Isle Royale Forums

The winter of discontent continues seaplane flights cancelled for at least May 14 and 15 too much ice in the harbors and quite a bit of snow on trails I’m told. Hopefully make for a later bug season start anyway!

What does this mean for the May 14th Isle Royale Queen trip? Still business as usual?

cadenparulski wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 6:33 am What does this mean for the May 14th Isle Royale Queen trip? Still business as usual?

The plane lands in Tobin Harbor not the Rock Harbor channel. Tobin Harbor appears to still be iced in (per NOAA satellite imagery on 4/29. Rock Harbor seems more open. Even though the Mott Island dock is still iced in as of today (per the Mott Island web cam), the camera shows recent activity on the dock so park personnel are on Mott Island. The camera is also now showing distinctly open blue water further out in the channel beyond the dock. Your only sure way of knowing about Snug Harbor (where the Queen docks) and then to verify the Queen's intentions for May 14 is to contact the ferry operator in Copper Harbor.

I just took a look at the Grand Portage, MN web cam and it looks like the bay is clear of ice: https://www.mwhazecam.net/site.aspx?site=grand

That said, here at the confluence of the St. Mary's River and Lake Huron, we still have a lot of ice. As the wind changes, so does the ice coverage. In DeTour Village, the ice was clear on the west side of the DeTour Passage, but filled in quickly Saturday when the wind changed. That could hold true for Grand Portage and Isle Royale as well. The ice is following the same pattern here as I see on the Mott Island web camera, so I'm hoping that my view will be indicative of what's happening with the ice on the Island. Fingers crossed for the first boat on the 12th.

I checked in with the Grand Portage Ferry yesterday. I am on the (now) second boat to the island in two weeks. No guarantees but it looks good for the ice to be gone!

Looks like the Ranger III made it to the Mott Dock today! I saw the backhoe breaking up the ice along the dock earlier this morning.

From the webcam...