Isle Royale Forums

Does anyone know of the average summer inland lake temperatures on the island are of if there is a matrix somewhere that you can link me to? Just want to know how cold the water will be if I decide to tube fish in it. Thanks.

Hey Patrick,
I don't recall ever seeing this. I'd guess it's probably comparable to N Minn or BWCA lakes--maybe a little cooler. The seasonal warming might be a little slower too. I've taken dips in Richie and Wood Lake in July, and I can say temps are significantly warmer than Superior

We were discussing swimming. It went something like this. Well, the Superior water is about 40 degrees (F). The interior lakes can be much warmer, say 60 degrees but they all have leaches. Take your pick. We didn't go swimming.

Guess I've been lucky. I've been in the water of a couple lakes on the island and have never had to deal with any leeches.

I go swimming at every camp. Nothing makes you feel more alive than a swim after a hot hike. I've only had one leech on me (W. Chickenbone), otherwise I go in the water. I would have swam at Island Mine if they had a shoreline. And no, I didn't swim in the stream and pollute the water source.

In September a few years ago, the water in Siskiwit was about 70 with an onshore wind.
I have pretty much had leeches at Feldtman, Chickenbone, Sargent, Ritchie and a few places on back bays on Superior.
It is nice to rinse off after a few days on the trail or paddling!!

Lake Ritchie was pretty cold (probably mid-40s) in mid-June last year. Stuck a toe in, but forewent the dip I was about to take because a storm was rolling in and I needed to high-tail it back to Moskey.

The only other inland lake I've been in was Hidden Lake, which was quite warm, but I highly doubt it contains fish. It's mostly slimy dead vegetation.

I've taken a pleasant swim on Wood Lake in early July...

While paddling/portaging the last week of July, 2011, we enjoyed daily swims in Richie, Wood, Whittlesey, and Chippewa Harbor. Chippewa was the most "refreshing."

No problems while swimming, but on two occasions, partners attracted significant numbers of leaches while standing in water wearing sandals. Each time, it was one foot with approx 50 leaches ranging from 2" down to barely visible. It happened once on Richie, once on Whittlesey. Applied salt and scraped them off with the back edge of a knife. We theorized that the leaches must have been congregated in a spot of water vegetation, into which the person had stepped.

On the first occasion, a couple of the larger leaches left minor wounds which we had to treat, but we were more alert on the second occasion.