Isle Royale Forums

Ahh crap! I want it to myself!

I saw this earlier and like a lot of the commenters on it, I don't know how I feel about it. Yay for getting more people to the island to experience the grandeur, nay for getting more people there in the future. Not that there will ever be a ton of people that visit compared to the other parks, but imho I don't want to see it become another tourist spot. At least everyone I've come across has been respectful and kept the island in as good a shape as possible.

I don't think you have anything to worry about. I find these numbers quite interesting, I know that the boats didn't carry 4000 additional people, there wasn't a huge increase in personal boats over past years, I didn't come across large rafts of swimmers on their way to visit the island. My guess is that if these numbers are accurate that 99% of these "new" visitors were counted visiting the Houghton Visitor Center and never made it to the island. I do know that people going into there are counted and can go there year 'round as opposed to actual island visitors.

Capt Don wrote: I didn't come across large rafts of swimmers on their way to visit the island.

The English Channel is for wussies.

You probably should adjust the GPIR website to highlight the backpack gear transit fee for those visitors who will be swimming across...