Isle Royale Forums

Name: jerry
e-mail: jerome.pesch@sinclair.edu
Hometown: Dayton, Ohio
Arr. Date: Aug. 27
Depart. Date: Sept. 2
Coming from/via: Copper Harbor (for the first time)
Itinerary: Hike out to Chip. Harbor, up to the Greenstone and back to R.H.
Other: If you see an old man (I have my Medicare card) solo hiking say hi to me. If I make it up to IRNP this will be my 4th year in a row solo.

jerry

Good for you, have a great trip!!

Have you really been to the Island 31 times?

Jerry

jerry wrote:Have you really been to the Island 31 times?

Jerry

Yes, I started going up there in '83, I have done 2 and even 3 trips a year in a Good Year!!

I retired before 9-11 have been teaching college including summers. Maybe I need to take the summers off and enjoy the island as you do. I'm assuming you are a teacher or you are retired or your own boss. Is the Minong doable by an old man going solo?

Jerry

jerry wrote:I retired before 9-11 have been teaching college including summers. Maybe I need to take the summers off and enjoy the island as you do. I'm assuming you are a teacher or you are retired or your own boss. Is the Minong doable by an old man going solo?

Jerry

Jerry,
Isle Royale has one of the highest return vistor rates and longest stay of the NPS which says a lot about IR. One of the things I can tell you about IR is that people who go there generally either "love" the place and return again or never come back.
Oh ,I am self employed as a carpenter ,all the people I work for know of my "afair" with Isle Royale and think it is great that we (my friend niners who posts here and also we work together) go there to Volunteer.
I have been to a lot of National Parks and US Forests and have done long distance hiking and IMO, Nothing beats IR!!!

To answer your question, what is your level of experience and how fit are you? What othere trips have you done? What do you consider an "old" man?

Appreciate your comments. I've only been backpacking for a few years. I did the Grand Canyon from the south rim to the north rim 5 years ago. So far I've been to IR 4 times. The last three years solo hiking (Feldtmann loop;RH-Daisy Farm-Lane Cove-Lookout Louise-RH;and McCargoe-W. Chick.-Hatchett-Desor-Malone). You're right, there is something about the island. At 65 I'm slowing down, but still want to head out to IR again soon. I'm tempted to try Minong before I can't hike anymore. Maybe next year I'll be able to talk someone into heading up north to "the Island".
Jerry

I'm leaving from Copper Harbor on the 27th of August, returning on the 1st of September. 4 more weeks. I guess I'm going solo again this year.

jerry

7 days to go.

The wait kills ya, doesn't it??

How many times have you checked the weather forecast? Packed and repacked???

Tom wrote:The wait kills ya, doesn't it??

How many times have you checked the weather forecast? Packed and repacked???

My favorite line from Tricia:
"Are you looking at the maps again, I would have thought you had them memorized by now!!"

johnhens wrote: Isle Royale has one of the highest return vistor rates and longest stay of the NPS which says a lot about IR.

It says:
1. They get very little new business.
2. You can't just drive through. It's so hard to get to, once you're there you might as well stay and look around.

Actually, I think it says you have to want to go there. Many parks get a lot of people driving through or just visiting for the day. This does not mean that I.R. is better or worse than any other NP, just different.

DonNewcomb wrote:

johnhens wrote: Isle Royale has one of the highest return vistor rates and longest stay of the NPS which says a lot about IR.

It says:
1. They get very little new business.
2. You can't just drive through. It's so hard to get to, once you're there you might as well stay and look around.

Actually, I think it says you have to want to go there. Many parks get a lot of people driving through or just visiting for the day. This does not mean that I.R. is better or worse than any other NP, just different.

I'm not following your logic.

If it's so hard to get to, why would people return over and over again unless it was something special?

DonNewcomb wrote:

johnhens wrote: Isle Royale has one of the highest return vistor rates and longest stay of the NPS which says a lot about IR.

It says:
1. They get very little new business.
2. You can't just drive through. It's so hard to get to, once you're there you might as well stay and look around.

Actually, I think it says you have to want to go there. Many parks get a lot of people driving through or just visiting for the day. This does not mean that I.R. is better or worse than any other NP, just different.

You make a valid point, but don't under estimate the IR experience - you'll see when you get there. After my first trip 2 years ago, the first thing I told my wife when I returned was that IR was going to be an anual trip(unfortunately this year didn't work out but already thinking about next year). You're right, getting to the island is not an easy task. So why is there such a high return rate? Isle Royale is a magical place. I've said before that when it comes to IR, people either get it or they don't, and for those that do it becomes such a part of them that photos and written word only scratch the surface.

MikeW wrote:After my first trip 2 years ago, the first thing I told my wife when I returned was that IR was going to be an anual trip(unfortunately this year didn't work out but already thinking about next year).

I said exactly the same thing about Rome, with pretty much the same results.