Isle Royale Forums

Hi every one me and my partner are planning our first trip to IR in Mid July. We were hoping on some feedback/suggestions on our proposed Itinerary. We are both fairly comfortable and experienced with hiking and camping/backcountry. We both have a tendency to just go go go, to see and do as much as we can. So we are attempting to keep everything on the low end this time to really enjoy and relax as well as challenge ourselves a bit. We are really hoping to see a moose or two and do some night photography. Also any thoughts/advice on swimming while there are the inland lakes ok(I have read a bit about the algae blooms not totally sure how they effect things. Is Superior still fairly cold Mid-July? Any suggestions to add on or alternative routes? We both have horrible ADD and lose all concept of time especially when adventuring so that is partly why the last days are really short we don't want to stress about missing the ferry home. We know we will be back so not trying to do it all in one shot.
Anyways here is our proposed Itinerary:

Day 1 Copper Harbor>Rock Harbor>Lane Cove Camp 6.77 Miles

Day 2 Lane Cove> Mt. Ojibway (4.84)> SW Lake Ojibway Camp(2.5) 7.34 Hope to camp more off trail/cross-country about 1/2 way down Daisy farm Trail from GRT

Day 3 Camp site > 3 Mile camp ground 5.28 Possibly cross country somewhere

Day 4 Three mile> Rock Harbor Camp 2.59 Kayak Possibly

Day 5 Zero Day and Return Explore Stool Trail/kayak possibly

Thanks everyone for any advice

The itinerary looks fine, but I wouldn't recommend cross-country camping the first time there. There's a lot of dense vegetation that makes any off-trail travel very difficult in many places and not many conducive spots for a tent. Daisy Farm is the logical alternative, of course. But if you're set on it, make sure you read the cross-country rules if you haven't already: https://www.nps.gov/isro/planyourvisit/ ... amping.htm

As for swimming, you won't be on any inland lakes, and Lake Superior is always cold! But I always go in at least once, it's refreshing !

Ingo, I really appreciate the feedback and advice. As far as inland I wasn't sure about lake Ojibway. I grew up on lake Ontario and Erie so understand the cold water. In regards to cross country we have familiarized ourselves with the rules quite a bit and have done backcountry in other places but most likely not as dense as IR seems it might be. We don't want to sound like anti-social jerks but we try to avoid most people when out especially if there are kids involved. Reason we don't have them, lol. But you are probably right that for the first time to get a feel for the land, might be best

ShawnBeckyadventures wrote: Wed Apr 26, 2023 11:41 pm As far as inland I wasn't sure about lake Ojibway.

Interestingly Lake Ojibway is/was essentially a huge beaver pond created by literally a very old and large beaver dam. The dam was breached a few years ago and mostly drained it, but I'm not sure of it's current state. Either way, not swimmable! But not a bad place for moose to hang out. And as for moose, best advice is to get up early and walk around in the evening.

I second everything Ingo says above. I would avoid off-trail camping if at all possible.

Lake Ojibway - Rolf Petersen and others have been giving presentations that include recent photos of moose stuck up to their armpits in the muck of the drained lake. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole! Some of the ridges nearby may be campable, but there's no lake there any more.

dcclark wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 9:06 am I second everything Ingo says above. I would avoid off-trail camping if at all possible.

Lake Ojibway - Rolf Petersen and others have been giving presentations that include recent photos of moose stuck up to their armpits in the muck of the drained lake. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole! Some of the ridges nearby may be campable, but there's no lake there any more.

Or maybe not a great place for moose to hang out! Forgot about those pics...

An alternative Day 3 destination: Chickenbone East, IR's least favorite campground! It's not guaranteed to offer contemplative solitude, but it's not easy to get to, and people don't like staying there, due to the long water fetch. (I think it's .5 miles RT, and I know a hill is involved.) Although I've never camped there, I've walked by a few times, and it's always struck me as a lovely setting, a meadow up on a ridge. Enhancing its open floor plan feeling is the fact that, at least the last time I was there, the privy had fewer than the conventional 4 sides.

It's about 10 miles from Lane Cove to CBE, and about 10 miles from CBE to 3 Mile. (That's if you retrace your steps up to the GRT and take it east to the Daisy Farm Trail; a longer---more like 15 miles--- but maybe attractive alternative would be to go west on the GRT and follow the Indian Portage, Lake Ritchie, and Rock Harbor trails to 3 Mile.) After your day 1 jaunt to Lane Cove, you'll have a good sense of how fun that would be.

If you do kayak, a fun thing to do is the Rock Harbor biathlon: paddle to Hidden Lake dock on Tobin Harbor, then hike up to Lookout Louise.

Please report on how it goes!

I'll second Chickenbone East.
I like it, and its nice that other people avoid it. It is unique in that it almost has a high desert feel to it.

Regarding Lane Cove: that has become a popular site for people to hit so it may be full especially in mid-July.

torpified wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 10:00 am Chickenbone East, IR's least favorite campground! It's not guaranteed to offer contemplative solitude, but it's not easy to get to, and people don't like staying there, due to the long water fetch. (I think it's .5 miles RT, and I know a hill is involved.) Although I've never camped there, I've walked by a few times, and it's always struck me as a lovely setting, a meadow up on a ridge.

I pretty much have to agree. Of all the campsites I have used, this was my least favorite. The two things that stick out most in my mind were the long walk down to the water, which required a long walk back UPHILL to the campsite. The other "fond" memory was the mosquitoes. I know it could have just been the time of year and prime conditions, but we were almost carried away by the mosquitoes at Chickenbone East. They swarmed for a long time and only went away when the temperature cooled down significantly. They were so bad that two backpackers offered each of us $20 for our headnets... we politely refused. Although, I believe that was also the place where we saw our first moose on the island, so that was a nice memory.

S_R_L wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 11:22 am Regarding Lane Cove: that has become a popular site for people to hit so it may be full especially in mid-July.

I stayed at Lane Cove two separate times and really enjoyed it. The only problem with it being a popular site is the long walk down and nowhere else to go if you arrive and find all of the sites occupied.

I guess I was lucky at Lane Cove. A husband/wife team came down and we decided to share the same site. (Nice folks, as usual at ISRO) No one else was there that night.