Isle Royale Forums

A friend and I have been discussing a trip to IR around July 4th. We have kayaked on smaller lakes and rivers but have no experience with something like Lake Michigan. We were wondering if there are any multi-day routes that would be reasonably safe for us. We are both experienced backpackers and wouldn't mind a combination of kayaking and hiking. We haven't ruled out a backpacking only trip, just thought bringing our kayaks would be fun. Thanks!

welcome to the forums Hidden Pines.

Whatever you do, stay out of Lake Michigan. If you're not used to big water, I'd consider staying out of Lake Superior too.

There are many inner lakes to explore by kayak, if you're willing to do the portaging. I would recommend some kind of kayak yoke. Depending on the logistics of where you're coming from and time, the following trip may or may not work, or just may need to be tweaked. I've done this route twice, and you can stretch it out over many days (several campsites along the way) or rush through it in a shorter amount of time. I had the Voyageur (from Minnesota) drop me off at McCargoe Cove. That Cove itself is fun to explore by boat, well protected too. Then I went to Chickenbone Lake which is great for a day of fishing. I spent a night at each of those places, then moved on through Lakes Livermore and LeSage to the Lake Richie Canoe Campground. That's a lot of portaging but Lake Richie Canoe is a nice site and the fishing by boat in that lake is wonderful. Here you have an option of a long portage into Chippewa Harbor or extending your trip (my recommendation) to Intermediate Lake (campground here, though I've never stayed there) to Siskiwit Lake, to Wood Lake (great campground here) to Whittlesey Lake (another nice campground and great fishing) and then you can come out into Chippewa Harbor. I've had the Voyageur pick me up there, but you can do the long portage back to Lake Richie. There is also a long portage into Moskey Basin from Richie if you're coming from the Michigan side. Lots of options, and the "Foot Trails and Water Routes" book spells them out well and lets you know what you can expect from the portages.

The kayaks offer a way to get even further into isolation, as well as great fishing and the ability to carry a bit more luxuries, as long as you're willing to portage them.

My trip report from following that route with my father is here http://www.isleroyaleforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=355

Again, welcome to the forums. Ask lots of questions and I bet you'll get lots of answers.

One more thing to consider is the transportation cost of ferrying those boats across. It's a fair price, but it's extra, something worth thinking about if you have a budget, and most of us do.

You can have a heck of a lot of fun right in Rock Harbor/Moskey Basin. 2 Island campgrounds (Tookers and Caribou Island). Caribou is especially nice. From Daisy Farm you can day hike to the Greenstone. Kayaking around Moskey Basin is a lot of fun and there is good greenstoning (not allowed to keep them, of course). Moskey Basin campground is especially nice and you can day hike up to Lake Ritchie.

Bob

Thanks for the replies! I was at work and typing fast when I posted that and was thinking later that I might have said Lake Michigan by mistake. Oops! I do realize that Isle Royale is in Lake Superior, LOL. I have looked into the costs for bringing a kayak and have factored that into our budget. The book mentioned sound great, I will definitely order that. We will almost certainly be coming in from the Michigan side since we are coming from northern Indiana. Is camping limited only to designated campsites? We were thinking the kayaks would allow us to explore some of the smaller islands that we wouldn't be able to hike to. We will look over the suggestions and try to get a little firmer idea of what we want to do. Thanks again for the suggestions so far. I'm sure we'll have more questions as we get closer to going.

Hi HP,

Give Park Headquarters a call and they can probably send you a backcountry camping map. This has the zones marked where camping is allowed and at what dates. Generally the small islands cannot be camped on legally because backcountry camps must be 1/4 mile back from the water.

Bob

HiddenPines,

I've done both Bob and Kevin's trip suggestions, but if you're coming from the U.P. the cross island trip doesn't work. Since you're starting/stopping at Rock Harbor, there's 3 general options to avoid the open waters of Superior:

(a) The relaxed trip would be Bob's. I never would have planned it, but a few years back my daughter and I spent 9 days paddling Rock Harbor and Moskey Basin in a canoe. That wasn't the original plan, but necessitated by a sprained ankle, but was a great trip nonetheless. A couple other things to do are visit the Edison Fishery, including a short hike to the lighthouse, which you can go up. Also hike Scoville Point. If you take the Ranger III, you can get dropped off at the park HQ on Mott Island as we did.

(b) If you have the time and inclination, you can go into the inland lakes from Moskey Basin, but it is a 2+ mile portage in, and then back out. Unless you're accustomed to portaging, I'd probably not recommend it.

(c) Head North across the island from Rock Harbor to the Five Fingers area. This is my favorite, but it does involve a tough 0.8 mile portage with a 180 ft up and down from Tobin Harbor to Duncan Bay (and then back). Once over, there's a couple of very easy portages that keep you in sheltered bays. The area is gorgeous and all the campgrounds are great (Duncan Narrows, Duncan Bay, Lane Cove, Belle Isle). You do have to suffer some pain to get there though .

Whatever you decide it will be great! Here's some links to logs and pics of my trips:
Rock Harbor/Moskey Basin: http://moskeybasin.com/IR2005/Main.html
North Side: http://moskeybasin.com/IR2009/Main.html
Inland Lakes: http://moskeybasin.com/IR2002/Main.html

John I.

Thanks for the responses and the tip about getting a backcountry camping map from the park. Ingo, the pictures were beautiful! We're really going back and forth as far as taking the kayaks or not. I think we'll get the map, the book that was suggested earlier and keep reading through this forum. Whether we decide to paddle or just hike, I'm sure we're in for a treat! This is a trip that I've wanted to do for many, many years....

Are you sure you want to go there? You might get hooked on the place.

What kind of kayaks do you paddle? Do they have watertight bulheads that seperate the cockpit from the front and rear compartments? Do you have spray skirts? Wetsuits?

"HiddenPines",
I paddled around the entire island about 6 years ago. I've also done several trips on Lake Michigan and other Superior trips. I've been paddling about 11 years. With Isle Royale I'd give you the following advice. First, know your limits. If you can roll your boat well in wind, driving rain, and waves of at least 2 feet, you should likely be fine in SOME areas of the Isle.

A couple good kayaking trips you could take as a beginner would be from Windago Harbor to Huginnin Cove. This is a very doable distance if you get your boat packed and head out when the Wenonah drops you off. The harbor is one of the few protected areas on the outer edges of the main island and most of the mileage is there... at least 2/3's. You can also get a good look at the "Sunkin American" ship on your way out of the harbor. Depending on the conditions, you can use an underwater camera to take a photo of the bow and some of its rigging; it's a little creepy. From that point on to the Huginnin Cove camp site, there are some areas to get to land if weather turns bad. From Huginnin Cove north to Little Todd Harbor, there are virtually no landings. There is one small ridge in a cliff you could use as a "pit stop" but outside of that, it's a wall of rock.

If you leave to the south of Windago harbor, you could safely paddle to Rainbow Cove. There are plenty of good landing locations all the way there.

I think these would be good trips simply because they are close to the drop off point of Windago and there are some good hiking trails in that area too. So you could do both some kayaking and hiking. Make sure you have a wetsuite you can wear the entire time. And a spray skirt is required in my opinion. A paddle leash will be a great investment and from experience I'd say buy some neopreen socks because the water will freeze your feet when you get in and out!

One other location you might consider is getting dropped off at Rock Harbor. I believe you have to take the Voyager II for this. There are some nice areas south of there and if you got real ambitious, you could portage through to Siskiwit Lake. That lake is nice and warm in the late afternoon so you could actually afford to "fall in" if you so desired! Feel free to e-mail me at discoverykayak@yahoo.com if you have any more questions. I'm actually planning a hiking trip there this summer... though part of me wants to paddle it again. It was an extremely difficult 110 mile 5 day trip. we had 30+ knot winds on the north end, and two days of 6-foot rollers. But we had some glass calm days too. Just pray for Red sky at night!