Water Taxi

[tward]

We are 3 novice backpackers making our first trip ti IR. We will be flying in RH 10 am Sun. Aug 21 and out of RH 5pm Fri. Aug 26. . I hate the thought of "crowded" campgrounds. I was thinking of taking a water taxi to Daisey Farms and then doing the 3.9 miles to Moskey for our first night. Is Threemile and DF as bad as it sounds? Is it worth the water taxi? It does look like though, that their is no way to avoid one of those campgrounds for the last night. We are trying to keep daliy hikes under 8 miles. Here's kinda what I was thinking.

Day1 Moskey
Day2 Lake Richie - Take our time from Moskey, explore Moskey and Richie area
Day3 Lake Richie - Day hike to Chippewa back to Richie for the night.
Day4 Chicken Bone W
Day5 Daisey Farm
Day6 From Daisey take the Green Stone to RH. Fly out at 5pm.

Is the hike from Richie to Chippewa good?

Open to any and all suggestions!!
Thanks,
Terry

[Keweenaw]

Hi Terry,

You certainly have a conservative schedule, which might be a good idea if you are a novice group. Still, I think you could make a couple of modifications. Also, remember that you are not held to the itinerary that you fill out in advance, so if you get to a campground and feel like pushing on, you can.

The trail from Lake Richie to Chippewa Harbor is very nice - no problem at all. I would suggest hiking past Richie and staying at Chippewa Harbor that second day. IMO CH is a much nicer place to stay and you could use the next day to day hike to Lake Mason and explore the ridge behind the CH group campsite - just go through the group site and the trail will pass through an open area. If you continue on you will get to the "schoolhouse" on the shoreline. In the open area you will see a trail going uphill to your left. Follow that trail (it's marked with rock cairns at times) and you will top out on a rocky ridge with great views.

Threemile is not bad - just nothing special and a little rundown from all the use it gets. Daisy Farm is just big, but in late August you may not have that many people there.

If you're feeling extra frisky you could bypass Daisy Farm and hike the 13 miles from West Chickenbone to Lane Cove and then from Lane Cove to RH (7 miles) on your last day. That might be a bit too much, but by the time you need to make that decision you will know your abilities better and you really don't need to decide until you get to the turnoff down from the Greenstone.

Bob

[Ingo]

I hate the thought of "crowded" campgrounds.

Terry, it's all relative. It's unlikely you'll be all by yourself, but personally I've never felt "crowded", even with full campgrounds. The one time I've stayed at Daisey Farm (largest campground with 20+ sites), it was high season, but only 3 were taken. The exception, yeh, but you never know. I like Bob's suggestion to pass Richie for Chippewa and like he said, you're not locked in to your itinerary.

[sgerbs]

Is it possible to fly in and out of Daisy Farm? You'll not have to worry about a water taxi and you can spend more time where you want to be.

[Ingo]

Is it possible to fly in and out of Daisy Farm? You'll not have to worry about a water taxi and you can spend more time where you want to be.

No, there's only 2 designated seaplane landing areas: Tobin Harbor (i.e. R.H. Lodge) and Washington Harbor (i.e. Windigo).
There may be a 3rd at Mott Island but that would be for the park service only, not visitors--don't remember.

[tward]

The problem is, is that we would still need to get stove fuel. You can't take it on the plane.

[jrwiesz]

The problem is, is that we would still need to get stove fuel. You can't take it on the plane.

Take the boat.

[knotheadken]

Take note that the water taxi is on Central Time. We were an hour early for it!

[IncaRoads]

If you mean the Voyageur II, which circumnavigates around the island and provides a pickup and dropoff service, you are correct. The Voyageur II and Sea Hunter are both based out of Grand Portage MN, which is in Central Time.