august 2025 feldman loop report

[JerryB]

a first trip for a buddy of mine, fourth for my son and i’ve lost track of the number for me. We drove up to Grand Portage on Tuesday, August 19 after a stop for a delicious dinner at the Angry Trout in Grand Marais. We also stopped at the Fisherman’s Daughter next door for our sandwich lunches on the first day on the island. A quick drive from there, we were at the casino for the night.

The next morning we were up early for the ferry. I am old enough to remember when the gas station did not open early enough to get coffee on these mornings. Now, even the casino had a pot going! If you have not been on the Voyager in a few years, the new dock, parking and community building there are wonderful. The ferry ride was great. Thanks to dramamine, i slept on the bulkhead for an hour and then we were there.

A young male ranger, on the island for his second year, gave the orientation. He talked about food storage, of course, and he noted that those in shelters should not use the new lockers, to save room for tent campers. No mention of euthanasia of a wolf and not much focus at all on what triggered these steps. I am not sure some casual campers will follow the rules if they are not scared of the risks of not doing so, but he downplayed them.

Permitting seems to take longer and longer. I get it. This is an opportunity to ask questions about trails, etc. The young ranger i mentioned earlier did an excellent job (i could hear him while i waited in line). He gave sound advice and tried to shift folks plans to the more realistic, given their experience levels. Well done! His partner, however,…. She was asked about the water situation at Island Mine, where the creek often runs low. She did not understand the questions and said—not making this up—“i am not sure if there is a pipe and spigot at island mine”. Yikes.

For no real reason, we decided on a counterclockwise hike of the feldman loop. I do think the decision paid off on our last day on the trail. So we headed to Feldman Lake. That leg always seems longer than it should to me, especially as a first leg. I suppose it is a function of getting our hiking legs under us. Anyway, the trail was in great shape. No deadfall’s and only minimal overgrowth. The view at the overlook, accessible easily enough to day hikers, was great. We pulled into Feldman Lake with no problems and picked the second best site we saw, the best was taken. Eventually, all individual sites were taken but i don’t think anyone needed to double up or use a group/overflow site. We took a dip in the lake, relaxed and had dinner. Bugs were not a problem. My partners had no interest or energy to go to Rainbow Cove so we skipped it this time.

Day two started with pancakes and syrup for breakfast. Half a cup of just-add-water mix in a baggie, olive oil packet and syrup packet, and either dried blueberries or chocolate chips. Not bad! Although my non stick pan was quite heavy. (Last year, i used a super light weight pan and enjoyed scrambled pancakes.). We were in no big rush because i assured my son and pal that we had zero chance for a shelter. We cleaned and packed up and were off. The first half of the hike, to the tower, was great. Again, the trail was in perfect condition. We all enjoyed the tower and its views and were even able to call home and check in with spouses.

From the tower to Siskiwit were the most overgrown trails i have experienced, ever. Much of the time, the brush was head high and the trail itself invisible. This went on for miles. I guess there has been good rain this year. Bugs were bad only if we stopped in the woods. On the plus side, zero deadfall agin.

When we got to Siskiwit, both shelters were, of course, occupied. As we passed shelter two, a young boater couple waived us down to say they were leaving, so we could have the shelter! Kind of them and a very nice treat for us. Interestingly, the other shelter was occupied, but with no permit hanging and we never saw anyone in it. I think a boater group “reserved” it with their stuff and went off sailing for a day or two. Rude, it seems to me. Anyway, we had a great evening. Dinner, a small fire, chatting with another boater family. I also had the chance to dry out my soaked tent. No rain but loads of condensation.

I always like to build in flexibility in my itineraries and this trip was no exception. Our plan was to hike to Island Mine and camp there. But we also discussed hiking through to Hugginin or Windigo. We would see how we felt. Hiking on the soft beach was a bit of a slog so we quickly moved a few steps inland to the trail running alongside it. This was overgrown and had lots of roots but was still easier walking. Being on the official trail also made it pretty easy to find the trail across Senter Point. Soon, we were heading uphill. It was a tough climb for my son—he of the bad foot and 55pound pack! and my pal, but we made it easily enough. We gathered water from the creek which was, of course, running slow, but with multiple pools three or so inches deep. Then we set up our chairs and had lunch at site 1. After fighting off bugs at the site and assuring my buddy that the hike down to Windigo was the easiest on the island, we all voted to press on to Windigo. That would give us two nights there, time to shower, eat and maybe paddle in the harbor.

For once, perhaps, I was true to my word. We had an easy enough hike. Again, trails were great, if a bit buggy on stops. Less than a mile from Windigo, my son who was in the lead, raised his fist, military language to halt and be quiet. (He is a retired Army captain.) Ahead of us was a massive cow moose standing in the trail, maybe forty or fifty yards from us. She was calm and could care less about us. We watched as she showed no sign of moving more than a few feet. At one point, I moved a bit closer because i did not want to lose sight and wonder where she was. Just as my son started to bypass her well off the trail, she slooowly moved on. Our first and only sighting of a moose on the trip!

Now, i have stayed at Windigo maybe a dozen times and have never been shut out of the shelters, until now. They were all taken. My son eventually found site 2, between shelters 1 and 3. I did not even know there were tent sites on the river. It was a great site and we set up camp there. Too late for “real food” at the store—we got in around 6:30 eastern time, we settled in and had dinner. The next morning, i checked out the permits on the immediately neighboring shelters. (By the way, i love the what seems to me to be a fairly new practice of placing the permits on the site numbered posts!) The folks in shelter 1 were scheduled to remain at windigo that night, but the solo hiker in shelter two was scheduled for Hugginin! I excused myself and asked her if that was still her plan. Unfortunately, she was a bit tired from her hikes and was sticking around. Later, she was kind enough to come to our site and tell us that the folks one shelter further down just left. So we hauled our stuff over there and moved in.

I love Windigo after a long trek on the island, or even a quick one like this trip. We went to “town”, i had a shower, and we enjoyed sitting on the beautiful deck of the store. My first time to see the store up close because in the last few years i was picked up at an intermediate stop by the Voyageur mid island. I like everything about the new place. A slightly expanded menu included. The pizza is now small thick crust. Think Di Giorno’s (sp?) rising crust pizza. It was good but i prefer the old thin crust pizza at the old store. But the deck is a wonderful place to sit, enjoy the view and chat with other hikers. We were too lazy to paddle, so we just fiddled around and relaxed. No moose in the creek.

A few miscellaneous notes.

Packs: I used my frameless Granite Gear pack and my base weight, sans food and water, was 25 pounds. My buddy had an Osprey and weighed in at thirty pounds. My son had an Army external frame pack and came in over fifty pounds. Ugh. I was comfortable with my pack but i wondered if the added pound or two of my Osprey would be compensated for by the added comfort and support it offered.

Tents: I used my Big Agnes Scout 2 UL. This is a hiking pole supported, single-wall tent. Small for two people but fine for one. I have used it for years but it may be time to move on. I don’t love the single front entrance with a hiking pole in the middle, but the bigger problem was condensations and stretching. We had light rain one night and cool temps each night. Ideal sleeping conditions. But my tent collected a ton of condensation on the inside walls. At first, i blamed it on a poor set up by me, but even fully guyed out, it was not great. I know this is common with single wall tents and the cool nights created perfect conditions for condensation, but it is getting old. As for stretching, it is getting harder to use the zippers without snags. I think the walls and doors are just starting to sag a bit. In any case, i may opt for the “glamping” Big Agnes pole supported tent, two walled, with side entrances! By the way, my son slept under his Army poncho—a pretty cool set up, actually. It worked well, although he did wake up with a chip monk on his hand! That would have been the end of me.

Filtration: More changes coming for me. I have used an MSR gravity filter with a four liter dirty water bag for years now. It has always been prone to air locks and is generally finicky. Even though i maintain it regularly, it was going quite slow this trip. My buddy had a Katadyn gravity filter that worked great. I just picked one up, with a larger water bag and look forward to using it. I always carry a Sawyer squeeze as my back up. Again, i always back flush, clean, etc. but it failed this trip. Impossible to push water through. I noted the bag was also delaminating. I think this system just has a life span measured in liters and in years. Eventually, it will just give out. Easy fix, i will just replace the bag and filter every three years or so. I still think it is a great backup system. By the way, all of these systems are nicer to use than the old way of crouching by a creek and pumping water!

Bear cabinets: These are quite nice and spacious. Easily found at Siskiwit, Island Mine and Windigo. At Feldman, neither we nor any other group there could locate the cabinets, so the site looked like one big Christmas tree with weird Ursak ornaments all over the place.

Suggestion for Ursak bags. These seem to be quite popular. But a warning, they all look alike. I started to tie an orange rope around mine so i could spot it in the cabinets easily. Just a thought.

Food: I could eat! A few years ago, i started a string here about my odd and total loss of appetite on these trips. Any food made me feel sick. That was why i did pancakes and carried the heavier pan, because last year, pancakes were one meal i could stomach. All better this year. I still do not eat much but i felt fine. I have lost close to fifty pounds over the last few years and i assume that did it.

We had a great trip and i look forward to more to come.

[jerry]

From 1 jerry to another, thanks for your report! You and your son were especially nice to this old guy, many years ago. Enjoyed your report.

[Mdskpr]

Thanks for the memories of my trip last year. I went clockwise, but relived every step thru your tale.

Sent from my motorola one 5G ace using Tapatalk

[JerryB]

I should have mentioned that "crowds" were very light. We saw few people on the trail, Siskiwit was mostly empty and no overflow room for campers were needed. This all struck me as a very nice change from recent years.

[torpified]

Thanks for the report! (Even the chilling details about the chipmunk!)