I think I have found my favorite method for travel to the island. We live 9-10 hours from Houghton and copper harbor. It is such a pain to drive through the night for the camp pre boat. Leaving early, driving all day, and flying the last flight out is great. This is the second time we have landed on this itinerary. It makes travel fun and when you land you are still fresh-ish. This was a two-man trip. Ryan was with us on our first IRNP trip back when and had not been back since. Having previously raced down the greenstone I wanted to build a trip that showed more of the island and some time to relax. We were starting in rock harbor and heading to windigo in a week with a little bit of wiggle room. I was a little concerned about the fire and hiker volume at some of the congestion points and built in a few adjustments.
We flew into Tobin on the last flight out of Hancock. On the plane with us was a triple with packs weighing in at 45, 49, and 65 and attempting Moskey that first night. Yikes. I wasn’t sure about what we could see if the fire but only saw a wisp of smoke and could not perceive any damage. Once we landed though we could definitely smell it. We had to wait around for 20 minutes for a MN flight so the ranger would have to give her speech once. Knowing it was getting dark sooner and the campsites were jammed and having to wait was a little bummer. Once we got on the trail it was clean and gorgeous as usual. Having missed Scollvile in his other trip I felt it necessary to allow him the view of the edge of the world. Once we got back the triple had not left yet. The RH to 3-mile section was the only section of trail that Ryan would repeat this trip. But I feel twice is still better than the Tobin side. Once we hit 3-mile it was packed like the infield on a NASCAR race. There were already people doubled up and we wondered if we would be attempting a backcountry night. But groups sites were still empty and we set up. The triple we’re heading our way too and it was dark by the time we brushed teeth after dinner. At about 11 I heard someone setting up in the other group site and assumed they made it safe. At about 11 Ryan heard a moose at the other group site. In the morning we shared thoughts and found no other campers. Ryan 1, TopCarrot 0.
We left earlier each morning. No rush but we were efficient. We headed out up to Mt Franklin and Ojibway and back down to Moskey. As we left we saw the triple in camp around the lake so at least they made it. It’s a climb up but the views a worth the exercise. We were set up to do lunch on the trail but I think every day we waited till camp. We arrived between 11 and 1 every day. So it was worth it. I made a couple of modifications for this trip. Our water supply was amazing and took away the burden of clean water. It is outlined in this other post. If you are at all displeased with your setup please convert. It is worth every penny. “Water while you rest”. The second adjustment was to the food. After the spring trip with the kids, they complained about the lack of food options. It was what I had what’s eaten and had been too thankful to complain but was worried that the perspective had set in. We had identical meals each day but I tried to mix up the flavors. I enjoyed it. Lunches were ramen or knorr or potatoes with bacon bits. Dinners were knorr, or chili or pizza. Our premise is always to eat your best meal. Aside from dinner at 3 mile which was really just a 4th meal after Culver’s pre-flight. So at Moskey we cooked and watched the beaver. I brought two packs of street taco shells, mozzarella sticks, pepperoni, and a can of marinara. We cooked twenty pizza tacos. One jet boil and a pan that was really the lid of my old pot. One would rotate back and forth. You would cook yours and eat the previous one you cooked after it cooled for a cycle with the other guy prepped his next one. Being slightly careful to distribute the heat and a little oil at the bottom of the pan worked. Sitting at shelter 8 enjoy our private bay it was hands down the best meal I have ever cooked on the island (stolen fried fish and a boaters beer excluded
. If you have more questions I may have to recreate some pictures. We swam off the rocks and watch the beaver and a family of ducks under a beautiful sky.Day three we headed out up and over the greenstone for McCargoe. The algae bloom and fire ban were in effect but all the lake before chickenbone looked fine. Chickenbone was nasty. I was always worried I would miss what they meant. No chance. There was a milky green slime on the surface and was no chance I’d drink it even if the sign wasn’t posted. The muddy parts of the path were gone and it was smooth sailing. We hit the junction as the last departure was just leaving. Two shelters were taken with holdovers for the night before. We hustled down to the dock and jumped in our out a handle of times which brought a crowd. They all came down and did some yoga. A solo lady who we didn’t interact with much here but got to know further down the trail and so much gear we assumed she was a writer dropped off on the voyager to just spend the week in McCargoe. I brought a bag of spicy chips and we had half with lunch and half with dinner. The hot and the crunch were a nice addition to the supplies. Another shelter shared the weather report for the next day. His app only shows two slots for each day. The verdict was rain at 11 am and rain at 11 pm.
It started raining at 6. We hit the trail around 7 and were soaked by the mine. Having not used up any of our wiggle room yet we had planned on making Little Todd but knew we could switch to hatchet if the Minong was too hard or come up short at Todd. Soaked us decided that if the shelter was open it was a sign from God otherwise we would continue on. I don’t have the time recorded but I know we hit Todd before 10 am. It stopped raining about 15 minutes before Todd. The shelter was open and We started to dry out. Everyone else had a different weather report in McCargoe. They all saw the rain stopping early and just wind the rest of the day. They all left around 11-12 after things started to dry and made it in the afternoon without a drop.