Isle Royale Forums

We are planning a first of august trip for a week, west side of island. Any suggestions? We need suggestions for canoeing to islands for a night from windingo

In Windigo you have 2 choices, either Grace Island or Beaver Island, of which Beaver Island is closer.

Thanks John,
We plan to start at windigo and head to feldtman lake, then siskwit bay, then I would like to bypass island mine and head for s desor, and return and do the loop by huginnin cove and then canoe to one of the islands and stay a night. Have you hiked this end? any pointers? I know at times in august there may be water issues by island mine.

I have done the Feldtmann loop a few times and the Hugginin loop once (and camped there on a kayaking trip).
The hike to Feldtmann is not too bad, one climb over a ridge with nice views to the South. After the ridge you are in the trees most of the time. Nice hike out to Ranibow Cove (where there are raspberries and thimbleberries too). The hike to Siskiwit is nice once to get up on the ridge, great views and then a gradual decent to the campsite, nice place to stay!!
You might check recent TR's for water at IM, whcih can be iffy. The hike to IM is a gradual climb and once you reach the Greenstone, it is downhill to Windigo.
The hike to Hugginin, the East trail has better views IMO, so if youare to have one day better as far as the weather, than the other, I would do the East Trail that day.
Depending on the wind, the paddle back from Grace Island could be long if going into wind and waves, make sure you check the weather for the days you plan to paddle.
Have a great trip!!

My wife and I day hiked the Hugginnin Cove loop in June and it really offers some great view of Lake Superior. The trail leading up to the Lake Superior shore line is not that eventful, but does offer a few cool places. The east trail offers two log cabins that are decaying, one easy to find mine area (and one that is a bit off trail) and a couple of rock croppings that you can climb to get a view of a low lying bog type area. Then you hit the Lake Superior shore line and the views are really great. You have a couple of opportunities to climb out on rocks that are bare and give a great view of the island shore. Once you reach Hugginin Cove the trail back to Windigo goes through the woods again and has a couple of nice views; the best being a view of Washington Harbor when you get close to the top of the ridge. Enjoy your time on the Isle Royale.

thanks everyone for replies. We leave saturday and I am excited to get back to nature. I insist on me time and its coming not fast enough. For a first we are going to try the canoeing if we can rent one, and hang out on beaver island. I actually think we have too much food packed this time.