Hi Mark,omarkoup wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2020 1:16 am Notes/Other: Would love to go to lane cove if the weather is not bad, not sure if my wife is up for that many miles, so I need a backup plan. First time on the Island in 32 years (I said I would be back next year! lol) We do have some experience backpacking Pictured Rocks, many times. And we have have been upgrading our equipment. I think the lane cove trek is doable, if the weather is ok. My wife is not so sure. We are 52 and 50, in decent shape.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I went to Lane Cove last year w/ a fit 55 y/o (after two nights at MC, which it looks like you have planned) and it was very manageable in good weather. We hit the trail at 8AM and arrived at Lane about 6 hours later. There is one short area of pretty steep switchbacks as you come off the Greenstone junction in towards Lane (just go slow), but then it flattens out nicely. After the steep descent, the only thing to watch for is marsh. There are many good boardwalks but a few areas that require some patience to navigate. The next morning, we got from camp at Lane to the Greenstone junction in about an hour, also in good weather.
Trail aside, Lane is beautiful and the sites are very secluded from each other. We found ourselves a bit chilly as compared to the other sites we stayed at (DF-HL-MC) which were all more sheltered. We were also there at end of September. I wrote up a TR which can be found here.
Only other thing I would add is if you are catching a morning plane at Rock the morning you return from Lane, it'd require an early start or a fast hike. But if you are staying a night in RH before departure, you'd be all set to take your time getting back. I wrote a bit more about that here.
Hope this is some help. Enjoy your trip, looking forward to hearing about it if you can share a TR when you're back.
Hobbes