We hiked Windigo>Feldtmann>Siskiwit>Malone and experienced fewer than five trees on the trail. There was recent evidence of trail clearing in many places.


Thats good to hear. When I was there end of May there were 20+ trees to climb over, under or around on the Windigo-Feldtmann stretch ...

backwoods doc wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 5:57 pm there have been reports of obtaining a cell signal, calls being made, then later discovering that those calls were made out of Canada

Yeah, there's pretty much 100% coverage from Rodgers out of Canada. Thats included by my provider. But I don't bring a phone to the Island.

...so which of the "approved" containers holds 30 days worth of food?

Definitely "doable"
Does he really want to carry a wetsuit for the whole trip though?
That area can also be very busy with boat traffic at times.

fonixmunkee wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2024 12:35 pm Nope, never got close to 7 miles on any walkies. Best we could do is probably 3/4 of a mile

Agree, I was going to say the same thing. 1 mile would be pushing it under the best circumstances.

Lane Cove?
Yes, that is accessible to hikers. 5 tent sites.
Beautiful, but as of late lane Cove is one of the "It" sites to visit and tends to fill up.

torpified wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2023 8:12 am
Could Belle Isle be the location of my oft-fantasized IR pop up brick oven pizza parlor?

We've brought pizza dough and toppings on 2 backpacking trips but not to the Island yet. A place to cook would be ideal

But in general, I recommend carrying a full day's water on the island. Unless you're on one of the Lake Superior shoreline trails, water tends to be hard to come by.

2nd this. I would never plan on stopping along the way for water unless some sort of emergency popped up. I've carried 2-3 days ...

I second Ingo's post.

3 nights is perfect for the Feltmann loop.

Your route is certainly doable but you will be on the trail the majority of the time.
Windigo to N Desor is haul. Depending on when you arrive it'll be pretty late when you get there.

Hatchet to Malone (when I did it mid August a ...

Yes, fog and rain can cause plane delays. The seaplane company seems to be quite good about trying to get people where they need to go in as timely a fashion as possible. I've never been delayed personally but have had my scheduled flights to and from the island moved around by a few hours because ...

Kelly wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:43 pm I've found it to be quite thorough.

Yep, great resource!

ViaChicago wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 1:42 pm
Does anyone else regularly pre-tape their feet? Should I do again for my IR trip in September?

Yep, I do it with ducttape on the back of my heels/ankles.

If you know that your shoes/boots will bother your feet then yes, I would continue taping them.

Also orangish sun here in southern Wisconsin. There have been air quality alerts off and on recently as well.

Personally I would avoid bushwacking unless absolutely necessary. The campsites are fairly well spaced and in early June you should find them lightly populated. The only reason I would back country camp is if an emergency came up and you couldn't make it to the next site or you were dead-set on ...

jerry wrote: Fri Apr 28, 2023 10:52 am Is the Blatnik Bridge still being worked on?

Yes. I didn't think it was going to be done until some time in '24.