Isle Royale Forums

Limited experience (only been there 3 times), but here goes.

Best: 1. Malone Bay: Base camp wonder, with a kayak on Sisk Lk! The outlet falls, the day hikes (Greenstone Ridge summit -saw my first wolf), the expansive Superior Beach & lonely IR lighthouse at night, the paddle to Ryan I. and Wood Lake. Nearby dock, but far enough away to be ignored for days.
2. McCargoe Cove: fjord! House-sized May 'berg near Birch I. Not to be missed: night-walk to Todd Hbr overlook on the Minong during a lunar eclipse.
3. 3 Mile: I know I'm going against most, but one of those sites there is almost beyond compare (western-most I recall). Beautiful environs. If I built an ideal IR spot out of modling clay the topography would look like this. Beautiful Shinto-like combo of rock, forest and island views.

Worst: Kiddin me? Can anything be negative there? OK, I'll play.
1. Daisy Farm: Part of place cordoned off as risky due to number of starving wolves eating rotten apples, a few yrs ago. Kinda like LA - may have been the best there ever was (at one time), but too many people got there first.
2. [Now I list one I've seen but not slept in. You see, of the others I have camped in, there're almost no negatives.] East Chicken Bone.
3. Rock Harbor: Speaking of the shelters only. Utilitarian. HUD. Great if you just need a quick night sleep, but that's it. Now, the campground is really quite nice, some good spots up on the hill. Oh, have you seen the Group site(s)? Nice!! In fact, I'd say that for a group with concerns (frail among the group, elementary children, etc), "Group" at RH has to be an unheralded delight. Sheltered, untrampled, feels remote yet secure, amphitheatre-like.

Back to the island next month!

I would have to say my 3 favorite are
1- washington creek
2- siskiwit bay
3-huginnin cove

3- least favorite
1- island mine
2- east chix bone
3- rock harbor

Favorites:

1) Todd Harbor - I love the sunsets over the Big Lake. I'm a night hawk rather than an early bird so it's hard for any sunrise to get a chance to thrill me. There are fewer sunset friendly campgrounds or locations than sunrise friendly ones. The bluff at Todd Harbor is great, plus I'm way more partial to Lake Superior campgrounds than the inland ones. The shallow harbor and dock keeps most boaters out as well.

2) Chippewa Harbor - Beautiful sheltered harbor but still on the Big Lake.

3) Siskiwit Bay - Large, expansive bay. Great exposure to the Big Lake.

Honorable mention - McCargoe Cove and Moskey Basin.

Least Favorites

1) Lane Cove - I'm told my memory is of the old location as it was moved some time ago so this probably doesn't count. The old one was on the water but terribly sheltered under a dense canopy of trees. All you could see on a bright sunny day was dark forest in all directions except for a small bright opening to the lake.

2) Island Mine? - I've stayed there twice and I don't really remember anything about it. So I guess it was unimpressive. Stiil it was FAR FAR better than camping out on the Eisenhower Expressway during rush hour.

3) Daisy Farm - In one way this is actually one of my FAVORITES. I'm a fairly sociable person by nature so I love walking around Daisy Farm after dinner near dusk, talking to as many people as I can (yea, I'm THAT guy ). There's almost always someone else there to talk to although once I had the whole place all to myself . The other positive about DF is you can go up to Mt. Ojibway to watch the sunset and then feel your way back in the dark.