Isle Royale is a U.S. National Park, the largest island in Lake Superior. It is a place of isolation; a car-free wilderness. Along with its many shipwrecks, waterways, and hiking trails, the park also includes over 400 smaller islands within 4.5 miles of its shores. There are only 20 mammal species on the entire island, though the relationship between its wolf and moose populations is especially unique. The Greenstone Ridge Trail links the Windigo Harbor in the west and Rock Harbor in the east. The 19th-century Rock Harbor Lighthouse has a small museum. (Source: NPS Website)
Established: April 3, 1940
Size: 571,790 acres
Rank: 18
#Visitors in 2018: 25,798
Visited June 2017- My fiance (at the time) along with two of our best friends spent 3 nights at the Rock Harbor Lodge on the east end of the island, the only lodge in the park. We booked a package that included a round-trip ferry (Isle Royale Queen IV) ride out of Copper Harbor, MI, three nights accommodation at the Rock Harbor Lodge and all meals. Getting to Isle Royale was an adventure in itself. First, we had to drive 8 hours to Copper Harbor from our home in SE Wisconsin. We had to stay the night in Copper Harbor in order to catch the ferry at 8 am the next morning. The ferry ride took more than 3 hrs. Once we docked in Rock Harbor, we had to carry our bags to the Lodge as there are no cars on the island. The lodge was not very far, thankfully. Our accommodations were comfortable and the view from our balcony spectacular. We were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather the entire 3 days!!
Copper Harbor
Our ferry ride to Rock Harbor was very smooth. We could see Rock Harbor Lodge and Snug Harbor as we approached. The views of the coastline around this area were beautiful. These photos were taken are various times over the 3 days we were there.
Our first afternoon was spent hiking the Albert Stoll Memorial Trail to Scoville Point, a 4.2 mile loop. There were beautiful views of the coastline and Lake Superior all along the way.
After a dinner of white fish tacos at the Rock Lodge Restaurant, we took a sunset cruise to Raspberry Island. On the way back, we cruised around Blake Point where we got views of Thunder Bay in Canada.
On our first full day on the island, we took a boat cruise to Rock Harbor Lighthouse, the Moose Research area and Edison Fishery. We met the delightful couple who lived and volunteered at the Fishery by giving tours during the summer. After the tour of the Fishery, we hiked to the lighthouse and the Mooseum, the location of a research station for studying the moose/wolf interactions on the island. The researchers who live there were away at the time of our visit, so we were only able to walk around the outdoor displays.
The prey to predator relationship of Isle Royale’s moose and wolves has a direct effect on both species’ populations. Wolves help stabilize the moose herd by preying on the old, young, and ill, while strong moose numbers allow for stable winter hunting for the wolves. (Source: NPS Website)
When we returned to the Fishery to catch our boat back to Rock Harbor, we were greeted with some warm ginger cake baked by the park volunteers. Our boat captain and first mate kept busy fishing and kayaking while we were hiking around.
After we returned from our boat cruise, we ate lunch then went on a hike to Suzy’s Cave along Tobin Harbor trail, a 4-mile roundtrip hike. The views of the harbor were beautiful, although Suzy’s Cave was a bit underwhelming….. still a beautiful walk through the forest.
Our day was still not done. We had a delightful Happy Hour on our deck with our friends and a delicious steak dinner at the lodge before taking another short hike to America Dock via the Kneutson Trail, close to the Lodge. The light was gorgeous!
On our second full day on the island, we took a long hike to Mt. Franklin, a 10-mile roundtrip hike. This was to be our best hope to see a moose which was the primary goal of our friend Ken. We were well on our way to the end of the trail before we saw a moose… and boy were we excited, especially Ken! We also saw a fox and beautiful scenery!
We returned to the lodge for Happy Hour and a nice dinner and a very satisfied feeling!
We woke up on our last morning feeling sad about our impending departure, but at least we had one more excursion. We checked out of the lodge, had breakfast, left our bags at the lodge and set off in rented canoes. We canoed in Tobin Harbor, stopping off to hike up to Louise Lookout, a 2-mile roundtrip hike. We watched seaplanes taking off from the dock in Tobin Harbor.
We were so sad to leave Isle Royale, but knew we had been blessed with a most amazing visit. The weather could not have been more spectacular, particularly for a June weekend in northern Lake Superior. We were also rewarded with the most amazing collection of wild flowers; more variety than I’ve ever seen in one place. The photos I posted so far didn’t show this intimate part of our visit. It seemed more appropriate to create a Wildflower Collection on its own.
