Isle Royale Forums

Hello,

My wife and I want to plan a trip to Isle Royale for late July. We want to go backpacking and camping with two friends.Probably 4-6 nights. We don't really know how Isle Royale works. And I'm having trouble finding what I want on google. Is there a map of trails and campsites? What are the best places to explore on the island? What sort of gear will we have to pack?

Thanks!

This link will give you a lot of what you are looking for.

http://www.isleroyale.info/

Others will chime in, too.

Hi michiganitis,

Well, to start, browse through the forum threads and you will find a lot of the info you want.

The official Park newspaper, which contains a basic map and also info on camping, transportation, etc, is at:

http://www.nps.gov/isro/planyourvisit/l ... eID=283293

The way the Park works is this: You can take a boat over from Copper Harbor, Michigan; Grand Portage, Minnesota; or the big Park boat from Houghton, Michigan. The seaplane flies out of Houghton County airport (CMX), which is a few miles North of Houghton.

There is a $4/day fee per person, but no other camping fees. You will fill out an itinerary of your planned route, but for a party of 4 you will not be held to it and can change your minds as you go. Campsites are all first-come, first served, no reservations. Many of the campgrounds that have Lake Superior access also have 3-sided shelters with a screen front - also first come, first served. Many of the trails on the Northeast end of the Island have a fair amount of rocks/roots, but there are no terribly difficult climbs and all trails are well marked at junctions. Most are very well-used and easy to follow in July.

Nights (and sometimes days) can be cold even in July, especially near the Lake, so bring some warm clothes. Up on the ridges it can get pretty hot. One time when I was at Daisy Farm it was foggy and 50 by the Lake and in the high 80s on the ridge a few miles away.

Firepits/grates are available at only a few campgrounds, so you will need a stove of some sort. You will also need a water filter.

I guess that's it for starters. Look through the forums, read the Greenstone, and come on back with further questions!

Bob

Some things to consider - where are you coming from, Houghton or Grand Portage? And how many miles/day are you interested in doing? Do you want to have layover days, or move every day?

Oh, you must have a water filter, as purification pills won't kill the tapeworm.

budducci wrote:...you must have a water filter, as purification pills won't kill the tapeworm.

One can always just boil water. My old school memories remind me of the days before water filters. Plus all the extra fuel needed and the boliing time recommendation back then was longer.

Midwest Ed wrote:

budducci wrote:...you must have a water filter, as purification pills won't kill the tapeworm.

One can always just boil water. My old school memories remind me of the days before water filters. Plus all the extra fuel needed and the boliing time recommendation back then was longer.

Before we got our current water filter, we boiled and treated. We have a jetboil so it really did not take that long and not too much fuel but boiling kinda kills the flavor of the water. As a side note, I read this article about perfectly purified water, where all that is in it is pure H2O used for cleaning computer chips. If you were to drink it, it tastes horrible and it will hurt you in that it leaches out minerals from your body. Waters tastes comes from those and even distilled water still has it.

PatrickBDunlap wrote: Before we got our current water filter, we boiled and treated. We have a jetboil so it really did not take that long and not too much fuel but boiling kinda kills the flavor of the water. As a side note, I read this article about perfectly purified water, where all that is in it is pure H2O used for cleaning computer chips. If you were to drink it, it tastes horrible and it will hurt you in that it leaches out minerals from your body. Waters tastes comes from those and even distilled water still has it.

The ships I used to work on had RO water plants and added bromine to keep the water germ free. The bromine gave the water a bad taste which was masked by coffee but was pronounced in most tea. There was a small water still in the laboratory and I regularly used distilled water to make tea. Distilled water has very little dissolved oxygen which makes it taste flat. This can be cured by shaking rapidly it a half-full bottle. Same is true for boiled water. Water taste is a relative thing. If you grew up in an area with very soft water you think that hard water tastes odd. Same thing holds true if you grew up with hard water and drink soft water. As for the minerals, you'd have to drink only demineralized water and eat food lacking minerals and salts for it to have any ill effect.