Canoeing From Lane Cove to Belle Isle?

[tico83]

Hello All,

I found Isle Royale Forums today by accident. This is my new favorite Isle Royale Site. I only wish I had know about this site sooner, I have already had many of my questions answered about my upcoming trip. I do have a question though (and if this question has already been asked I do apologize) and I hope someone out there can give me their opinion.

I have never paddled to open waters of Lake Superior before, Is it safe to canoe from Lane Cove to Belle Isle (keep in mind we are all experienced canoeists)? What type of conditions should we expect?

[niners]

How are you going to get the canoe to Lane Cove?

[Ingo]

Hi Tico, welcome to the forums.
The "is it safe" answer is always "it depends". I paddled that stretch many times, mostly solo, in a canoe (mostly in my younger days). Usually conditions are what you'd expect on a big lake (not a "Great" lake) for the wind. You don't usually get large lake swells in the bay. However, there are no doubt days that conditions are very dangerous, but they're the exception. Also, it's an area where fog can be a significant issue so map and compass are highly recommended. On average, July/Aug are the calmest wind months (but there's always exceptions, of course).

So yes, go ahead and plan it, but be prepared to adjust plans if necessary and use good judgement. Belle Isle is my favorite campground and I hope to be paddling that area again this summer.

[johnhens]

Lane Cove is fairly protected. Once oyu get beyond Lane Cove, you are in fairly open waters particularly if the wind is NW, N, NE. It can get choppy quickly and if not used to paddling bigger water, could be troublesome.
Also the water temps can be quite cold into July.
As Ingo mentioned, fog can be a big problem in this area as the summer temps heat up, the lake temp is still cold.

[Nick]

As you read this forum, you'll find that I hate agreeing with JohnH on anything, especially his ability to fish. I spent 5 days on Bell Isle in May 2006. There was no one else in the camp the entire week; not even a ranger (and it wasn't the show tunes, either, JohnH). When the weather was good, which was almost all the days, I paddled along the shore of each of the five fingers and did the short portages between them. If you have time and love to day paddle, consider the five fingers areas. There is a very short portage just north east of Lane Cove that gets you into them. You'll also see a plastic marker bouy over an old fishing tug that you can see from the surface.

Rather than try to portage from Three Mile to Lane, why not have the Voyaguer II drop you off at Belle Isle and you can work from there?

[boks]

like Ingo said, "It depends". My wife and I did the rock harbor to rock harbor route through moskey-richie-mccargo-5 finger route in a 18ft kevlar canoe last summer. Believe it or not, our calmest water on the entire trip was rounding the point from Birch Island to Pickerel Cove. It was glass and we could see down about 20 ft. which was almost eerie. See image!


As far as the stretch between Belle Isle and Lane Cove, it really depends on the wind. We had 2 footers on our stern going into lane cove but it was almost a straight west wind.

We planned for a fair weather day which we didn't need but nice to know we had it.

Boks

[pyronimbus]

Hello everyone, it looks like I'm the newbie on this site!! I'm planning a canoe trip with a friend that moved up to Duluth, Mn a few years back. I'm glad he did or I'd probably never have gotten to the Boundary Waters, or this gem of an island either.

Since I'm coming all the way from Georgia, we were thinking of two seperate canoe trips during our stay on the island, one from Belle Isle to Rock Harbor, a few day lay over in Rock Harbor itself, then do the south lake route from Chippewa Harbor to Malone Bay. Probably the first week in September 2009.

Anything I should know that you can't glean from all the literature I've read. I like the foot trails and water routes book, but would still like to hear from a "real person" about my proposed plans.

All comments would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to more conversations with y'all as I become better aquainted with this site.

Thanks, Mark

[boks]

The Moskey-Richie portage is the hardest! Especially if you're double backing for packs.

Enjoy! It's a wonderful place.

[Ingo]

The Moskey-Richie portage is the hardest!

Yes , but it builds character

Especially if you're double backing for packs.

Yes , but it builds character

Enjoy! It's a wonderful place.

Yes!

Are you planning to paddle from R.H. to Chippewa? I ask because I don't think the water taxi runs after Labor Day, and the Voyageur II may be on a reduced schedule. Assuming you have all that worked out and you'll be restarting from Chippewa, you'll avoid the Moskey-Richie portage. Both "trips" can be paddled in day, but I've also taken 4 days from Belle Isle to R.H. But if you have the time I'd consider paddling R.H. to Chippewa, even if you do have to do the 2 mile portage. Paddling R.H. can be tough, but it can also be beautiful. In any case, ENJOY!

[boks]

The Moskey-Richie portage is the hardest!

Yes , but it builds character

Especially if you're double backing for packs.

Yes , but it builds character

lol tell that to my wife after 7 1/2 miles of the Moskey-Richie portage. It didn't help that it was our first portage of the trip. By the time we came back around to the Duncan-Tobin portage, our packs were lighter and we had things figured out.

Can't wait until I go back.

Boks

[pyronimbus]

Hello again,
Thanks for all the info. My buddy is the avid fisherman of the group and as such he has a lot more gear than me, although I'll help tote it, of course!! That's why we decided against any long portages and also why we'll take a few days to paddle through an area we could probably transverse in one day, like Ingo has said he'd done.
We very well might canoe down RocK Harbor, but not do the portage at Moskey Basin. That last portage from Duncan Bay to Tobin Harbor is going to be rough enough, I think. But we'll have provisions waiting for us at Rock Harbor so that portage will definately go down as our biggest "character builder"!!
And we are going to take the ferry hop and be let out at Chippewa Harbor, so the south lake chain will see us refreshed and ready again.

We'll save the inland lake trip for next year.

Thanks again for the input, The Dixie Tipsters (Mark & Randy)