Isle Royale Forums

My wife and I are planning on spending 4 days 3 nights backpacking first week in august. We are both 29 and do not have experience backpacking, but would love the challenge and experience on IR. We love hiking in our spare time and have no problem going for several miles usually hilly terrain, including our favorite Devils Lake Wisconsin state park. We will be practicing with backpacks when spring comes around. We was thinking of doing the following:

Getting off the ferry Friday from Copper Harbor at noon, hopefully head out before 2 going straight to Daisy Farm before nightfall.

Saturday travel up to Mt Ojibway, over to Mt Franklin and then to Lane Cove to spend the night.

Sunday I'm sure we will want to enjoy our last full day and wander over to three mile or Rock Harbor for the night.

Monday hopefully we will be able to walk the stoll trail a bit before we have to catch the ferry at 2.

Anything else that's more worth our time doing, too much traveling for beginners, experiences with this route? Any suggestions on this itinerary would be great.

Sounds like a great trip. Try to schedule an overnight trip a couple weeks ahead of time, so you can check out the operation of your gear for overnighting, including stove, water filter, tent, etc.

Welcome to the forums. I see no problem with your trip, but offer an option anyway.
Five days will open up a a lot more of the island than four if you can do it, but for four days:

Friday: I usually take the Ranger, dock around three and easily get to Daisy in 3.5-4 hours. Your trip to Daisy the first day will be no problem. If you take the Tobin harbor trail there and Rock harbor trail back, you will see some distinctly different terrains. At the cutoff to Daisy/Mount Franklin, you can decide if you want to take the long way to Daisy. If you go up to the ridge, you can see the towers and the views. It is light until close to 10 p.m.

Saturday: Lane is nice, but no where near Moskey basin. Moskey is a short trip from Daisy, but if you leave early, you can get there before breakfast, make camp, eat, then day hike to Lasage and/or Chicken bone depending on how the legs feel.

Sunday: Three Mile or Rock harbor (I leave Moskey at 8ish and I am back to Rock at 2ish) there are a lot of miles, but it is fairly flat. I stop at Three Mile for lunch then keep going. It's nice to use or borrow a shelter if it is raining, other backpackers will be very accommodating.

If you get to Rock on Sunday, You can shower and have dinner at the restaurant. Monday is a lazy hike out to Stoll Point and souvenir shopping.
If you get to Rock on Monday, just leave Three Mile early and you can still get to Stoll and do some shopping.

Remember, you don't have to stick to your starting itinerary. Bugs are all but gone. The busiest part of the season is over.