Need advice on first time itinerary...

[jjustin23]

Me and my girlfriend are taking our first trip to IR and need some advice or comments as to our itinerary.. Just want to know if it sounds ok or if i should change anything.. we are both in our early 20's and i consider myself to be in very good shape as well as my girlfriend.. we both hiked the grand canyon in one day,, but that was our only other hiking trip.. we plan on going to IR in mid july,, i plan on doing a little inland fishing and also some hopefully capture some great photos of the island/wildlife....

Our trip is as follows...

day 1- leave copper harbor and arrive at RH and hike to lane cove ( 6.9 miles)
day 2- lane cove to moskey basin (10.8 miles)
day 3-moskey basin to chippewa harbor ( 6.2 miles)
day 4- chippewa harbor to mccargoe cove ( 10.6 miles)
day 5- mccargoe cove to daisy farm (8.2 miles)
day 6- daisy farm to RH (7.1 miles )

thanks for you input.....

[srparr]

Wecome jjustin23!

Looks like an excellent itinerary. A bit ambitious, but you are in good shape and have experience hiking. Start early on the long days and it should be fine.

You are hitting the trifecta of cool campgrounds on the east end ... Moskey, Chippewa and McCargo. Depending on which days you are at McCargo, there are a couple options for returning to Rock Harbor that might be fun to consider.

The MV Sandy makes a McCargo site-seeing run most Wednesdays (during the time you are thinking, assuming there are enough passengers at RH), and the Voyageur comes by every Mon, Wed, Sat ... see schedule for specific dates. Hiking back to RH is fun, but if you did need a rest day or just wanted to hangout at McCargo the boat might be an option for the return. It will let you see a beautiful part of the island from the lake.

Let us know what dates you are thinking of being on the island.

[Midwest Ed]

Using the water taxi or the Voyageur II to hop around can really extend your range or add little extra leeway to your schedule. It also can prevent back tracking. One word of caution though. The Voyageur II does not stop at any of it's intermediate locations unless it has a scheduled pickup or drop off. So you must plan ahead in that regard and schedule with the operators. Even if one stops where you just happen to be, you are not guaranteed a boarding spot. If they are full or are reserving room for another pre-scheduled patron you could be refused boarding.

If you look at something like this so you have an extra day, it could really come in handy and if you end up not needing it there are plenty of other campgrounds in that area where you could spend the extra time.

~Ed

[srparr]

Good point Ed! Reservations are definitely needed for the boats.

That extra day on the island may give you more time lazing around a favorite fishing hole ...

[Tom]

Like srparr said, you're hitting a trifecta of cool campgrounds. As a bonus, you can pretty much "figure 8" your route and not have any backtracking except out of Chippewa.
I've hiked each of the 'daily' segments you list, except your Day 4, which I did in reverse (McCargoe to Chippewa) and I don't think it matters much either way. I'm, umm, not quite as young as you , and didn't find those trails too difficult, especially if you're in good shape and have backpacked before.
Your hardest day is going to be Day 2, with the hump out of Lane Cove, up the Greenstone a bit, and then down to Daisy. However, the Rock Harbor Trail from Daisy to Moskey (at least the first half) will pump your legs a bit, with it's small up and downs. Your biggest risk is letting your legs and feet get too tired, and you make a footing mistake and tumble...

[jjustin23]

hey everyone,, thank you for your replys... this stuff helps alot.. i will be on the island from july 14 (day 1) until july 19,,possibly the 20th.

I will deff take into consideration the voyageur or the MV for a better rout back to RH... we should be ok as far as hiking goes if we get up early enough, because the days should be longer in the summer months anyways... but having one day to just relax and do whatever would also be nice... anyways,, im pumped,, just gotta wait these months out until july comes around.

[drmarv]

I have done this same trip on several different visits and never tire of views. Once with Lane Cove as our first night and another time with Lane Cove as our last night on the island. It was much better having Lane Cove as our last night. The trail out of Lane Cove is rather steep and we found that we were better equiped to handle it after spending several days hiking. We had also eaten much of our food and had lighter packs. Hope this helps.

[alecto73]

I have done this same trip on several different visits and never tire of views. Once with Lane Cove as our first night and another time with Lane Cove as our last night on the island. It was much better having Lane Cove as our last night. The trail out of Lane Cove is rather steep and we found that we were better equiped to handle it after spending several days hiking. We had also eaten much of our food and had lighter packs. Hope this helps.

Did Lane Cove from RH (Ranger III) first-night and late in the season so I was racing the sun a bit to get there with some daylight left after a bit of a delay getting on the trail. I would second the notion of doing it at the end of a trip for the reasons drmarv indicates, but it's certainly do-able either way.

[Tightlines01]

I've been to all the camp grounds you mentioned except Chippewa (that's on the list for this year) and think you selected a very nice and doable route. Lane Cove the first day will be fine and I did that on my first ever hike to the Isle. In my experience the hike up to the top of the greenstone from Rock was worse than my hike out of Lane Cove. I think part of it for me was due to the fact that I never sat down on the trip across the boat and stood up out front "anticipating" the arrival and soaking in the ride. My legs were probably a bit fatigued prior to even starting from the rocking of the boat (and i had too heavy of a pack). The switch backs on the decent into Lane Cove from the Greenstone is really neat.

Make sure to stop by Mount Frankline and take a break from the climb out of Lane Cove. It's a really short hike on the ridge and on your way to Moskey. This is my favorite view from the Island I've found in both of my visits so far. LOVE IT!

As others mentioned you may want to consider reversing your itinerary completly. Daisy Farm is probably the busiest camp ground on the island and you might ease into "Island Life" a bit more instead of coming out of it slower. Another good reason is that McCargoe and Moskey are popular campgrounds. Both very nice but the shelters can fill up earlier and they are nice to stay in. I'd do whatever I can to get on one of the shelters in Moskey as they are right on the water and amazing views. HIGHLY recomend it and a shorter day of hiking would be easier to get a premo spot. Your going at a pretty busy time.

Last year we went the first week of August and when we went from McCargoe to Moskey we got in around 10:15 and the shelters were gone by about 11:15 ish. Not trying to scare you out of going to Moskey but plan to get there early and really enjoy it.

Enjoy your trip and one other piece of advise. When hiking on the Greenstone there is almost no spots to get water so make sure to take plenty.