Isle Royale Forums

OK, I've heard and read all the warnings about canoeing around the open water of the lake, and my trip this summer won't have a big stretch of unprotected paddling because of it, but it got me wondering...

The Natives obviously got to the island by canoe and small boat going across the same, at times ill-tempered lake. Does anyone do a reenactment kind of thing where they have a flotilla of non-motorized crafts all going over at the same time? And if not, why not? Is the weather that bad?

I'll gladly be waiting on the island with a cold beer ready to give it to the first one that arrives!!

I've talked to people who do it. Kayaks not canoes. I think they usually start at something like 3 am. I can't imagine it.

John and Ann Mahan routinely cross over in their tandem kayak, but they are very experienced paddlers. I would not recommend it, though. The Vouaguer II can take you anywhere you want to go. Here is a link to their web page: http://sweetwatervisions.com/index.html In one of their books, they have a picture of paddling accross when Lake Superior turned nasty.

The shortest route is from Canada. However, you then have a Customs and Border Enforcement issue.

For as quickly as bad weather can appear on Lake Superior and as cold as the water is I can never imagine myself being that daring, even though others have done it.

I met a group who ahd paddled from MN when we were up there last month.
I also met a guy who paddled from Eagle River in the Keweenaw. I think his dad is a proffesor at MTU. He stopped at Belle Isle, was on his way to Thunder Bay.