Isle Royale Forums

Hoping to go to the island for a 3rd time the end of this month. We decided it’s time to do an end to end trip but are having a hard time deciding between the Greenstone or the Minong. One of us wants to do the Greenstone since it’s the quintessential hike for IR, the other wants to do the Minong because it follows the Superior shoreline more closely. Can anyone speak to their experience on either of these trails? I’m especially interested to hear anyone’s experience on the Minong this year given it’s lack of use in 2020 and how hard they found it to navigate.

The Minong is NOT a shoreline trail. It follows an inland ridge on the north side of the island. Three overnight campgrounds, two of them are on the Lake Superior shoreline on side trails off the ridge.

I've no up-to-date beta on the Minong to offer, but I'll report that I find it a *much* more interesting and scenic way to cross the western chunk of the island than the Greenstone, which spends a lot of time in the woods. The Minong poses more challenges --- you need to pay attention to follow it, and the middle half abounds with rocky outcrops you need to scurry up and down (tip: don't scurry and gape at the views at the same time) --- but I think that that makes it more fun. Just my $.02.

Personally I enjoyed the minong a lot. The greenstone is nice but reminds me a lot of a regular michigan trail. Minong offers a little more challenge. Some epic views. And better campsites IMO.

Minong for sure. If you hike from mt Franklin or lookout Louise you will get plenty of the Greenstone then switch over to the minong.