Trip Report - Feldtmann Loop, June 2025

[HoosierHiker1202]

June 19 - Made the drive up from NW Indiana with two traveling mates for my third and their first trip to the island. Seven and a half hour drive, placed us at The Downtowner in Houghton for wings, curds, and a Pacers Game 6 victory. Great start to the trip!

June 20 - 8 am seaplane flight to IR. Another spectacular flight. If you haven’t taken the plane, I would highly recommend it. Amazing views, much shorter transit time (40 minutes), and an earlier start to the day. After checking in at the VC, then getting fuel (free, thanks to past users!), we jotted straight into Washington Creek and grabbed the last remaining shelter. We then dumped a couple items out of our packs and embarked on the Hugginin Cove loop. Made a great assimilation to backpacking for my two rookie friends. Had a beautiful lunch on the shores of the cove, relaxed in the sun, scrambled over a few rocks, then made the trip back to camp. While hot dogs in Windigo were a tempting dinner, we elected to preserve that as our reward for a successful trip a few days later. Spent a little time creek side, then hit the sack. Had quite the storm over night, so it was great not starting the trip by packing up a wet tent.

June 21 - Today’s travels took us up onto the Greenstone (rough climb first thing in the morning, but I really didn’t want to end the trip with the long, green tunnel, which was the only stretch of this trip I had previously hiked.) Grabbed lunch at Island Mine and fought through the mosquitoes as we dined. While relaxing, we saw the only other hiker we’d see that day until camp at night. Mike from Wisconsin had made his way over from South Lake Desor where he’d spoken with reporters who were there concerning the deaths two weeks earlier. He set out before us, then we picked up and made our way off toward Siskiwit, which was quite frustratingly longer than we expected. We managed to lose the trail as made our way to the Point at the end of the beach. We bushwhacked our way across, only to wind up on the rocky shore. We saw a dock across the bay, but thought surely that couldn’t be our campsite as it seemed much further than we were hoping. After ultimately regaining the trail, we made our way around the bay, resigned to the fate that it was, in fact, our site. After a long day of hiking, we set up our tents, then wandered down to beach to filter water, rinse off, and make a little fire. There were three or four boats docked by the time we got there. An extended family had been fishing and were starting their trout fry. One of my pals managed to score a beer from them. Our new friend Mike scored quite a few more, as well as some trout. We were a little disheartened to learn that there was a summer camp trip of about a dozen middle school girls. To our delight, they were much quieter than we had expected. Camp was again thick with mosquitoes, but we had a dry night.

June 22 - Set out today with a little shorter hike as we were aiming for Feldtmann. Pretty uneventful hike, other than watching the weather intensify around us at the watchtower. While we had been sweating a bit throughout the hike (more from work than from temps), we had to layer up with puffy jackets and hats while we took our break. We’d take another brief break later in which we literally watched a cloud blow in and completely obscure our view of the beautiful little valley we’d been staring out onto. More motivation to get up and get moving. Got to Feldtmann and snagged a great campsite (#1?). Made the short trek over to Rainbow Cove and had one of the most relaxing hours we’ve had in a long time. No one else on the beach. Beautifully sunny day. Warm rocks, cool temps, chilly water, gentle breeze. Is this Heaven? No, it’s Isle Royale. After we hiked back to camp, we hung out on the shore with our buddy Mike from Wisconsin. As we were chatting, we made a new friend. A bullmoose walked out of the woods onto the shore less than fifteen yards from us. We froze. He froze. We stared at each other, breathless, for 8 seconds (as our video confirms). He ultimately decided that we were friend, not foe, and proceeded out into the water for dinner where he’d spend the next ninety minutes swimming and eating. As a bald eagle soared over head, we all laughed, half-expecting to wake up and see the image dissolve before us. Alas, that night, a strong storm blew in off the lake and we all wondered just how strong our tent stakes were as we tried sleep in our large parachutes. Gratefully we awoke only to wet tents, no downed trees or relocated tents.

June 23 - That said, it was wet. Besides packing the wet tent, it’s pretty overgrown around Feldtmann, so walking anywhere more than five steps, you wound up soaked. We wore our rain coats as we set out, but elected to pass on the rain pants, for no particularly good reason. As the rain and lightning surrounded us, we began our shortest hike of the trip, back to Windigo, in some rough conditions. Tired and wet, at least we had hot dogs and chili dogs waiting for us. As we slogged on, we could almost taste them. We’d get to Windigo, hit a flush toilet and a sink with soap, remove wet boots, peal off wet leggings from our pants, start to feel a little more human again, then go eat dogs on the deck as the sun emerged. That plan was almost flawless. As we entered the store, the video board was dark, which suggested something was amiss. The gentleman behind the register greeted us with a warm, “Howdy, one of the two generators is down. No hot dogs or pizzas.” We were crestfallen. As we all do on the Isle, though, we improvised. They still had cold sandwiches, microwaveable breakfast sandwiches, and ice cold Coke, beer, and chocolate milk, in whatever order we desired. Lunch on the deck was amazing. We were disappointed, though not surprised, to learn that there were no shelters left at Washington Creek for the night, so we pitched our tents one last time, then fled camp for several hours as the bugs were pretty rough. I got myself a warm shower (a new IR experience for me), then the three of us spent the next three hours on the deck, snacking, drinking, and chatting with a few others, including Mike. Got up around 3 to walk out on the dock back in Windigo to check out stars and hope for a bit of the Aurora Borealis. Stars were good, Borealis not so much.

June 24 - Flight at 11, so a nice relaxed morning. A little more time on the deck. Grabbed some WiFi in the pavilion. Sat out on the big dock and listened to the loons. Watched an otter surface a few times. Flight back was just us, which was kind of a cool experience. As always, the island did not disappoint. My rookie friends seemed to love the experience. Can’t wait to see what the next trip will have for me.

[torpified]

Fantastic report! I'm glad to hear that there was moose presence at Feldtmann Lake. It's only right. As for the lake itself, I wouldn't have pegged it as a large enough to make its own weather, but it seems to be!

Are your traveling companions converted, and already planning their next IR trip??

[HoosierHiker1202]

I’m not enough of a meteorologist to know if Feldtmann made its own storm, but we went to bed under clear skies and hours later were in a hope-for-the best scenario. It got intense for a short bit.

As for my friends, I would say so. One of them used a lot of borrowed gear that he has since purchased and the other is already trying to plan a shorter local trip in the fall. I’d be shocked if they weren’t back in the next few years.

[IncaRoads]

Great report. Your detailed descriptions made me feel like I was hiking with you.