july 19th to July 26th (we actually came back the 25th)

[kanonen]

McCargo to Windigo.
Just got back yesterday July 25th. It was awesome, brutal, crazy, tough, breathtaking, challenging and rewarding.
We'll get a report going later

[kanonen]

Here we go,
So our plan was to hike:
-McCargoe to Todd Harbor (Monday 07/20)
-Todd Harbor to Little Tod (07/21)
-Little Todd to N. Desor (07/22)
-N. Desor to somewhere 5 to 7 miles down the road and XC camp (you would need a permit for XC camping which is obtainable when asking the ranger at your first stop off of the boat when registering your trip plan, each XC permit is relevant for a specific area) (07/23)
-From wherever we XC camped to Huginnin. (07/24)
-Back to Windigo (Sunday 07/26)

We included 2 days maybe extra days at any of the camps or just for safety.

Our plan didn't work out as predicted.

So Monday we left Ryden's Motel around 6.40 am after breakfast at Ryden's store to take voyageur II. The night before we had to unpack our backpacks and take off the unnecessary since we each had a 60 pounder or so. We had toooo much food. We reduced it to maybe 50 pounds or so. It was starting crazy already. (Oh, Sunday we had diner at the casino, food sucked bad, our trail food was better)

Boat ride was fine and out of the 20 or 25 people on board only 2 more were being dropped at McCargoe. At McCargoe we put on our packs and headed for the trail, it took us 10mn to find the trail to Todd Harbor...it was a bad start Heavy packs, hot weather and the rocky ridge starts just there. The 2 other hikers started up front and we met them 30mn later shoes and they had their socks off working on blisters! We kept passing each other here and there till we all got to Todd Harbor at about the same time (this would be the only day we saw other hikers on the Minong). We all agreed that this first stint was brutal. There weren't much mosquitos but heat and our 50 pound backpacks were insane.

It took us 5 and half hours for the 6.6 miles on a relatively slow pace. Our boots were good, we had 2 liters of water each we didn't need any snacks and we stopped maybe 2 times for about 10mn to rest. At Todd Harbor we took our socks for the first time thinking we'd find blisters, but it was just irritated skin. anti chafing bar and the liners made it for us (actually no blisters the entire week!). It was a very difficult hike for our first day. We went straight to the lake and put our feet in the super cold water till we couldn't feel our feet. We set up camp, pumped water, quick swim in the super cold waters of lake superior quick enough not to start hyperventilating. Then we warmed up our frozen chili (not so frozen by that time), toasted our garlic bread and I got to use my new wood stove (vital stove http://www.solhuma.com/ awesome stove but it does mess the bottom of your pans if you do care).
We didn't see any wild life other than mosquito. I am sure moose saw some tired hikers pass by!

Exhausted we slept.
More later.

[jerry]

Did you do any training/hiking before getting to Isle Royale?

jerry

[kanonen]

We are on our early 30s. We are relatively fit. Physically, on average and and in general we didn't have problems of stamina or fitness even though there were some long uphill hikes (we took a 30sec/1mn breather after those), but it was rough on the feet and maybe on a lesser degree on ankles. But we took an extra day rest in N. Desor. That was superb and we proceeded the next day like nothing happened.

So to answer your question we are relatively fit, but we had the normal feet hurting sensation after each hike. I personally felt my feet were normal the next morning.

[kanonen]

The Next day we woke up around 8, quick swim in the lake for me (10 seconds that is), we had a can of corned beef spam that we opened and we had it with pita bread and cheese, did drink our morning cappuccino, cleaned our cups and pans, packed and we left around 11.40am. We had awesome food all week, I am not sure that was worth the 50 po der packs we had and all the hassle of carrying it. We'll have lighter food for sure next time.

So we left to Little Todd. We printed our schedule before and browsed through it before our start and our record showed that it was an easy hike (from different online sources and this forum). So we kept looking for that easy part...not to be seen. Ups and downs, rocky ridge and mosquito that were fine if on the move. Pack was so heavy i didn't lift my head much to see the surrounding. I saw a lot of moose droppings and wolf scats, heads down all the way except when we hit high ridges and looks at the beautiful scenic view of the island, the lake and Canada in the horizon. We got to Little Todd exhausted around 6. Little Todd is nice. Each campsite has a camp fire, mosquito were bad and camp fire didn't scare them. We to camp 2. Went to the lake, feet in the water our usual ritual, followed by a quick swim to calm our feet and our mosquito bites. Honestly, that 10 sec swim 2 times a day was a blessing for me. Especially after the walk. I do not live by lake superior but for god's sake when do people swim in that lake. I think the water was 40 deg or maybe less! Insane!

We set camp, saw some campers who praised our daring swim. We were 3 groups camping in Little Todd. Very nice place, calm, nice sun set..I am sure i'd call it paradise if mosquito weren't there...we can't have it all. We had pizza that day with what was left of that corned beef spam we started earlier in the morning. Gourmet meal, by the lake!

We had the camp fire going, plenty of wood around, temperature was in the lower 70s higher 60s all day long. Very comfortable and not muggy. Exhausted, we hit the tent, only to wake up at 1.30 with some nice showers....30mn later we realized that our boots were hanging on a tree outside...we freakout thinking it will be soggy, but they were by a pine tree...totally dry, thank god!
It was still raining in the morning, but at 8am when we woke up, it just stopped and a nice sun shined. And the tent held itself well (we did waterproof it).

more later.

[Tom]

Great TR so far, Kanonen! I look forward to the rest!

A for the record, I personally love swimming in Superior. A boater this June commented, "You must be from Minnesota."
"How did you know?" I asked.
"Minnesotans are the only people who can just walk right in to Superior, like nothing is wrong at all."

I'm not sure if that's a compliment, or something else..

[philranger]

Kanonen, This is a really fun TR to read. Did you take any pictures? Of course you swam in Lake Superior. Now you have something to tell the grandkids.

[The Coggster]

I went swimming in todd harbor on the 22nd and I was in for almost a minute. Probably the coldest water I've ever swam in, started hyperventilating at the end!

[kanonen]

Tanks folks. Swimming was certainly nice. I did swim last year in Lake Superior for the 1st time by 2 harbor north of Duluth. It was early July, it was 90 degrees, water looked so clear and clean...I jumped in. And it hit me. I thought this time the water will be warmer as it is the end of July. I guess I'll have to try August! I also remember that by the downtown beach in Duluth last year little kids were playing in the water, so I guess it depends where you swim, if it is open water or not.

I tried to post some pics, but it looks like I have to reduce the size, I will do it for sure.

So to finish the TR.

The 3rd day of hiking starts from Little Todd to N. Desor. We get up around 8, quick swim in the lake again then breakfast. We had Pancakes w/Nutella, blueberries and almonds, instant cappuccino. Way to go as a start. We leave camp around 11 and as I said before we though it would continue to rain, but a nice sun was shining. By 11 all of our neighbors left and we were not expecting anyone to go direction N. Desor.

One of the worst part of these hikes is getting back on the main trail trough the little exist to camps. It ranges from .9 miles to .5 miles. It is bad bad when you are getting to camp cause you know you're about there, but you still have 15 to 20 mn hike. It is usually bad cause you are loosing elevation from the ridge and you cross a couple if creeks with heavy vegetation and lots of humidity and of course the mosquito. There are lots wild strawberries though (i think that's what they are called). We did stop to for them when we could. Those little trails are bad also when leaving camp, cause the access the main trail which is often on the ridge, so you gain elevation. You are still green, and suddenly you have to hike a useless mile with a pack you are still not warmed up to.

In any case, our records show that Little Todd to N. Desor is a 5.7 miles to be done in 3h30mn !!!!!!! Yeah right! We thought the last 2 day hikes were brutal, this turned out to be the worst so far. More of the same, but tougher. Ups and down, warm weather slightly muggy, low 70s to mid 70s a bit higher on the bare ridge. We were actually glad it was not too hot, no 80s or 90s, I am not sure it ever gets that high on IR. Piece of advice for those doing IR ridges. Have high cut boots. We did twist our ankles several times. Thanks to the boots, we were fine. (Thanks also to the other folks in this forum who advised that-we followed).

Again, nice scenery when on top of the ridge, the Island, the lake and Canada. Some serious climbing and downhills that were bad on toe nails (cut your nails-I didn't or they grew up fast, I thought I'd loose the big one and by the end of the trip I had a bloody one). We used the little valley we crossed to cool down a bit, still no wild life. But were too busy and tired making sure our footing was correct on those rocks. Finally from the ridge we see lake Desor clearing up a bit then around 5 or 5.30 we see the post that says N.Desor .6 miles (I think it is .6). Downhill hike to the lake through mosquito territory in a thick maple forest that obscured much of the sun. We get to camp. Our notes say camp site one is the best, we go there and there are 5 tents, a sun shield and a hamock/tent and a lot of gear, packs of beer...It turned out later that the NPS are clearing the 12mile N. Desor to Wash Creek trail (about a mile a day then back to N.D). They were dropped by boat on a Lake Superior beach just north of N. Desor then they bushwacked their way 2 miles to camp. With a 24 pack of beer and lots of bush clearing gear.

Camp 2 was taken, and 3 had one spot empty and the other had a ranger who just got in from Windigo and setting camp. Nice fellow, who was working on some remote cameras that the NPS had installed to monitor trees somewhere along the mining off trail. We were already thinking about the next day N. Desor to Wash Creek not knowing if we'd do it strait or just XC camp. I had a GPS coordinates for an off trail camp just before the creek crossing mid-way but we weren't sure where to camp especially since the XC camp rule is to camp 1/4 mile off trail (we were honestly thinking about ignoring that rule-it is tough to bushwack 1/4 mile when you are tired). In any case, we asked him and he said that he left Windigo around 8.30, got in to N. Desor around 5, that we should take off 2h for his trips off trail for the camera monitoring and that he does this trip every 2 weeks. 6h30mn, we thought...oh that's it! We could do it...then he said that even though he does the hike once every 2 weeks he sometimes gets lost !!!!!! The trail wasn't too traveled, rock marking on the ridge is sometimes not there and beaver ponds are tricky.

We were very tired anyway. And we did not envision a 12 mile hike the next day or a back country camp. N. Desor looked marvelous, so we made the decision to stay an extra day at N. Desor. Rest, enjoy scenery and the lake that had much much milder temperatures. Strait to the lake, nice swim then we pump water and set camp. Then back to the lake for more swimming and that's where we see some tape worm. X fingers as we weren't that particularly careful during our trip. We had a camp shower that we filled with lake water every time and we used it to wash kitchen stuff, when we pumped water, the different tubes touched each other and I brush my teeth with lake water not filtered etc...

One of the reason we decided to stay an extra day is to eat our food and lighten our packs. So we did chose the heaviest dinner for that night (we had them sorted out in ziplocks) and we had pasta, chicken and peas. S'mores on the wood stove and hot chocolate later on. In bed by 10 for some tent readings (yep, some magazines and printed articles contributed to the heavy pack too).

We wake up around 9 or so for a resting day. Much needed as our feet were tortured. lots of swimming, we ate a lot to lighten the pack and we stayed by the lake for some sun. We also washed some clothes and socks and let them dry by the hot lake Desor rocks. We did feed a lucky squirrel some crackers (sorry but we needed to lighten the packs again). Dinner was Spinach Linguine with Salmon, Lemon and Dill.

Our plan for the next day was to play it by ear. Camp XC if we can, otherwise hit it strait to Huginning (14 miles) or Wash Creek (12 miles) knowing that we struggled the 6 miles average hikes we did. Our main concern was that we might spend some time finding the trail. But by now we were fresh. Feet were fine. No backache or not too much.

In bed by 11, thinking about the unknown!

[Don_P]

I've enjoyed your trip report very much and look forward to the pictures. You're braver than me on swimming... too cold!

Question for you - you mentioned several times the load you were carrying - what will you do / pack differently next time you go?

[kanonen]

Thanks Don, good question as we were thinking about that.

here we go:

-We had too much food. Which would be fine on a 3/4 day camp but not 6/7 days. We had breakfast that needed cooking (pancakes, corned beef spam...) I'd make breakfast only coffee and nutella sandwiches or so. We brought lunches that mostly consisted of pita bread, tuna, olives and the likes. We'd skip that, or make them much lighter. We actually didn't eat any lunch (except on our rest day at N. Desor) as we had good late breakfast. We brought a LOT of snack mainly granola bars and jerky beef. We were left with maybe 4 pounds of those. So yes cut on food, but again, we had awesome dinners...pizza on Little Todd, wow! We also had some energy stuff from REI and powder gatorade that was very helpful, so we'll keep those.

-Gearwise. Maybe lighter tents, lighter pads. I even think a water proof light shelter would do instead of a tent (I don't know if those do exist). We also had a coolman dual fuel stove and a Brunton fuel can. So weight could be cut by having a stove that uses the fuel can too...an optimus or something. We needed to bring the coolman stove AND my new wood stove as I never tested it. Awesome machine, but won't work when wood is damp. It weighs about 2 pounds maybe more. Next time I'd try a Trangia and settle for one stove. We also had some big pans and pots, they were sturdy and nice, off of REI, but I'd go for a mess kit probably a Swedish mess kit with a Trangia. We had headlamps and a flashlight, I'd get rid of the flashlight.

Otherwise we used everything and we needed everything we brought. The camp shower was a nice addition, we'd keep. Clothing was adequate, although I'd work on better waterproofing. We had boots and tevas, which was a good combination. Emergency kit was adequate. 2 liters of water/gatorade a person in 3 bottles each. That's all I can think of.

What was your experience?

[philranger]

Kanonen . . . one of the things I've noticed that I do different is get up earlier. If you are on the trail by 8, you would avoid the heat on the ridges.

[kanonen]

pics, more later.

[zentater]

I am enjoying your trip report. Last year was my first year on IR and there were many lessons learned however I will say that it did get quite warm last year. My son has a photo at 10 pm at night with his gee whiz watch that had a temp of over 80 degrees. I think we were at Lake Ritchie that night.

Less than a month and I am on my way solo....hopefully the lessons learned have made their way into my brain

[ScoutDad]

Kanonen...

Great report...your menu choices gave me a few ideas for my trip in 2 weeks.