Siskiwit Bay
I always wanted to explore Isle Royal National Park. That is, ever since I discovered its existence in 1996.
The discovery of this gem of the National Park system occurred while I was working as a field assistant (searching for bird nests and doing point counts) within the Chippewa National Forest of Minnesota. If being in the woods for five and half days a week was not enough, I journeyed often to the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness in the Superior National Forest on my time off. While visiting the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN I picked up a brochure on Isle Royale and almost immediately started planning a trip before returning to New York at the end of the summer.
When the job finished in late August, my plan to take the Voyageur II ferry from Grand Portage to Windigo was scheduled. Not wanting to miss even a shred of the Isle Royale experience, my plan was to hike around the entire perimeter of the island (or as much as I could by trail).
My availability and the ferry schedule allotted me several days of downtime, which I chose not to sit idle. Instead, as a training trip, I hiked the Pow Wow Trail in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. My thinking at the time was the nearly 30-mile long trail provided a good opportunity to experience the average 10-mile per day hiking pace necessary on the island.
Unfortunately, the aggressive pace of my training trip, performed in only two days, did a serious number on my poor feet (this was prior to any effort to lighten the load of my backpack). By the time I reached the end of the Pow Wow Trail it was impossible for me to tolerate wearing comfortable running shoes let alone hiking boots.
The ferry reservations were canceled, and I drove back to New York shoeless and disappointed, cursing my butchered and battered feet the entire way.
Upon reaching home, the Isle Royale brochure became another piece of memorabilia, filed away in a box, rarely seeing the light of day. That is, until last winter when I discovered it while furiously searching for some other article.
Studying the map while sitting in my apartment, the snow falling slowly and steadily outside, the idea of returning Isle Royale got me thinking; perhaps the time had come revisit the idea of exploring Isle Royale.
Other priorities shoved the Isle Royale idea onto the backburner of my mind, where it stayed until about mid-year. After my eight-day trip through the Five Ponds Wilderness in the Adirondacks, where I visited the remote Oven Lake, I decided the time was right for an exotic trip outside my typical comfort zone. My last such trip took place during the summer of 2009, when I journeyed out to California and Nevada to explore the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Yosemite and Death Valley National Parks.
An Isle Royale trip requires some serious planning, more so than the one to California, since I would be going solo and there is an extensive amount of decisions making to be done. Should I drive out or take an airplane? Should I take the ferry over to the island or go via seaplane? If by ferry, then which one? Should I pack all my food for the entire trip or figure out a resupply?
What I needed was information, and lots of it. I jumped on the Internet and made a fast search of books about Isle Royale on Amazon.com
Scheduling the trip had its own complications. Since the trip requires two weeks or more (depending on the mode of transportation out there), it was more difficult to schedule this trip than any other I have taken in a very long time, if ever.
A family wedding on my schedule during mid-August necessitated the trip being before or afterwards. With the U.S. Congress bickering about the debt ceiling, threatening the potential closure of the federal government, and thus the National Park system, I decided late August or early September would be the ideal time for my trip.
At the early planning stages, the most important decision revolved around the methods of transportation to the staging area (Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan or Grand Portage, Minnesota) and to the island itself. My strong frugality streak quickly ruled out taking a seaplane to Isle Royale, as it was the more costly option of reaching the island.
Airplane, car, train, and even bus were considered for the journey to the staging area. It became apparent quickly that airplane and car were the only viable options. Each had its own unique array of pros and cons in addition to some specific preparations.
An airplane flight required less precious vacation time, potentially cost more, required committing to a specific date and the cost increased the longer the commitment was put off. In addition, since fuel (and most flammables) was not allowed onboard the airplanes, I would have to stop and pick up my denatured alcohol at a local hardware store once arriving (and the disposal of any excess). And there was the issue of local travel from the airport to the motel, hardware store and ferry.
Driving my own vehicle allowed for a more flexible scheduling since I could wait until just a couple weeks before the trip to schedule the ferry ride and the motel accommodations (at least theoretically). Since I was going during the off-season for Isle Royale (the peak season ranges from late-July to mid-August), I did not anticipate any difficultly making reservations with a couple weeks’ notice. Although driving requires more vacation time (twice as much travel time), it potentially could be less costly too, especially with the small gas-sipping vehicle I purchased two years before.
Minong Trail
Details of transportation to and from the airports, and the necessity of purchasing fuel after arrival favored driving out to Michigan. As I dragged my heels on the decision and watched the airfare tickets increasing in cost day after day, the decision was largely taken out of my hands.
Driving to the upper peninsula of Michigan required selecting the best (i.e. shortest) route possible to save on both time and fuel. Mapquest and Google Maps were helpful in this regard with similar (but not identical) routes. Unfortunately, both required crossing the Canadian border and thus either a passport or an enhanced New York State drivers license.
With not enough time to obtain a passport, I decided to apply for an enhanced drivers license, which took a significantly less amount of time. Since I was traveling through Canada, I made the necessary request from my car insurance carrier for a Canada non-resident intra-province motor vehicle liability insurance card. This card is required to prove adequate liability coverage within Canada, as the typical proof of insurance in New York is not acceptable.
With driving being my primary method of transportation, I decided to take the Isle Royale Queen IV ferry from Copper Harbor instead of the Ranger III from Houghton, MI. The Ranger III requires a 6-hour boat ride to the island, while the Queen’s trip is about half that time. The difference is due to the location of Copper Harbor (at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula) relative to Houghton (at the base of the peninsula).
Copper Harbor, with its location near the very end of the Keweenaw Peninsula, was over an hour north of Houghton, and thus a total of about 950 miles from Syracuse. Despite the extra hour of driving, the much shorter ride over the potentially rough waters of Lake Superior was enough to convince me that the Queen IV was the boat for me.
Little Todd
Just in case the rough waters proved too much for my sensitive stomach, I purchased some meclizine hydrochloride tablets (that’s the generic form of Dramamine for my fellow cheapskates). Since I was planning on hiking up to eight miles after arriving at Isle Royale, I chose the less drowsy formula of the motion sickness pills. Hopefully, they would not even be necessary.
During early August, I called and made my reservation for the Queen IV. The reservation called for taking the boat out on Monday, August 30th and return from Isle Royale on Monday, September 12th. I followed this up with a reservation at the Bella Vista Motel, in Copper Harbor for the night before and night after the main trip to the island.
With the reservations complete, the only logistics remaining was packing for the trip. Packing my backpack was largely trivial given few decisions were required as I packed most of the same equipment used on every trip taken into the Adirondacks.
When it came to packing two weeks’ worth of food I was filled with trepidation. Could my poor GoLite Pinnacle backpack
Since my plan was to arrive at the Rock Harbor Ranger Station and hike to Windigo via the Minong Trail the first week, it would be possible to send a resupply package via USPS on the Voyageur II ferry. I could carry one week of food and pick up the second when I arrived at Windigo, approximately half way through the trip. In addition to the less weight, a resupply would allow me to be less careful in putting my menu together since I would not have to be as concerned with weight issues.
I decided to send a resupply package the day before leaving and set the delivery date for approximately September 4th. I packed a week’s worth of food (almost identical to the first week with the exception of a few dinners), some consumables I might need (bug repellent, sunscreen, etc.), and a few treats in an old cardboard box and headed off to the post office a day before starting on my road trip to Copper Harbor.
A lengthy explanation ensued at the post office, when I attempted to obtain return postage for the box. The box would be significantly lighter on the return trip (it would likely contain no food, some souvenirs too weighty to carry and perhaps some equipment I no longer needed). Describing all these circumstances to the postal employee unfortunate enough to wait on me was daunting.
After figuring out the return postage, I stuffed the stamps in the box and handed it over to the post office. My trepidation increased dramatically afterwards. My very survival (or at least my comfort) for the second half of the trip was now in the hands of the trusty United States Postal Service. May God have mercy on my soul.
Moose antlers
On the morning of August 27, 2011, I packed up my car for the drive to Copper Harbor, Michigan. Included were lunches for the next two days (peanut butter and jelly with some fruit), along with a cooler containing any food from my refrigerator that would not make through my two and half week absence. In addition, I included an overnight bag with changes of clothes for the trip out and back, as well as the necessary toiletries and other accessories.
When the car was packed, I started my sojourn to Isle Royale National Park. A trip never to be forgotten followed. Keep checking back here for a description of the drive to Copper Harbor to follow shortly.
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