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Isle Royale National Park (1 Viewer)

Scott Merryfield

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We just returned from a northern Michigan trip which included a four day stay at Isle Royale National Park, which is located in Lake Superior and requires a 54 mile, 3.5 hour ferry ride from Copper Harbor, Michigan to get to the park. It's actually closer to the northern Ontario shoreline (near Thunder Bay) and Portage, Minnesota, but requires a 7 hour ferry ride from Minnesota to the eastern part of the island due to all the ferry stops.

Isle Royale is Michigan's only national park, and is the most remote and least visited park in the lower 48 states. The only modes of transportation to get around the 45 mile long island are your feet, kayaks / canoes, or very expensive water taxis. The island is considered a "bucket list" for back country hikers /campers, as numerous people will hike the length of the island over a week's time, staying at rustic camp grounds throughout the park. The only "modern" accommodation is the Lodge (built in the 1920's) at Rock Harbor on the eastern end of the island. There is no cell phone coverage, Internet access, or television / radio -- it's a place to go to get away from things.

We stayed at the Lodge and hiked around the eastern end of the island. There are about 1,500 moose on the island, but unfortunately we did not see any -- nor did many other visitors, as the moose were not moving around much. The island used to be the home to grey wolves, too, but the population has been in decline and there are only two left. The National Park Service is in the process of deciding whether to re-introduce wolves to the island. Hopefully they make a positive choice, as the moose population is growing as the wolves decline (from 30 to 50 wolves have been on the island for many decades).

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Sunset over The Sleeping Giant, which is on the Ontario shoreline near Thunder Bay:

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Scott Merryfield

Senior HTF Member
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Thanks for the kind words, Sam. It means a lot coming from a fellow amateur photographer.

We really enjoyed Isle Royale. My wife was pretty apprehensive about the trip, but ended up enjoying the time we spent there. A couple of the hiking trails were challenging, with lots of rocks to climb up/down (the terrain reminded me of Acadia National Park in Maine). The ferry ride from Copper Harbor to the park was very smooth, but the return trip was a bit of an adventure, with 6-8 foot waves that caused my wife some anxiety. Only a couple of passengers got sick from the trip, but we couldn't get up to stretch our legs much due to the wildly rocking boat.

Here is a photo of the ferry coming into the dock at Rock Harbor on the island, to give you an idea of the size of the boat.

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Scott Merryfield

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These are from our visit to the cabin of Rolf and Candy Peterson on the island -- about a 15 mile boat ride from Rock Harbor. Rolf has headed up the wolf and moose study on Isle Royale since the 1970's, and is a leading expert on the animals.. We were lucky enough to meet them, as they had just returned from a 10 day canoe trip around the island. Candy even greeted us with baked rhubarb squares.

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They power their cabin with these wind turbines, plus some solar panels.

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