Isle Royale Forums

I would like to know the difficulty level to canoe from Washington Harbor to Grace Island around July 20th. We would like to fish along this route. I understand there are a couple shelters there.

If the wind is NE or SW you will have either a head wind or a following wind. You are somwhat sheltered till the crossing to Grace Island. If the lake is kicking up, the crossing can be tough.

Just did this in early July last year. Can be a bit choppy, but certainly doable. The two of us were experienced paddlers and had no problems.

We had planned on renting a canoe and trying to get a weather opening to paddle all the way to Rainbow Cove, but found out the concession doesn't let you take the canoe out of the mouth of the harbor. Technically Grace Island is too far. In fact, they would only rent us the canoe overnight if our permit had us staying at Beaver Island overnight (which we fortunately did). Grace is a beautiful spot, with a nice treeless projection back towards Windigo where you can lay out and watch the stars. We had an impressive fireworks show as a massive storm rolled in from Thunder Bay; the lightning was illuminating the clouds and it was pretty awesome!

If you are planning on renting the canoe, be sure to call the concession and see what rules they have in place.