Isle Royale Forums

Another great trip, hard to have a bad trip on this island. However, this was the wettest trip I have taken in the last several decades. Tuesday it rained all day almost everywhere, the kind of rain where after about an hour it does not matter anymore - you have reached saturation point - so walk through the puddles, fall in the puddles, etc you are not going to get any wetter. We spend that day going from McCargoe to Daisy, normally a nice walk with great view but between the fog, mist, rain and wet ground you pretty much focused on the feet of the person ahead of you. We got into Daisy in 4 hours, about the normal pace and luckly got a shelter. Hikers came in all late afternoon and early evening and I think everyone managed to get into a shelter but about three. I was pleased that so many folks that got to shelters early opened their door to others so everyone could dry out (or at least not get any wetter). Wednesday the trail from Daisy to Rock Harbor was tough, not from the wet rocks but the wet roots. I think everyone in my group took at least one face plant. I had planned to cross over to the Tobin trail but was concentrating on the ground so much I missed the post! Fishing was good, except Desor. We managed to trade some white gas for a couple of hours in a canoe at McCargoe and was able to fish the reeds for an excellent dinner. Not much else to report, but will be back again next year.

Smokey, we talked briefly Monday night at McCargoe. Tuesday was indeed a wet day and I should have taken a zero day at McCargoe. Setting up the tent at Hatchet Lake in the mud wasn't much fun, luckily I had an extra tarp to set up over tent and gear so stuff didn't get any wetter while we set up. We had just enough sunshine at Desor to dry some gear out on Wednesday.

Great to meet someone from the forum (though I did not realize it at the time). If you remember the group with the canoes, they left early on Tuesday and went all the way to Rock Harbor (but they did the portage rather than attempting to canoe around Blake point) getting in around 3 pm that day. It was too wet and cold to consider camping so they enjoyed the comfort of the hotel for a night.