Isle Royale Forums

Hi all,
My husband and I will be coming from Copper Harbor and will stay on the island for four nights. It's our first time and we'd love to see some of the best stuff but I'm still working on figuring out what all of those things are and coming up with a route that hits them. Any recommendations are appreciated. We're both in good shape and in the past, we've been very comfortable backpacking 10-15 mile days in places like the Smokies or the Appalachian Trail though we're open to shorter days if it means spending time in great places. Thanks in advance for sharing!

Thought I would update on what seems like our most probable route. Would love any suggestions from those more familiar with the island! Thank you in advance.

Day One: Rock Harbor to Lane Cove
Day Two: Lane Cove to McCargoe Cove
Day Three: McCargoe Cove to Moskey Basin
Day Four: Moskey Basin to TBD (we're undecided on where to stop on the way back to Rock Harbor)

I'm curious if there are any great backcountry sites between Moskey and Rock Harbor that would be a nice place to stop for a night.

Thanks again.

Welcome to the forums, Persistent!

Given your identified hiking ability, I think you'll do fine with the route you proposed, and will hit some great campsites. You didn't say when you're arriving, but even on the Queen IV, she gets in early enough in her season that you'll make Lane Cove in daylight.
Day two will be long, and much on a ridge, but it's not bad hiking. Just bring water, since it's tougher to find once up top the hill.
Day three will give you a great perspective on the variety of terrain of the Isle, up and over a ridge or two, "North sides steep, South sides slope" concept.
As for day four, and given it's your first trip, I might say to plan to use Daisy Farm or Threemile for your final night. Or push to Rock Harbor, and enjoy what the 'city' has to offer. While those sites can get a bad reputation, it's all relative, and you could even find yourself with only a few others in camp. Even full, it's hard to know others are around, unless they're slamming shelter doors. Maybe others have ideas for 'cross country' sites, but I know if you're taking the Rock Harbor trail, the first portion near Moskey is closed to camping, and even then that area of the Island is quite dense in vegetation, and what isn't tends to be a rocky, uneven surface. I think, having never explored it, you might find trying to located a suitable site to be difficult and frustrating. You would need to go "up the ridge" a bit before the Island opens up a bit more.

Overall, I think you're off to a great start to your plans!

Welcome to the Forums!
Your route looks good based on your experience level. What dates are you looking at? This makes a difference in terms of number of people around. The eastern end of the island always has more people.

Along your route as proposed:
- Between Lane Cove and McCargoe Cove, you will be passing Mount Franklin, a great place to stop after the tough climb up. Also, Mount Ojibway Tower, a great lunch stop.
- At McCargoe Cove , the Minong Mine site is on a side trail 1 mile west of the campground and worth seeing

As far as backcountry between Moskey Basin and Rock Harbor, that is a relatively busy area with two "large" campgrounds in between. Backcountry camping is permitted within the rules in this area, but I think you will find it might be a lot easier to go into Three Mile after that long walk rather than searching around for a back country site that meets the rules. The back country rules and zones can be found as one of the top items in this forum.

You have a lot of options and possible route changes in this area based on how you are feeling and weather conditions. One thing I might think about is reversing your route and saving Lane Cove for the end. The reasoning there is that Lane Cove is a "dead end" and you will be making the hike down just to hike all the way back up and, if you leave this for the end, it might be bypassed based on your previous decisions. Lane Cove is nice and worth seeing, but if you reverse things, it gives you more options at the end.

I just hit the same camps and trails you did just a month ago. Here's that trip report & some pictures to see what you are getting into:

http://isleroyaleforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2200

Thanks so much, everyone! I really appreciate the input. And thanks for the warm welcome!

We'll be there in early July and arriving on the Queen if that changes anything but it sounds like this might be a good route. Being first timers, I just wanted to make sure we weren't missing any glaring spots of awesomeness or spending too much time in places that aren't as great as others.

Also, from what I'm reading, it sounds like water sources are scarce but for the lakes/ponds. Is that what we should expect or does there happen to be any map/guide to water sources out there? I haven't come across one yet.

Thanks again. Nice to be in good company here.