Isle Royale Forums

New Book out. Carl is an accomplished Videographer (he has 2 IR DVD's) and a photographer. He is also the North Ranger based on Amygdaloid Island.

The Belle Isle Journals
Written by Isle Royale visitors
Editing and Photography by Carl Ter Haar
$10.95
In 2002, Dave Herbster, the Belle Isle volunteer campground host, put spiral bound notebooks in all the campground shelters with the following message: "Welcome to Belle Isle Campgound! We hope your stay here is an enjoyable one. Please use this notebook to express your thouhgts, feelings, and concerns about Belle Isle and in general, your stay on Isle Royale. We appreciate you writing in this notebook, and not on the walls of the shelter. At the end of the season, your comments will be used to improve your next visit to Isle Royale. Thank you. Your Campground Host." This book contains some of those journal entries made by Isle Royale visitors. Beautiful color photos illustrating scenic Isle Royale and its surrounding Lake Superior waters are provided by the editor, Carl Ter Haar. 21 pages.

That sounds pretty nice, John. Actually, there is a very similar-type book for the Porcupine Mountains. When my buddy and hiked there several years ago we stopped in the ranger station before heading home and discovered a book called, The Porcupine Wilderness Journals. Scattered throughout the Porcupine Mountains are backcountry shelters (more like log cabins) which can be rented, well in advance of your trip, mind you. There were blank journals left inside each shelter for visitors to write in. After several years the journals were gathered up and the contents were put together into a book. The visitor's writings were categorized into certain themes which then became the different chapters of the book. I bought a copy and read it cover to cover. It was fascinating reading, as I'm sure this book is, too.

For anyone who has been to the Porkies, this book would be great reading. The book had a way of transporting me back to the park and bringing back fond memories, thoughts and emotions of my hike. If anyone is interested here's the link:

The Porcupine Wilderness Journals
http://www.amazon.com/Porcupine-Wildern ... 189127628X

I'll have to look into finding that book. Actually, it would be nice of the park service could leave journals like this in each shelter and compile the entries into one big book after a couple years like they did in the Porkies. That would be something worth owning for all of us I.R. fans.

Where would one obtain a copy of said book? How many years of entries were compiled? In other words, in what year were the journals collected from Belle Isle? My brother and I may have contributed to this a few years back.

Carl's book has entries that run the gammot from selected months and days dating from 2002 through 2008. It has the date,entry and name that was written by the person. It is a interesting read and the photography is IR at it's most beautiful! You can purchase at-

http://www.irnha.org

This sounds terribly interesting. I'm going to pick up a copy. Thanks Johnhens!

Excellent, thanks for the info. I'll have to pick up a copy.