Isle Royale Forums

My group is planning our first Isle Royal trip this June for a canoe and fishing trip. We have done multiple BWCA and sylvania wilderness trips but have never taken on the waves and temperment of The Lady. I have a couple of questions that some of you old pros may be able to help with. We will be going from Rock Harbor and plan to go to Moskey Basin then on to Lake Richie where we hope to set up camp. From looking at the map it looks like a 9 mile paddle then the 2 mile portage that will need to be done twice for the canoes and gear.

Is it possible to mount a small outboard to my canoe to make this initial voyage? I am worried that the 9 mile paddle right off the bat is going to be pretty difficult then with the 9 miles of walking on the portage I'd like to be able to save a little time and energy. Looking at the map and google earth the images I've seen show that portion of the isle is pretty protected from the wind and waves. Is this reality or should we expect big waves and a very difficult paddle?

If the motor is possible is there anywhere that we can store the motor while we are exploring the interior of the isle near Mosky Basin?

If the motor is not feasible would you recommend taking one of the boat taxi's to be transferred to Moskey Basin or another entry point? Our group has five people and I think the taxi's only take 4.

Help and guidance please.

Rock Harbor (the body of water) is fairly protected from the lake swells--there are reefs between the outer islands that break them down. But it still is a 10 mile long body of water, so it can get rough and occasionally too rough for a canoe--but probably not much more so than a 10 mile wide lake. Following the shoreline of the main island is the best route, and there are places to beach if you need to, unlike some areas around I.R. The most daunting part for me is dreading a steady headwind as it makes for a really long paddle!

You could motor a canoe down Rock Harbor, but you would have to stash it at Moskey Basin. While most visitors are extraordinarily considerate, I wouldn't be quite that trusting, so don't think it's practical. Also not sure if the park service would care or not--I would definitely clear it with them if you consider that.

If you come into Rock Harbor on the Queen IV, you probably have time to paddle and portage into Richie, but it will be a long day and I know I wouldn't be very happy at that point. If you come on the Ranger III, you can get off at Mott Island (the park HQ) and save yourself almost 1/2 the paddling distance, but since it's a few hours later you won't save time (just effort). In either case I'd paddle to Moskey Basin, camp there, and do the portage the next day.

I think the only issue with the water taxi is the cost. It certainly is convenient and a nice way to get other places quickly. There are at least two boats, so if one can't handle the group and canoes they can still accommodate you (albeit at twice the cost or so). Contact http://www.isleroyaleresort.com directly for a definitive answer.

For myself, I'd do the paddle with a night at Moskey both in and out, praying that we're not going to face a 15-20 mph headwind (and dealing with it when we do ) Hope this helps and let us know if you have any more questions.

If you want to leave your motor at Moskey, bring a bicycle lock and lock it to a tree. No hiker is going to steal an outboard motor and I can't imagine any boater doing so, either. With a bike lock, you don't have to worry about it.

Tampico wrote:If you want to leave your motor at Moskey, bring a bicycle lock and lock it to a tree. No hiker is going to steal an outboard motor and I can't imagine any boater doing so, either. With a bike lock, you don't have to worry about it.

Well that was a little too obvious for me .

You didn't state how many canoes you planned to bring for a party of 5. I would advise against a canoe outboard on Lake Superior unless it will be mounted on the stern.

The Queen definitely gives you more flexibility with sailing dates there and back. If you can make it work, as Ingo pointed out, the Ranger III stops at Mott Island one hour before it gets to Rock Harbor. (spends a good 1/2 hour unloading stuff there for park staff). 2 pm EDT, compared to 11:20 EDT at Rock Harbor on the Queen. It saves you considerably more than distance and effort; by that, I mean it could be too rough to leave Rock Harbor, whereas you could mosey down to Caribou Island from Mott Island (even in rough waters); hang out there awhile, and then possibly catch some calmer water later in the day to get over to Daisy Farm. It gives you more options & flexibility. Same thing coming back, as you can leave the island on the Ranger III by getting back on at Mott Island; however, you will want to be at Mott prompt and early, as they won't cut you any slack if you are not there early to load up. You will also want to be sure and ask the Ranger III crew what time you need to be at Mott to leave from there.

If you get off at Mott, and seas are decent, then paddle to Moskey Basin; set up camp at Moskey, and portage the canoes over to Richie before nightfall. That way, 1/2 your portage effort is completed on Day 1. Nobody will bother your canoes there. Just be sure to leave the paddles in a spot separate from the boats, for good measure.

Depending on how much time you will spend on the island, a good option for 5 guys/2 canoes is to take the queen to rock harbor and take the voyageur the very next AM to chippewa harbor. Then do the whittlesey-wood/siskiwit-intermediate-richie-moskey basin circuit. You have to carefully check and compare the queen and voyageur schedules, as the voyageur leaves rock harbor tues/thurs/sun AMs in june.

If u just plan on richie, note that there are varying consecutive night limits at every park campground. Lake Richie camp (NE shore) has a 2-nite limit. Lake Richie Canoe camp (located on a peninsula only accessible by boat) also has a 2-nite limit. I've always wanted to fish the south arm of Richie, as i figure the fishing pressure is the lightest there. Of course, in June it should be pretty darn good on the entire lake.

If you do come on the Queen, note that the boat taxi to Caribou Island is a real bargain. 3 of you could get a head start toward moskey, after taxi-ing to Caribou. The 2 strongest paddlers could start out from rock harbor. You could take some of their gear on the taxi, but there is a nominal charge for each extra bag over and above the typical gear that the 3 of you would have. Of course, this strategy risks separating the group, and who has the stove/water filter, etc. Just some ideas...

P.S. Jim DuFresne's book on park trails & water routes pegs the Richie portage at 2.2 miles, so 2 trips works out to 6.6 miles. Apart from the sheer length, it's a pretty decent trail to portage.

Thank you all very much for the input. I need to get my map out and do a little more studying on the isle layout. We had already made the reservations on the boat but another member made them so I'm not positive which boat we are traveling on. I thinks its from Copper Harbor.
Our group has two canoes. I bought a motor mount for the canoe which looks like it goes on easy and have a very small 2 hp outboard I was hoping to attach. Although I have never tried it we we hoping to mount it to the lead canoe and attach a line to pull the second canoe behind and just rudder to keep it straight. Thought it would be a challenge in calm water but definately sounds like it is not advisable on Superior. Would probably be entertaining and laughable for the pros that would be able to watch us though.

I was hoping to set up camp on Richie and move to the other site after the first two days. Are the sites usually crowded in mid-June or will there be plenty of space? We hope to do plenty of day trips to the other interior lakes for more fishing. Any suggestions on must sees or places to avoid in regards to fishing and site seeing?

If we did bring the motor I also thought we would bring a lock to secure it somewhere just didn't know if that was allowed or not.

Thanks again.

No problem with campsite availability there in mid-june. After 2 nites at Richie Canoe camp, i would consider going with minimum gear (fishing gear/raingear/clothes on your back/tents/sleeping bags/matts/cook-kit/frying pan) to spend 1 nite at Wood Lake; then back to Richie Canoe. You could cache some gear (waterproofed for a tsunami) near the portage from richie into intermediate. No one will mess with it.

Or you could spend 2 nites on intermediate lake, which would only require one portage (0.6 mi & 120' elevation change; hilly & wooded trail). From intermediate, u could fish for lake trout on the E end of Siskiwit, and pike on wood lake; i guess you don't have to camp at Wood Lake to catch the view overlooking Siskiwit; though u won't have the view of the stars and possibly the northern lights; of course, it could be overcast on the one nite you stay at Wood.

The portage between Intermediate & Siskiwit is 0.4 mi and only involves a gradual elevation change of 40', so that's easily doable with the canoe &fishing gear late in the day, when you need to get back to camp from Siskiwit or Wood.

We will be on the Ranger for our trip over so looking at the message from Bergman we could get off at Mott and not even have to go all the way to Rock Harbor. Is that correct? I had thought it was a direct route from Copper Harbor but if it stops at Mott that would certainly make it easier and save us a lot of time and effort. We just want to be able to spend as much time exploring the interior lakes and not so much of the trip just getting there.

One other question. Should I expect to be throwing up on the Ranger from sea sickness?

Thanks againg for all the information. Next I'll ask for all your secret fishing hotspots and lures.

The Ranger III is the Park Service boat that runs out of Houghton. It's the largest boat that goes to I.R. and most stable--i.e. least likely to get sea sick on . It stops at Mott Island to drop off supplies for the NPS, but you can get off there--just make sure you let them know when you get your ticket so your gear is unloaded there. The only down side is there's no store, so you can't pick up that bug dope (or whatever) you forgot. It doesn't stop at Mott on the return trip, so you'll need to get back to Rock Harbor for the trip home.

I wouldn't be in too much of a rush to get to the inland lakes. Rock Harbor (the water) and Moskey Basin are beautiful and different than what you're familiar with, so you should enjoy it! And there's fishing along the way. If it's rough out on the lake, I would paddle straight across Rock Harbor from Mott, then follow the north shoreline up to Moskey. The stretch across the Middle Island Passage (near the light house) gets rough with confused waves when there's a good swell on the lake--they tend to calm down as they go across the harbor. But if conditions are good, paddle past the lighthouse, fishery, and wolf/moose researcher's cabin on the south side of Moskey.

The morning you board the Ranger, your 2 canoes will be "tagged" with red tags to indicate Mott. You will set your gear in large wheeled carts marked for Mott. At both Mott Island and Rock Harbor there is a water spicket conveniently located to fill your water containers/bottles in a jiffy.

At trip's end, you can board at Mott. The ship usually overnites at the dock at Rock Harbor. 9am departure, stopping at mott 9:18 (approx). The loaders at Mott will want your gear "staged"(ready to go) by 9:00am. Again, u will put your gear on wheeled carts. BUT you may have to stage your gear by 7:20/7:30AM (read below).

Sometimes (and there is no good way to predict it)(usually late in the season, but also weather-dependent throughout the season), the Ranger will overnite at Mott. In that case, you have to plan to arrive at Mott by 7 am. Loaders do their thing 7:30-8:00am, and then the liners (using the on-board crane) do their thing at 8:00. The Ranger will leave the dock at 8:20 or so, but you must have your gear staged no later than 7:30am. Who has responsibly stored the return tickets so they can be produced at trip's end to board the Ranger? (Always a challenge for me).

It will take 12-15 minutes to stage your gear once you hit the beach at Mott (100 yard walk at most). You don't have to organize your gear at that point; just get it onto the carts. If you end up waiting at Mott because the ship did overnite at RH, you can "brew" some coffee on the cement off the NW corner of the dock warehouse.

By all means, check with the boat pursar Paul Anderson on the sail over to the island, to let him know you will be exiting the park at mott (it will be written on your backcountry permit), to confirm that it's kosher. Even If your permit says Exit @ Mott, you are still free to board at Rock Harbor instead, and you don't have to inform anybody of that change.

The challenge in exiting at Mott is figuring out where you will camp the last night so that you can "make" Mott by 7 am. Caribou Island is the obvious choice, but it is popular with boater and sailors, and there is only 2 shelters and 1 tentsite (the tentsite is very close to the "upper" shelter). It is rare that i see anyone at the tentsite.

I usually do Daisy Farm, as the shelters are close to the water (i can load up quickly in the AM), but i get up early to do the 2.3 mile paddle to Mott. The lake (especially the harbor) is nearly always quiet that early in the morning. As soon as the sun rises a bit, mild slow rollers will appear on the harbor, so the early bird definitely does get rewarded.

It's a good idea to check with a boater, a kayaker (probably has a weather radio), or Ranger Rob @ Daisy Farm ranger cabin, to rule out a squall or storm moving in overnite. If it is rough getting back to mott, as Ingo said, keep to the shoreline and then cross the harbor when you are directly opposite Mott; if you then run into trouble, your group will be in plain view of plenty of park staff, getting ready to organize their day. If rough water is predicted for the AM, then your best bet is the tentsite at Caribou. And the luck of the draw may find you in a shelter there-one can get lucky, even late in the day.

By departing from mott, you won't have to set up (and TAKE DOWN) tents your last night in the park, as there are 16 shelters at Daisy Farm. There are 9 shelters at RH, but you're not likely to get one unless you arrive there by 1:00 or 2:00pm, even in mid-june. And it's a fair distance from the boat dock to the campground, and even longer distance from where you unload your canoes at RH to the campground.

The NPS doesn't "advertise" exiting the park from Mott because it's not straightforward (contingencies depending on where the Ranger overnites), and some parties would inevitably miss their return sail. If you decide to exit at Mott, be on time: the one time I was late, the crew didn't hesitate to let me know they were not happy with me. Now i'm sure to give myself a time cushion, and if i'm extra early, the coffee is brewing and that last bit of granola and dry milk is getting used up.

P.S. Since u will have 5 in your party, i suggest that on that final morning paddle to mott, have the odd-man-out hike 2.25 miles east along the level rock harbor trail; meet him/her at the Siskowit Mines (pretty much across the harbor from the Mott Island boat dock); then paddle with 3 persons the 1/3 mile straight across the harbor to Mott. Make sure the hiker has strong ankles, good boots and good judgment to avoid a sprain on this short solo jaunt! (I just got done with this very plan for departure from Mott on saturday, june 22!). Plus you get to tell some jokes at this person's expense while s/he is not in your presence. Though it is hard to take serious offense at any jausting on isle royale, as it's all part of the wilderness experience.

Correction: The national geographic map doesn't accurately depict the location of the dock at Mott. It is shown a bit to the west, probably as to not interfere with the dashed line showing the Ranger's route (the dashed line IS right-on). So your buddy hikes to the mine pits (3 main pits), and just even or beyond the 3rd pit, the Rock Harbor Trail will be literally at the water's edge. From that pick-up spot, it is precisely 0.37 mi to the beach landing at Mott (you will be angling across the harbor a tad eastward).

The hiker (carrying only water) will outpace the canoes.

By that point, it will be obvious whether the Ranger docked overnite at Mott (it's hard to miss a 165' ship sitting alongside the cement dock). If the dock is empty, you can back off the throttle, relax, and take your time to reach the beach at Mott.