Trip Report - Windigo to Rock Harbor, May 30-June 3, 2011
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:18 pm
Planned Itinerary
Day 1 -10am Depart Houghton via seaplane, arrive Windigo approx 11am
Hike to South Lake Desor (11.6 miles)
Day 2 - Hike South Lake Desor to Hatchet Lake (8.1 miles)
Day 3 - Hike Hatchet Lake to Moskey Basin (13.2 miles)
Day 4 - Hike Moskey Basin to Three Mile (8.3 miles)
Day 5 - Hike Three Mile to Rock Harbor (2.7 miles)
Depart via Royal Air Service approx 11am (EST)
Arrive back in Houghton, MI approx 12pm (EST)
Actual Itinerary
Day 1 - 5:30pm Depart Houghton via seaplane, arrive Windigo approx 6:00pm
Hike to Island Mine (6.9 miles)
Day 2 - Hike Island Mine to Hatchet Lake (12.8 miles)
Day 3 - Hike Hatchet Lake to Moskey Basin (13.2 miles)
Day 4 - Hike Moskey Basin to Rock Harbor (11.0 miles)
Day 5 - Depart via Royal Air Service approx 2:15pm (EST)
Arrive back in Houghton, MI approx 3:15pm (EST)
As you can see from the above planned and actual itineraries, we had some slight deviations from the original plan. Flexibility is key when traveling to Isle Royale … and our flexibility was certainly tested. Our trip got off to a decidedly fateful start with major storms delaying our departure from Houghton. Lake Superior, being the surly lady she is, was already testing our flexibility and it seems she caught me in my short-sighted optimism. We spent a boring and unproductive day staring at a tv screen in the airport. The pilot for Royale Air Service came out with sporadic updates and warnings. Though I would never hold him or the airline accountable for weather delays, it should be said that more information could have been relayed. We (and one other passenger) spent the day making various plans to cover all circumstances, including revising our planned routes, returning home and rescheduling for later in the year, etc. In the end, the pilot came out a little after 5pm and announced that we had a window of weather to get over there so we scurried to the plane and winged our way over.
We thought that given the lost day of hiking we might revise our route from the planned Windigo to Rock Harbor to a loop out of either Windigo or Rock Harbor. The pilot informed us that on this day no landing at Rock Harbor was possible due to prevailing winds. Fine – we thought we might do the Feldtmann loop out of Windigo. The pilot promptly informed us that we couldn’t change our pickup from Rock Harbor. Looking back now I find this to be irritating given that they could so easily change our fellow traveler’s planned dropoff point (He was to be dropped at Rock Harbor but ended up at Windigo). I wonder where the flexibility is for the airline.
Still concerned about making the full trek from Windigo to Rock Harbor, given the lost hiking day, we discussed our options with the rangers. We asked whether the water taxi was running thinking that we might hike to Moskey Basin and get the taxi the rest of the way. The ranger informed us that the water taxi was not running yet. We discovered later, much to my chagrin, that in fact the water taxi did begin running two days later. She was correct that the water taxi wasn’t running at the moment we spoke to her but neglected to inform us that it would be running by the time we got to Moskey Basin. It was simply an error and not intentional but it would have helped us out. Later, I also wished at this moment she had informed us that there was a boat from Windigo to Rock Harbor that we could catch later in the week. We expressed an idea that we might do the Feldtmann loop but that we had to get to Rock Harbor to catch the seaplane. She didn’t offer the option of this boat and I honestly wasn’t aware of it. Again, I’m disappointed that the ranger wasn’t better able to offer helpful information. But ultimately, I should have been more prepared with that information for backup. I was simply too optimistic about my plans. I just include it here so that others can benefit from my mistakes (and I made a multitude of them). Do not expect the rangers to be able to give you all-encompassing information and be prepared with pointed and specific questions.
So, with the information we had, we felt our only option was to stick to our original plan of hiking Windigo to Rock Harbor. We were aware of the reported deadfall and were very concerned that the lost day of hiking could make things difficult. So we decided to push on that evening to at least get to Island Mine (thank goodness for the long days on Isle Royale). At around 6:15pm we left Windigo and hustled to Island Mine. The hike was difficult given our hurry and unfamiliarity with the trail. The deadfall began almost immediately after the climb to the Greenstone Ridge. There was A LOT OF DEADFALL. This would turn out to be the story of the majority of the Greenstone Ridge. We arrived into Island Mine just before 9pm. Island Mine, as campgrounds go, is forgettable so we were happy to be pushing on the next morning.
The next morning we began our first big push to Hatchet Lake. The terrain was incredibly difficult. My biggest mistake in planning was underestimating the deadfall. We encountered, literally, hundreds of difficult deadfall obstacles throughout the week. I vastly underestimated the time and energy these obstacles would sap from us. It was this morning that we were hit with the first and only rain of our trek (small miracles!). This would be our lowest moment. Unable to fully appreciate the beauty of the terrain, we slogged our way to Ishpeming Tower to wait out the rest of the storm where we attempted to dry ourselves and re-energize. The brief respite worked to lift our spirits and energy levels. We pushed on the Hatchet Lake and happily arrived by around 6pm. It should be noted that the descent to Hatchet Lake is a long and difficult one after a long day of hiking. To a weary hiker the half-mile feels like 5 miles.
Nonetheless, we were pleased to arrive in to Hatchet Lake to rest our legs. But, moreso, because we had run out of water. There are water sources between South Lake Desor and Hatchet Lake but they weren’t the best sources and we foolishly thought we could push on to the next water source. We did fill up at a pond at one point but wish we had made additional stops.
Hatchet Lake is a serene and beautiful campground steps from the lake. It was terrific having water so close by and the setting couldn’t have been more beautiful. There was a wind storm on this evening and a birch tree came down with an enormous thud not 50ft behind our tent. This naturally led to a distressingly wakeful night. We were careful to look for dead trees before putting down our tent but there was nowhere else to go so we just gutted it out and counted on good odds. Happily, we weren’t crushed by a tree in the night.
The next morning we began our trek to Moskey Basin. We stocked up on water and headed back up to the Greenstone Ridge trail. We spent the morning hiking along the ridge. By mid-afternoon we had made it to the meeting point of the Greenstone Ridge and Lake Ritchie trails. We felt that the hike would get much easier from this point on given the somewhat limited ascents/descents from this point forward. We were wrong. This was easily the most difficult part of our whole trek. The first mile of Lake Ritchie after the meeting with Greenstone Ridge is the most deadfall I have ever seen. There are portions where the obstacles are literally two steps apart and ten in a row. That one mile took us over an hour. Thankfully, this let up to a more average level of deadfall after that first mile. The rest of this day proved to relatively easy hiking, especially the last two miles in to Moskey Basin.
Moskey Basin was our favorite spot on the journey. We arrived in to camp around 5:30pm and already the shelters were all taken. But we got a great tent site with an excellent view of the lake. And again, we were steps from our beautiful water source. I loved Moskey Basin! The best part of our whole experience happened this evening. In the middle of the night we heard wolves howling. They were loud … and, I believe, very close. They would howl and then the loons would retort with their call. This went on for some time. It was an orchestra of nature. Incredible!
The next morning we decided to make our final push on to Rock Harbor. We had originally planned to stop at Three Mile on this day but with a 10am seaplane flight we decided that we’d be more comfortable getting to Rock Harbor. We were worried that weather or terrain might slow our morning commute so thought it best to push on. We were pleased this morning to hear the sound of chainsaws in the distance. Hoping for a bit less of the deadfall we pushed out of camp.
The trek from Moskey Basin to Daisy Farm had it’s difficult moments. Having tweaked my knee on day one, I was doing a bit of hobbling on the descents and the rocky outcroppings were a bit hard on the knee. It was during this section that we encountered two crews working to clear the deadfall. And it was from this point on that the deadfall began dwindling until the last section of trail where there was none. Rolling in to Daisy Farm for a rest at the picnic shelter was pure heaven. Eventually a few more hikers rolled in and it was nice to finally be able to share information with other hikers. We hadn’t seen many people until this point. We enjoyed lunch and a rest and then pushed on to Three Mile.
The hike from Daisy Farm to Three Mile was relatively easy … and beautiful. I do love the views when hiking close to the water. We made it to Three Mile fairly quickly, took another brief rest and then made the final push into Rock Harbor. This last section of trail went incredibly fast … I suspect that might have something to do with the end of our journey being is sight. We rolled in to Rock Harbor around 5:30pm and were lucky to get the last shelter (#3).
We went to the store and, like many weary hikers, bought a bunch of junk food and gobbled it down. Shortly thereafter, our fellow seaplane passenger from days earlier strolled in to camp and we offered him a spot in our shelter. He had similar stories of struggle with the terrain and deadfall. We merrily shared our war stories and a couple sips of whiskey in celebration (as well as a thoughtfully-shared Bud Light from the fellow one shelter over – thank you, sir).
The following day we hurriedly packed our bags in the morning and headed down to the seaplane dock. The plane did not come as scheduled and we began to hear rumblings that the boats may not come this day. We thought this might mean a no-go for the plane too. We began asking with the rangers, the store and the lodge. Nobody had any information and everybody told us to ask the other one. Finally, the lodge told us that the seaplane would be arriving for us at 2:00pm. Pleased to hear this we went back to the shelter to cook up some eats. Still, we continually walked between the rangers, store and lodge trying to get information just to be on the safe side. Around 11:30am we heard the seaplane and hastily packed up our things while one of our number ran down to the dock. The sound we heard was the seaplane taking off. This was unbelievably disheartening. A guy down at the dock told us that the pilot would be coming back at 12:30pm so we brought our bags down there and sat at the dock. We asked up at the lodge again and they reported that the pilot was displeased that we weren’t at the dock for the first flight and when we asked why they told us to be there at 2:00pm they had no explanation.
Around this time the Queen arrived from Copper Harbor but the Captain indicated that she would not be returning this day, or possibly even the next day due to incoming weather. Afraid to lose our shelter with incoming weather, we stationed one of our number up there and offered to share with a couple of other backpackers that we had met at Daisy Farm a day earlier.
The seaplane never arrived at 12:30pm and we began to believe we would be in Rock Harbor for another night. But we still held out hope that the original report of a plane at 2pm would hold true. So we stayed down at the dock. And, the seaplane did arrive to take us back at 2:15pm.
After arriving back in Houghton we asked the pilot why the dearth of information. He indicated that he doesn’t really talk to anyone up there save one guy (Kim, at the lodge). He never told us this on our inbound journey. And, when we did talk to this guy at the lodge the information was spotty (possibly because the pilot may not communicate everything to him – not sure). Either way, be forewarned that you may have to do some legwork to figure out what’s going on with your flight off the island.
In conclusion, we had fabulous moments, beautiful views … and some very trying times. I would urge those of you planning your journey to be more prepared. I really believed I was being thorough in my planning but in retrospect I see the errors I made in planning. I did many things right, thankfully, including building flexibility and extra days into our schedule. But, I wish I had taken the deadfall reports more seriously. I did take them seriously but I suppose I didn’t fully realize the quantity of obstacles and how it would slow our progress , and tax our bodies. If you take anything away from this – TREE FALL IS ABUNDANT AS OF LATE MAY-EARLY JUNE 2011. It will slow your journey so I would say you should plan your days shorter. If you feel great, you can push on. But don’t put yourself in the situation where you have to push further when you are already worn out. That just isn’t fun. Most of us hike to enjoy our surroundings so make sure you keep that possible. Overall, we were pleased that we completed the Windigo to Rock Harbor trek. We enjoyed some splendid scenery and met some terrific people. We take away some very positive experiences. But I wouldn’t want to do the trek over again. I think I would plan more conservatively next time.
Enjoy Isle Royale - it's a beautiful place. Happy trails!
Day 1 -10am Depart Houghton via seaplane, arrive Windigo approx 11am
Hike to South Lake Desor (11.6 miles)
Day 2 - Hike South Lake Desor to Hatchet Lake (8.1 miles)
Day 3 - Hike Hatchet Lake to Moskey Basin (13.2 miles)
Day 4 - Hike Moskey Basin to Three Mile (8.3 miles)
Day 5 - Hike Three Mile to Rock Harbor (2.7 miles)
Depart via Royal Air Service approx 11am (EST)
Arrive back in Houghton, MI approx 12pm (EST)
Actual Itinerary
Day 1 - 5:30pm Depart Houghton via seaplane, arrive Windigo approx 6:00pm
Hike to Island Mine (6.9 miles)
Day 2 - Hike Island Mine to Hatchet Lake (12.8 miles)
Day 3 - Hike Hatchet Lake to Moskey Basin (13.2 miles)
Day 4 - Hike Moskey Basin to Rock Harbor (11.0 miles)
Day 5 - Depart via Royal Air Service approx 2:15pm (EST)
Arrive back in Houghton, MI approx 3:15pm (EST)
As you can see from the above planned and actual itineraries, we had some slight deviations from the original plan. Flexibility is key when traveling to Isle Royale … and our flexibility was certainly tested. Our trip got off to a decidedly fateful start with major storms delaying our departure from Houghton. Lake Superior, being the surly lady she is, was already testing our flexibility and it seems she caught me in my short-sighted optimism. We spent a boring and unproductive day staring at a tv screen in the airport. The pilot for Royale Air Service came out with sporadic updates and warnings. Though I would never hold him or the airline accountable for weather delays, it should be said that more information could have been relayed. We (and one other passenger) spent the day making various plans to cover all circumstances, including revising our planned routes, returning home and rescheduling for later in the year, etc. In the end, the pilot came out a little after 5pm and announced that we had a window of weather to get over there so we scurried to the plane and winged our way over.
We thought that given the lost day of hiking we might revise our route from the planned Windigo to Rock Harbor to a loop out of either Windigo or Rock Harbor. The pilot informed us that on this day no landing at Rock Harbor was possible due to prevailing winds. Fine – we thought we might do the Feldtmann loop out of Windigo. The pilot promptly informed us that we couldn’t change our pickup from Rock Harbor. Looking back now I find this to be irritating given that they could so easily change our fellow traveler’s planned dropoff point (He was to be dropped at Rock Harbor but ended up at Windigo). I wonder where the flexibility is for the airline.
Still concerned about making the full trek from Windigo to Rock Harbor, given the lost hiking day, we discussed our options with the rangers. We asked whether the water taxi was running thinking that we might hike to Moskey Basin and get the taxi the rest of the way. The ranger informed us that the water taxi was not running yet. We discovered later, much to my chagrin, that in fact the water taxi did begin running two days later. She was correct that the water taxi wasn’t running at the moment we spoke to her but neglected to inform us that it would be running by the time we got to Moskey Basin. It was simply an error and not intentional but it would have helped us out. Later, I also wished at this moment she had informed us that there was a boat from Windigo to Rock Harbor that we could catch later in the week. We expressed an idea that we might do the Feldtmann loop but that we had to get to Rock Harbor to catch the seaplane. She didn’t offer the option of this boat and I honestly wasn’t aware of it. Again, I’m disappointed that the ranger wasn’t better able to offer helpful information. But ultimately, I should have been more prepared with that information for backup. I was simply too optimistic about my plans. I just include it here so that others can benefit from my mistakes (and I made a multitude of them). Do not expect the rangers to be able to give you all-encompassing information and be prepared with pointed and specific questions.
So, with the information we had, we felt our only option was to stick to our original plan of hiking Windigo to Rock Harbor. We were aware of the reported deadfall and were very concerned that the lost day of hiking could make things difficult. So we decided to push on that evening to at least get to Island Mine (thank goodness for the long days on Isle Royale). At around 6:15pm we left Windigo and hustled to Island Mine. The hike was difficult given our hurry and unfamiliarity with the trail. The deadfall began almost immediately after the climb to the Greenstone Ridge. There was A LOT OF DEADFALL. This would turn out to be the story of the majority of the Greenstone Ridge. We arrived into Island Mine just before 9pm. Island Mine, as campgrounds go, is forgettable so we were happy to be pushing on the next morning.
The next morning we began our first big push to Hatchet Lake. The terrain was incredibly difficult. My biggest mistake in planning was underestimating the deadfall. We encountered, literally, hundreds of difficult deadfall obstacles throughout the week. I vastly underestimated the time and energy these obstacles would sap from us. It was this morning that we were hit with the first and only rain of our trek (small miracles!). This would be our lowest moment. Unable to fully appreciate the beauty of the terrain, we slogged our way to Ishpeming Tower to wait out the rest of the storm where we attempted to dry ourselves and re-energize. The brief respite worked to lift our spirits and energy levels. We pushed on the Hatchet Lake and happily arrived by around 6pm. It should be noted that the descent to Hatchet Lake is a long and difficult one after a long day of hiking. To a weary hiker the half-mile feels like 5 miles.
Nonetheless, we were pleased to arrive in to Hatchet Lake to rest our legs. But, moreso, because we had run out of water. There are water sources between South Lake Desor and Hatchet Lake but they weren’t the best sources and we foolishly thought we could push on to the next water source. We did fill up at a pond at one point but wish we had made additional stops.
Hatchet Lake is a serene and beautiful campground steps from the lake. It was terrific having water so close by and the setting couldn’t have been more beautiful. There was a wind storm on this evening and a birch tree came down with an enormous thud not 50ft behind our tent. This naturally led to a distressingly wakeful night. We were careful to look for dead trees before putting down our tent but there was nowhere else to go so we just gutted it out and counted on good odds. Happily, we weren’t crushed by a tree in the night.
The next morning we began our trek to Moskey Basin. We stocked up on water and headed back up to the Greenstone Ridge trail. We spent the morning hiking along the ridge. By mid-afternoon we had made it to the meeting point of the Greenstone Ridge and Lake Ritchie trails. We felt that the hike would get much easier from this point on given the somewhat limited ascents/descents from this point forward. We were wrong. This was easily the most difficult part of our whole trek. The first mile of Lake Ritchie after the meeting with Greenstone Ridge is the most deadfall I have ever seen. There are portions where the obstacles are literally two steps apart and ten in a row. That one mile took us over an hour. Thankfully, this let up to a more average level of deadfall after that first mile. The rest of this day proved to relatively easy hiking, especially the last two miles in to Moskey Basin.
Moskey Basin was our favorite spot on the journey. We arrived in to camp around 5:30pm and already the shelters were all taken. But we got a great tent site with an excellent view of the lake. And again, we were steps from our beautiful water source. I loved Moskey Basin! The best part of our whole experience happened this evening. In the middle of the night we heard wolves howling. They were loud … and, I believe, very close. They would howl and then the loons would retort with their call. This went on for some time. It was an orchestra of nature. Incredible!
The next morning we decided to make our final push on to Rock Harbor. We had originally planned to stop at Three Mile on this day but with a 10am seaplane flight we decided that we’d be more comfortable getting to Rock Harbor. We were worried that weather or terrain might slow our morning commute so thought it best to push on. We were pleased this morning to hear the sound of chainsaws in the distance. Hoping for a bit less of the deadfall we pushed out of camp.
The trek from Moskey Basin to Daisy Farm had it’s difficult moments. Having tweaked my knee on day one, I was doing a bit of hobbling on the descents and the rocky outcroppings were a bit hard on the knee. It was during this section that we encountered two crews working to clear the deadfall. And it was from this point on that the deadfall began dwindling until the last section of trail where there was none. Rolling in to Daisy Farm for a rest at the picnic shelter was pure heaven. Eventually a few more hikers rolled in and it was nice to finally be able to share information with other hikers. We hadn’t seen many people until this point. We enjoyed lunch and a rest and then pushed on to Three Mile.
The hike from Daisy Farm to Three Mile was relatively easy … and beautiful. I do love the views when hiking close to the water. We made it to Three Mile fairly quickly, took another brief rest and then made the final push into Rock Harbor. This last section of trail went incredibly fast … I suspect that might have something to do with the end of our journey being is sight. We rolled in to Rock Harbor around 5:30pm and were lucky to get the last shelter (#3).
We went to the store and, like many weary hikers, bought a bunch of junk food and gobbled it down. Shortly thereafter, our fellow seaplane passenger from days earlier strolled in to camp and we offered him a spot in our shelter. He had similar stories of struggle with the terrain and deadfall. We merrily shared our war stories and a couple sips of whiskey in celebration (as well as a thoughtfully-shared Bud Light from the fellow one shelter over – thank you, sir).
The following day we hurriedly packed our bags in the morning and headed down to the seaplane dock. The plane did not come as scheduled and we began to hear rumblings that the boats may not come this day. We thought this might mean a no-go for the plane too. We began asking with the rangers, the store and the lodge. Nobody had any information and everybody told us to ask the other one. Finally, the lodge told us that the seaplane would be arriving for us at 2:00pm. Pleased to hear this we went back to the shelter to cook up some eats. Still, we continually walked between the rangers, store and lodge trying to get information just to be on the safe side. Around 11:30am we heard the seaplane and hastily packed up our things while one of our number ran down to the dock. The sound we heard was the seaplane taking off. This was unbelievably disheartening. A guy down at the dock told us that the pilot would be coming back at 12:30pm so we brought our bags down there and sat at the dock. We asked up at the lodge again and they reported that the pilot was displeased that we weren’t at the dock for the first flight and when we asked why they told us to be there at 2:00pm they had no explanation.
Around this time the Queen arrived from Copper Harbor but the Captain indicated that she would not be returning this day, or possibly even the next day due to incoming weather. Afraid to lose our shelter with incoming weather, we stationed one of our number up there and offered to share with a couple of other backpackers that we had met at Daisy Farm a day earlier.
The seaplane never arrived at 12:30pm and we began to believe we would be in Rock Harbor for another night. But we still held out hope that the original report of a plane at 2pm would hold true. So we stayed down at the dock. And, the seaplane did arrive to take us back at 2:15pm.
After arriving back in Houghton we asked the pilot why the dearth of information. He indicated that he doesn’t really talk to anyone up there save one guy (Kim, at the lodge). He never told us this on our inbound journey. And, when we did talk to this guy at the lodge the information was spotty (possibly because the pilot may not communicate everything to him – not sure). Either way, be forewarned that you may have to do some legwork to figure out what’s going on with your flight off the island.
In conclusion, we had fabulous moments, beautiful views … and some very trying times. I would urge those of you planning your journey to be more prepared. I really believed I was being thorough in my planning but in retrospect I see the errors I made in planning. I did many things right, thankfully, including building flexibility and extra days into our schedule. But, I wish I had taken the deadfall reports more seriously. I did take them seriously but I suppose I didn’t fully realize the quantity of obstacles and how it would slow our progress , and tax our bodies. If you take anything away from this – TREE FALL IS ABUNDANT AS OF LATE MAY-EARLY JUNE 2011. It will slow your journey so I would say you should plan your days shorter. If you feel great, you can push on. But don’t put yourself in the situation where you have to push further when you are already worn out. That just isn’t fun. Most of us hike to enjoy our surroundings so make sure you keep that possible. Overall, we were pleased that we completed the Windigo to Rock Harbor trek. We enjoyed some splendid scenery and met some terrific people. We take away some very positive experiences. But I wouldn’t want to do the trek over again. I think I would plan more conservatively next time.
Enjoy Isle Royale - it's a beautiful place. Happy trails!
deadfall. I will try to post them later this evening. And yeah, the descent to Hatchet Lake is exactly as you described. At least the camp itself is worth the work in getting there.
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I had heard from another person two weeks ago who stayed at Hatchet that the trees were crashing down around their tent as well. Scary times.
I would've been terrified if a tree came down that close to my tent. I would've probably spent the night in the outhouse at that point ... not that it would've been any safer in there. Glad you two made it safely through the night!