! About the paddling, I'll defer to others. And there's the perennial question of whether you'll be able to bend the water taxi to your will. Given your backgrounds, the hiking itinerary sounds manageable, and wil...

Even though I'm an advanced worrier, I wasn't going to start to worry about this until after tax day! One thought is that it might be difficult for the concessionaire to keep things running on its own, because the Ranger is crucial to its supply chain.

You do submit an itinerary when you collect your permit, and the itinerary you submit adorns your permit. But it's not binding. You can wander as your spirit moves you, provided you stay in designated campgrounds (or take extra steps to be permitted to sleep in the wild). The issuing ranger always i...

whether you stay at McCargo or not, be sure to take some time to explore the Minong Mine (on your right a few miles before McC). And an advantage to the IR way of life is that you can adapt your itinerary on the fly. It's less than 7 miles (not counting mine detours) from Todd Harbor to McCargo. Com...

I echo all the sentiments expressed! I visited in early May a few years ago, and loved it, partially because of some of the peculiar challenges posed. I wrote up an after action review about some of these, the measures I adopted, and how they stacked up. Here, FWIW, is a link to it: https://isleroya...

Unless things have changed, you book (or try to book---it can take some persistence) the water taxi through the lodge. Last year the lodge opened for "full operation" on June 5th. I don't know whether that was preceded by a condition of being semi-open and running the water taxi. You can talk to For...

Merrell is making IR (and a least weasel its shoe-shooting crew found there!) part of its marketing campaign:

https://www.merrell.com/US/en/blog?url= ... onal-park/