The ice is changing constantly (wind!). The latest MODIS image (1-7-2014) shows a markedly different ice bridge from what you saw a few days earlier. The Canadians have an excellent ice-condition website that is update daily. Go here to see what Lake Superior looks like as of Monday, January 6th: ht...

I've kayaked these waters many times. Actually, I kind of like your "water taxi to Belle Isle" idea. Going to Belle Isle direct when you first arrive, will give you more time to explore the Five Fingers area as well as some time to play the weather for your journey back to Rock Harbor arou...

I was watching the weather radar yesterday (5/2) and it looks like it snowed almost the entire day over some parts of the island. To have knee-deep snow on the ground at this time in May is just amazing. Unless we got a massive warmup (which is not in the forecast), green-up may not happen until Jun...

No real warm up in sight. Here's the latest 6 - 10 day forecast from the Climate Prediction Center.

Thanks for the input and clarification Captain Don. It's always good to get first-hand knowledge of the ice situation. No matter what, I got to believe that we had more lake ice form this year than all of last.

Still an ice bridge, of sorts, but the late-March sun is starting to break things up.

This is from an article in today's Detroit News. Quoting Phyllis Green: "By delaying maintenance and work at parks, the future costs could actually be higher than the money being saved, said Phyllis Green, superintendent of Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. "It's like if you have...

Latest ice map as of 3/18/2013. Usually lake ice starts to break up by mid-March. Not this year due to way below average temps in the Great Lakes area.

As for IR, there is an ice bridge of sorts, but I don't know if I'd walk on it.

Early July is still maximum bug season. Expect less around the lake Superior shore, more inland. Good advice to bring along a head net.

Not a packraft, but I've been taking my folding kayak to I.R. for the past twenty years. If you want to paddle or explore some inland lake, this type of watercraft is the ticket.

For those of you who didn't look at the wolf genetic report in the "announcement" section of this sub-forum, this article from the Marquette Mining Journal is worth the read: "The results from the genetic analysis, as well as field observations, suggest that not one, but four and poss...

Sure I would. I'm a kayaker. Isle Royale is one of the best places to kayak in all of the Great Lakes basin. The presence or absence of wolves won't change that.

It's amazing the difference one day can make with this ice bridge. Here's the latest as of today, Friday, March 8th. Compare with the March 7th map.

Update as of 3/7/2013. Kind of an ice bridge, though I don't know if I'd walk on it:

The National Geographic topo map is a good one. You can get it from the Isle Royale and Keweenaw Parks Association website:

http://irkpa.org/images/trailsillustratedmap.jpg