Isle Royale Forums

Here's a start --- I bet others will extend the list.

Concerning route ideas, where are you arriving to/leaving from? If "Rock Harbor" is the answer to both questions, you can store a package (of clean clothes, etc.) at the lodge office for $3.50/day while you walk, then be joyfully reunited with its contents once the walking part of trip is over. No food or fuel, though.

Generalities: pack light (but don't scrimp on essentials, including rain gear, headnets/bug dope, sunscreen, first aid [including blister kit], tp). Unnecessary clothes/toiletries/food can drive a pack weight into the unpleasant range. The extra weight of things that will help pass time in camp (cards, journal) is probably worthwhile, especially given how long daylight lasts in July.

Trekking poles can be really helpful, in about a gazillion different ways. One of the least appreciated is that they help prevent "sausage fingers," the medically correct name for how your hands swell up after dangling at the end of your arms during a full day of backpacking.

You're liable to get muddy feet, so bring camp shoes/bread bags (to wear *in* the muddy shoes, not as shoes) if you don't enjoy squelching around in your boots at camp.

Have contingency plans -- you're not bound to an itinerary. Read old trip reports for clues about cool things to look for on the way.

Then pay it forward: write up a trip report and post it!

TP, most outhouses are not being stocked this summer.
Know that the Lake Ritchie has a Blue Green algae issue and the water is not safe for consumption (filtering, treatment, boiling is not effective). I would not eat fish from there either.

Take a stroll through this web forum. Look at all the topics and reports. You will get tons of ideas. You will
have a great trip!
(I like the comment above about “sausage fingers”. For years, i thought it was just me! That is now the primary reason i use poles.)