8 Day Solo - Minong - Greenstone Loop

[PlowHorse]

Start - Aug 15, 2009
Leave Copper Harbor
Saturday, August 15, 2009 Rock Harbor to Daisy Farm 7.1 7.1
Sunday, August 16, 2009 Daisy Farm to McCargoe Cove 8.2 15.3
Monday, August 17, 2009 McCargoe Cove toTodd Harbor 6.7 22.0
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Todd Harbor to Lake Desor N 12.7 34.7
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 Lake Desor N to Washington Creek 12.0 46.7
Thursday, August 20, 2009 Washington Creek to Lake Desor S 11.3 58.0
Friday, August 21, 2009 Lake Desor S to Chickenbone W 15.0 73.0
Saturday, August 22, 2009 Chickenbone West to Rock Harbor 14.8 87.8

8 Days - 88 Miles. I am in solid shape - going with a lot of ultralite gear so not too much weight.

Anyone think this is totally unrealistic? I held the bigger mile days until the back half so I could get my legs under me and all my blisters thoroughly bursted and bled (grin).

[Nick]

It's doable. But, as I always say, "Why not slow down, do less, and really enjoy the island?"

[moss13]

I agree, what's the rush? Enjoy the island.

[kanonen]

how light is your pack? We just did the minong rock harbor to wash creek and we had maybe more than 50 pounds a person. Both solid shape too. At times it was brutal. Torrential rain on N. Desor to Wash Creek didn't help. Soggy from head to toe and rain does impact your footing on the rocky ridge. Regardless, the minong has a lot of ups and downs and some nice steep rocky hills. So it all goes down to how light you are going. Something that we did that was VERY usefull, is that we did take a day off in N.Desor (nice place). Feet were back to normal, we did not have blisters (anti chafing lotion is good), but we had irritated skin or what could have been blisters if we did not take a day off. So yeah, that day was a blessing. We got rejuvenated mentally and physically.

[ScoutDad]

Hi Plowhorse:

I gotta agree with Nick; slow it down and enjoy!

My scout troop was on the Island in 2004, the older boys group "just had to" earn their Fifty Miler patch (in 4 days) on IR. I told them they would regret the pace. All made it, but most failed to enjoy their days, exhausted and night and a non-stop trek during the day. Two adults w/the boys actually lost their toenails

My group did 32 miles in the same time, and had a great trip.

[PlowHorse]

Thanks for the comments. Two things I heard -

Weight and Pace.

On the weight - Got my pack to sub 38.7 pounds (base weight at 13.9 pounds) and food at 115 calories per oz - 3192 calories per day. The big key for me was managing food weight to calories and I dumped my favorite tent and bought a Tarptent Squall (32 oz) - cutting a full 4 pounds off my tent weight. Also, owning a Western Mountaineering Ultralite sleeping bag and Down Sweater took a bunch of weight out of the pack. If I could talk my wife into letting me buy another pack - I could drop another 4 pounds by moving to the Osprey Exos 58 from my current pack (but the tent was just about the limit I could talk her into letting me spend for this cheap (ha!) vacation.

Pace - This is interesting. I do agree on 'slowing down to smell the roses' but found that when I limited my miles to something reasonable (7 mile range) for the day over the last two years, where I did 4 day trips in the Shenandoahs, that I had a ton of spare time in the afternoon. So, figured that I would leave some of the trip as shorter mile days and then work in some big mile days to push myself. Funny comment on the Merit Badge - I got that one back in the day and the packs were heavier!!

Really appreciate the comments - hope the earlier trip report on the NPS cleaning up the N. Desor to Windigo portion of the Minong so hopefully I will minimize my detours on that big day.

See you on the trail.