Canoe Rock Harbor to Moskey

[greg0923]

Hi All,

I Have been reading the board for about 3 months now and wanted to thank everyone for the great information I have recieved here.

We are going on our first trip to isle royal in the mid or late part of June 2009. We are going to start at Rock Harbor where we will rent a canoe, from there we want to paddle to moskey basin where we will spend our first night . Is it safe to paddle from Rock Harbor to Moskey? Does the water get choppy there? We want to be as safe as possible. We are thinking about doing the south inland lakes- Richie, chippewa, Whittlesey, wood, siskiwit, intermediate in about 8-10 days. I know that this is alot of portaging but i hear that you can beat the fishing and its very beautiful. Please everyone chime in as I can use as much advice as possible.

Thanks,

Greg

[niners]

Rock Harbor to Moskey is a great paddle for a canoe. The waters are very protected are generaly calm. The shore on this section of the island is also very foregiving with many oportunities to pull out and take a break. Moskey Basin is one of my favorite places on the island.

To get to the inland lakes, you have a tough first portage. The hike to Lake Richie is 2+ miles, but it's generaly flat. The bad part is that it will be early in your trip when you have the most weight to carry.

I think you'll have a great time and have picked a very good first canoe trip on Isle Royale! Have Fun!!!

[johnhens]

I would add to the above from my learned colleague that winds out of either the NE or SW can make the paddle, shall we say, exciting. If you have the time, a visit to Mott, Edison fishery and the Rock Harbor Lighthouse is worth the time as well as Rolf's place!!!

Welcome to the forums!!!!!
It is nice to know there are others planning next years trips allready!!!

[Kevinl]

I don't know anything about that long portage, or Moskey Basin, as I've come into those inland lakes on a north to south trip, but I can say that once you get into those lakes you've found a little slice of heaven. I think it's awesome that you've got so many days to play in them, rather than try to hurry through.

[Backpacker534]

I have always wanted to explore Isle Royale via canoe/kayak but have not done it yet. I would love to know how your trip goes.

[colvinch]

I did the RH to Moskey last August, beautiful day, perfect weather...no wind. The paddle was easy but long, I think it took us about 5 hours to get there, and that is just stopping once for lunch/rest/fishing. Beautiful paddle, saw a couple of eagles, an otter and some moose tracks in the shallows. We have thought many times about how hard that paddle would of been with some wind, but was nice and if there is wind and bad weather you can stop at 3 campgrounds and set up shop.

The portage from Moskey to Lake richey........difficult. I rate this as the hardest portage we did on our trip and this is including Duncan to Tobin. It is not as flat as some people try to say it is. The terrain is rough and it's very long, over 2 miles easy. A couple reason it was so hard....it was nearly 87 degrees that day, I hadn't trained hard enough or on rough enough trails to be ready for that one, and we had a lot of gear. Plus it took us 2 trips to do the portage, tried to solo with packs but forget it. So we took the packs over then back for the canoe, makes about a 7 mile day when it was wayyyyyy to hot.
Once we got to Richey though it was all well worth it, absolutely beautiful scenery and the fishing was great, I think I caught something like 15 pike in an hour. No joke the first cast was a nice 24" pike.

From there we went on the Northern loop up to McCargo so the other lakes I can't be any help on. Have a great trip.

Looking forward to another incredible time this summer, only 8 more months till I get there

[Keweenaw]

Hi Greg,

Welcome! The rental canoes are all aluminum so they will be a little on the heavy side to portage. As I recall they have OK foam portage pads. Just so you know, if it is foggy or very windy they may not let you take the canoe until the weather clears (I assume for liability reasons).

Rock harbor to Moskey is a nice paddle. Strong NE or SW winds will make it "lively" since it is a long stretch of open water. S to SE winds can make it a bit choppy just prior to Daisy Farm, opposite Middle Islands Passage. The shore along here is sloping, though, so you can get out if necessary. Ditto on previous posts about canoeing across to Edisen Fisheries, the lighthouse, and Rolf's place.

On approaching the Moskey Basin dock, bear left around the point into the cove and you will see some of the shelters on your right. This is one of the best campgrounds on the Island IMO. If a shelter is free, just pull the canoe up on the rock shelf.

If you overnight at Moskey and start out early the next morning for Richie the portage is not so bad. The hotter the forecast the earlier you should start. It's 2.5 miles - starts with a gradual uphill, then up + down, some rocks and roots ending with a steep but short downhill to the lake. Take the canoe and as much gear as you can about halfway, dump it on the side of the trail, go back and get the rest of the gear and take that all the way, then return and get the canoe - that breaks up the hike a bit. Lake Richie main campground is not so nice - Lake Richie Canoe campground is beautiful. The other portages are short - the biggest hassle is just unloading and re-loading the canoe. The stretch from Wood to Intermediate, along the shore of Siskiwit, can be impossible in a strong SW wind, so be prepared.

It is possible, but not very likely, that you could canoe around from Chippewa back to Rock Harbor; it would require a guaranteed calm 2-3 hours minimum.

West Caribou Island is also a really nice spot.

Lots of greenstones in Moskey and the gravel beaches of some RH islands (which are illegal to take away from the Island). Check the shallows along the south shore.

have fun!

Bob