Isle Royale Forums

There was a bike on the V2 this past Thursday (June 11). I was able to talk to the rider on the front portion of the boat. He was from Grand Marais. He rode from there to Duluth, thru northern Wisc. and up into the U.P. He said he should be home before sun down. I last saw him riding toward highway 61, as I passed him going there as well. Sorry, forgot to take a picture.

So he rode his bike from Grand Marais to Copper Harbor, then was using the Isle Royale Queen and Voyageur as his ride back? Clever (and epic)!

I assume he took the Queen and not the Ranger from the U.P. because connecting from the Ranger to the Voyageur requires a two day wait in RH and thus he would have to stay at the lodge since the RH campground has a one night limit.

I imagine he got some odd looks for bringing a bike on the ferries considering bikes aren't allowed on the island. Presumably he got permission from the rangers to just take it to/from the ferry dock to his Rock Harbor campsite (or the lodge).

Some years ago I met a cross-country cyclist on the VII. The rangers stored the bike for the night until he took the Queen the next day--it wasn't a choice, they're going to lock it up while it's on the island. (maybe it was in the other direction, memory's going ... )

I've met two different folks/parties that have done this. I think for distance cyclists, it's the way to do a version of the circle tour without going into Canada.
Ingo is correct; if you bring a bike you surrender it to rangers immediately upon arriving on the Isle, and they'll return it as you are boarding the boat. From the two times I've witnessed it, I don't see any chance to ever ride it, and I think that's intentional...

Makes sense. Even if they did trust the person to not ride it on the Isle, it would still cause concern/questions from other guests as to why someone has a bike on the island when they are prohibited.

My wife rode our tandem bike from Copper Harbor to Grand Portage in August of 2011. We then traveled with the bike on the V II to RH and the next day took the Queen back to Copper Harbor to retrieve our car.

One minor correction to the above: As long as we were on the island for just the one night at RH we were allowed to walk (not ride!) the bike to the campground with us. Had we decided to stay longer on the island we would have had to store it. This makes sense given the 1 night maximum stay at the RH campground.

iroy6 wrote:My wife rode our tandem bike from Copper Harbor to Grand Portage in August of 2011. We then traveled with the bike on the V II to RH and the next day took the Queen back to Copper Harbor to retrieve our car.

One minor correction to the above: As long as we were on the island for just the one night at RH we were allowed to walk (not ride!) the bike to the campground with us. Had we decided to stay longer on the island we would have had to store it. This makes sense given the 1 night maximum stay at the RH campground.

I'll speculate that someone used their discretion in your case .