Isle Royale Forums

We have a trip planned for June 21 - 28 this year... and our small group of three experienced backpackers / navigators would like to do one evening of off trail, backcountry camping. We've been to the island, so we're familiar with both the regulations (zone map) and challenges of off trail camping on Isle Royale... we've just never done any off trail on IR yet. So, I was hoping someone might have a recommendation for an area of the island, along our proposed route (below), that they'd recommend for a night. Any ideas / suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all!

June 21 - ferry to Rock Harbor - camp @ Rock Harbor / day hike Scoville Point
June 22 - Voyager II ferry (Rock Harbor to Windigo) - Windigo to Island Mine
June 23 - Island Mine to Lake Desor South
June 24 - Lake Desor South to Hatchet Lake
June 25 - Hatchet Lake to McCargoe Cove
June 26 - McCargoe Cove to Moskey Basin
June 27 - Moskey Basin to Three Mile
June 28 - ferry to Copper Harbor

Feel free to email direct also

Ryan

I’ve done some off-trail hiking on the island. Generally, I avoid the central and NE part of the island because of the thick boreal forest. It’s no fun trying to bushwhack your way through thick sapling-sized spruce and balsam, especially in June when you have mosquitoes and black flies constantly in your face. The SW part of the island, from Windigo up to about Lake Desor, is mostly northern hardwood and much easier explore. I’ve walked extensively through the area west of Lake Desor with nothing more than a good topo map, a compass, and had no problems negotiating my way through the forest. Plus your walking through mostly old-growth timber being that this area of Isle Royale has seen very little in the way of logging. I’m hoping to do some more off-trail hiking later on this summer. Not quite sure where yet.

Thanks, treeplanter! We're camping at Island Mine on our second night on the island... so, I'm considering going off-trail from there to Lake Desor (South) through ZONE 26 - along the Little Siskiwit River and then pop up to Lake Desor (or just camp in the backcountry for one night and hit the Greenstone Ridge trail the next morning). I've studied the topo maps and aerial maps for the past few weeks... and it looks like a reasonable route. Any insight to that area? Thanks again for the info... and if we make it back there, I'll be sure to let you know how it went!