Isle Royale Forums

Two of us will be arriving on Tuesday, leaving on Saturday. I have a lot of backcountry experience, including backpacking the full Border Route Trail in June - so I feel pretty prepared for the kind of deadfall and insects I might encounter. (I don't have any IR experience, tho; all of my Minnesota experience has been in the Boundary Waters.) My hiking partner has much less experience overall. Neither of us is in top shape currently, so we don't want to be overambitious with our plans.

I'm thinking about an itinerary like this:
Tuesday afternoon
Arrive via IR Queen around 12 noon
Rock Harbor to Daisy Farm, 7.1 miles (long opening half-day but a good trail, right?)

Wednesday
Daisy Farm to Lake Richie or Chickenbone West (5.8-7.5 miles)

Thursday
Previous campsite down to McCargoe and back up to Chickenbone East (5 miles - shorter day for some recovery/flexibility)

Friday
Chickenbone East to Lane Cove over the Greenstone (11.2 miles - long day with limited water, as I understand it)

Saturday
Lane Cove to Rock Harbor (6.9 miles)
Out by 2:45pm boat back to Copper Harbor

With the current trail conditions, does that seem do-able? I'm mostly concerned about the long day on Friday, tho I think we'll have our campcraft down by then and can get moving quickly in the morning. Packs will be a little lighter on the fourth day, too, to help counterbalance the increased water for the day.

Similar reasoning goes for Saturday morning. 6.9 miles might seem a little long for the last day, but I've always preferred to have a good last hike even if it's just a partial day. My only concern about that last day is whether the hike up and over the Greenstone is a killer.

Thanks for any perspective you folks can provide! I was happy to find a community like this online.

Welcome to the forum, suibhne!

It kinda sounds like you're wanting to tour "around the East side" from what I gather. I'll just comment with your proposed route for now, but others might chip in with some alternate plans for you, as well..

RH to Daisy - I would guess has been cleared by now; it's a decent trail on some rock with limited ups and downs, as it follows along the lake. However, it does have some smaller climbs here and there. You can make your trip easier by using the Tobin Habor trail down to the Suzy's Cave cutover, and enjoy a smoother trail.

Daisy to Ritchie - This would best be done via the RH Trail over through Moskey, which is a great site. The most recent report said Ritchie was in bad shape, so it's hard to say if a crew has it cleared yet. Normally, however, it's a pretty site along a great lake. The trail is a little tougher than the day before, but "more of the same" to a degree.

Ritchie to Chickenbone E, 'all around the area' - This might be one of the easiest places to climb up the Greenstone on the South side, and you're hitting a lower point and it never seems like too much of a climb. I understand what you're trying to do (make it to Lane Cove) but Chickenbone East is not nearly as nice as West or McCargoe Cove. East is up on rocky spot above the water a bit, and somewhat open. The trails in this area, for the most part, are decent and fairly level as they'll follow around Chickenbone.

Chickenbone E to Lane Cove - You're going to get a bit of a climb east of camp that puts you up higher on the ridge. Once up there though, you're pretty much following along the ridge to until Mt Franklin, so it's not too undulating, but also little water, as you've noted. The trail is well tread. Just take your time, especially if it's sunny and the sun is beating down on you. Just past Mt Franklin, you'll go down-down-down to Lane Cove. It's nice that direction...

Lane Cove to Rock Harbor - It takes a solid hour, to 1.5 hours, to go from camp back up to Mt Franklin. The trail is decent, but there is just a pretty good doozy of a climb you have to make to get back up. (Due to geology, the "North Face" of hillsides are steep and acute, the south face gentle slopes.) Once up, however, it's a nice hike back down to Tobin Harbor and the trail that follows it. It would be a nice way to finish a hike...