Isle Royale, Lake Superior, 2015
Lake Superior Road Trip
We threw our kayaks on the car top and did a big road trip to Lake Superior in August 2015. We drove 5850 miles in just over a month, hitting 11 states before it was over. There was much to do along the way. We visited friends and family in Montana, North Dakota, the Twin Cities, Iowa and Illinois. We toured sights such as the Little Big Horn Battlefield, copper mines in Montana and Michigan, the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, WY, and caves in the Black Hills. We stumbled on unexpected delights at Bayfield WI, the wild and scenic St. Croix River, and the sand hills near Valentine NE. It was a good test of what retirement might feel like.
Lake Superior
As the locals told us, "There's four great lakes and one Superior." We kayaked for a week at Isle Royale National Park, and then spent some more time paddling in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. We also did a Wilderness Volunteers trail maintenance trip on Stockton Island in the Apostles. Incidentally, Stockton Island at times has the highest concentration of bears of any place in North America...as many as 30 black bears on 10,000 acres.
Test Packing
We first met up with a friend, Patrice Schaepe, who lives in Wisconsin and has paddled many times at Isle Royale and the Apostle Islands. Our first job was to partition the equipment and food and make sure everything would fit into our boats.
Loading the Isle Royale Queen IV
To get to Isle Royale, we took the daily ferry from Copper Harbor on the Keeweenaw Peninsula, MI. The trip is 55 miles one way and takes about 3 hours. You just hand your stuff up to the crew as the boat is loaded. You can just see our yellow kayaks already on board.
On the Dock
The ferry crew piles your gear on the dock. You then have to go through a mandatory Leave No Trace lecture before getting your back country permit. After that, you're on your own.
Our Isle Royale Trip
We spent 6 days at Isle Royale. From Rock Harbor, we paddled around Blake Point at the NE tip of the island. We eventually worked our way back to Rock Harbor after rounding Blake Point a second time. P1, P2, and P3 indicate portages on the return trip.
Lunch Stop at Merritt Lane Camp
We originally planned to camp the first night at Merritt Lane. However, after stopping there for lunch, we took advantage of the perfect conditions and headed for Blake Point in the distance at the left.
Approaching Blake Point
Blake Point is the most dangerous passage at Isle Royale. Since it's at the east tip of the island and the wind is usually from the west, you can easily get blown out into the middle of the lake; the next stop is then Canada a hundred miles or more away.
Heading West
The morning of day 2 was perfect. After rounding Locke Point, we headed west intending to camp at Belle Isle, somewhere in the far right distance.
Entering Lane Cove
Being prudent mariners, we carry VHF marine radios and monitor channel 16. Before reaching Belle Isle, we heard a Coast Guard Severe Wind Warning for the next day. The weather was already deteriorating, so we decided to change course for the shelter of Lane Cove.
Lane Cove Camp
We spent two nights at Lane Cove while the wind blew and it rained off and on.
Day Hike from Lane Cove
The layover at Lane Cove allowed us to take a day hike on a cross-island trail that eventually makes its way back to Rock Harbor. Isle Royale is a series of parallel basalt ridges with swamps in between, so off-trail travel is almost impossible. The swampy areas have luxurious moss carpets and plenty of mushrooms.
Flowers
There are many types of flowers on Isle Royale. Unfortunately, the famous wolves of Isle Royale, once numbering about 50, are now down to only three and are expected to completely die out, possibly this winter.
Early Morning Start
We got an early morning start from Lane Cove, hoping the conditions would be calm. However, the wind was still blowing and the seas were rough outside the cove, so we switched to Plan B.
Portaging
Plan B required two portages across narrow necks of land so that we could paddle in the sheltered waters of Stockly Bay and then Duncan Bay as we started to head back. Portaging is hard work, but not as hard as paddling many miles in 4 foot waves.
Stockly Bay
After the first portage from Lane Cove, we had rain and wind, but not enough fetch for waves to build up, so the going was easy.
Duncan Bay
A second portage got us to Duncan Bay, and we headed for the narrows seen in the distance, where we had camped on night one.
Lean-to at Duncan Bay Narrows
Some of the back country camps have lean-tos, which are first-come, first-served. We were fortunate that the lean-to at Duncan Bay Narrows was empty, so we got to camp out of the rain.
Cozy Camping
The lean-tos are a real luxury in bad weather. While we were here, a Park Ranger camp by in a large power boat. He said that "the waves at Blake Point were 4-6 feet and really gnarly." Things were not looking good for getting back around Blake Point. Maybe we would have to camp here until the lake froze over in winter and we could walk back.
Back Around Blake Point
The weather forecast called for wind dropping to 10 knots over night and then increasing again the next day. We thus got an early start so as to hit Blake Point at the minimum of the wind. We lucked out and had an hour of low wind and waves to get back around the point. Within an hour of this photo, the wind was again so strong that we could barely make headway and the waves were 3 or 4 feet high and heavily whitecapped.
Isle Royal Coastline
Much of Isle Royal is rocky coast like this. It's really scenic, but there are very few good landing spots. The water is cold and the weather changes rapidly, so this is not a good place to find out that you don't know what you're doing. You'll notice in the photos that we were always wearing dry suits, and we carry a full complement of safety gear, not to mention doing regular rescue practice at home.
Lunch Beach Near Scoville Point
This is the only real beach we passed, and it was just cobbles. We had lunch here on day 5. Because of the increasing wind and already high waves around Scoville Point, we stayed in the sheltered Tobin Harbor and reached Rock Harbor through the back door, by another portage.
Early Morning Loon
OK, you get the idea. Isle Royale is largely wilderness with weeks of fabulous kayaking, and you'll have the place almost to yourself. We had no bugs at all in August. It was well worth the drive (although you can rent boats in Copper Harbor), and we're ready to go back. We'll close with this photo of a loon at sunrise on Day 2.
