Isle Royale

From Wikipedia – The largest island in Lake Superior is a place of isolation and 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.

• Established: 4/3/1940
• Annual Visitors: 25,798
• Size: 571,790 acres

Michigan

Monday 5/16/22 – Friday AM 5/20/22

Elizabeth:

We arrived at Eric and Shelly’s, friends from the Appalachian Trail last year, who live right on Lake Huron in Alpena, Michigan. They are in the “Mitten” or northeast part of MI. Rangeley and Finn, their 8-year-old black lab, were best buds from the get go!

The four humans and 2 canines all hiked each day in the woods, across rocky and sandy beaches and to lighthouses all over the Alpena area. We finished each day with a beach walk, right from their backyard, to one of the many public parks in town. Not sure who slept better at the end of the day, the pups or us!

We went to Alpena’s NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration museum, educational center and sea life sanctuary. Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic, and many other historical vessels, frequented this location to do research here. 

The adventures, food, conversations and their water front home, along with the two dogs entertaining us all week, made for a very educational first real visit to the Great Lakes region. We loved it all and look forward to coming back.

Mackinac Island, Friday, 5/20/22

Elizabeth:

Our first time on Mackinac Island (pronounced by the locals as Mack-In-Awe, the French do not pronounce the “c”), in Lake Huron, located where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron come together, about 2 hours north of Alpena, was an unexpected and wonderful stop!  I have never visited or researched this area. Gary and I grew up in the northeast (VT) and moved to the southwest (AZ) 25 years ago. Michigan was not exactly “on the way”  ; )

Mackinac Island was actually the United States second national park, 3 years after Yellowstone, from 1875-1895.  But then it became MI’s first state park, and the county’s first state park, established in 1895 due to the island’s military fort closing and no longer being a federal property, Michigan stepped up and made it a state park.

It’s 3 miles long, north to south, but reminded us of the much bigger Catalina Island off Los Angeles, CA which we also enjoyed years ago. Both islands have plenty of walking/hiking trails; loads of history; a busy Main Street with ice cream and fudge shops, a marina, and plenty of eateries and tourist shops. Instead of golf carts – Catalina’s most popular mode of transportation – Mackinac Islanders and tourists use bicycles and horses. Automobiles were banned from the get go in 1898. Exceptions are emergency and park maintenance vehicles as well as resident’s snow machines which can only be used to cross the ice when the ferry shuts down in winter. You can rent a horse or bicycle or choose to take a horse drawn taxi or draft horse pulled guided tour. The island is well maintained. We saw many employees cleaning up after these beautiful, large, countless equine transporters. In 1779 American Revolutionary armies and the fur trade moved out to Mackinac Island. In the 1830’s fishing replaced the fur trading.

Shelly had to work : ( , but Eric (our friends from Alpena mentioned above) Gary, Rangeley and I took a 1/2 hour ferry ride to the island by going under “The Mighty Mac”, the Mackinac Bridge creating the dividing line between lakes Michigan and Huron. It’s the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. The total bridge spans close to 5 miles. Upon returning from the island, we drove over the bridge and found it interesting that the two middle lanes are a metal, open grate construction for the winds to pass through.

On this dog friendly island, we walked several miles to a natural arch, 146 ft above the water and 50 ft across. We then walked to the very cool 1763 “Skull Cave” where a British soldier saved by a local Ojibwa chief back then, hid out and was the lone survivor of that 1700’s massacre. We strolled through the 1830’s cemetery down to town to a 1800’s black smith shop. The proprietor, Chad Osborne, and his staff made my trip to the island! Chad was a finalist in March 2016 and voted Fan Favorite in March of 2017 on the History Channel’s Forged in Fire. I signed up to make a knife from a steal railroad spike. The spikes are made for “Forged in Memory”, the black smith shop on Mackinac Island. For $100, I spent over an hour with Chad’s apprentice Andrew, pounding and shaping the roughly 3/4-inch-thick square spike to a very sharp, twisted handle usable blade which is placed in a leather sheath. Enjoy the series of pictures taken from the many videos people graciously took of my crafting this really cool very usable souvenir!

Gary, Eric, myself and Rangeley walked past the 1887 built Grand Hotel. The wealthy, formally dressed guests would enjoy tea on the hotel’s 660-foot porch! The hotel has incredible gardens of spring daffodils and tulips showing themselves on this late May, mid 50’s degree day.

There were two movies filmed on the island, 1947 This Time for Keeps starring Jimmy Durante and 1979’s Somewhere in Time with Jane Seymore and Christopher Reeves.

We finished our memorable, self-guided island adventure by having lunch on a covered porch of a historic Inn, while layered up during a late afternoon torrential downpour including nature’s light show and booms! While running to the ferry dock, our raingear was almost useless but made for a memorable end to an incredibly fun day.

Isle Royale National Park, May 22, 2022

Elizabeth:

We dropped Rangeley off at NamaStay Pet Sitters. Tiffani, the sole proprietor who only takes in 4 dogs, was as nice and professional in person as she was on the phone and through emails when I booked a couple months ago. Dogs are not allowed on Isle Royale or the seaplane we took out there, so we dropped Rangeley at a puppy day care. Like a mom dropping their kindergartener off for the first day of school, I was nervous… this was the first time Rangeley has stayed with a stranger but he took to Tiffani right away. Ten minutes after we left, she sent me two quick videos of Rangeley happily playing in her back yard with other dogs. 

Isle Royale Seaplanes was 2 miles from Namastay in Hancock, MI. We (Gary, myself and our MI friend Eric) loaded into a 1957 De Havilland Beaver DCH-2. The remodeled plane was familiar, to Gary and I, as we flew in a 1958 De Havilland Beaver going to Gates of the Arctic NP in northern Alaska, this past March 2022. Unlike the frozen northern Alaska bush pilot flights, I was in unchartered territory having to wear a PFD (life jacket) and flying over open water in a sea plane! All was good, it got us there in 35 min. vs the 3 1/2 hr. ferry ride.

Upon landing in Isle Royale NP’s Rock Harbor, we were greeted by a woman taking pictures of us coming in. After speaking with her for a few minutes she told us our pilot, Abbie, the co-pilot Billy and the three of us were the first tourists to land this season. And, it was Abbie’s first flight to the island as well! Abbie was great. It was fun to be on her maiden “voyage” to Isle Royale! Billy, the co-pilot was training her.

We signed in at an unmanned temporary tented park ranger station. The small lodge out on the island doesn’t open until early June, although we are guessing it is fully booked through their short 4-month season. The park’s visitor center and gift shop doesn’t open until June 6th.

We chose a 4-mile loop trail for our first hike, to Suzy’s Cave. We walked along the water on the Rock Harbor side to the cave and returned on the Tobin’s Harbor Trail. The trails have been recently maintained by the park’s staff with chain-sawed trees removed from the path, new walking boards over the bogs and good, rustic signage. But there were a few places where the trees had fallen, water on the path and rocky, rooted sections.

Isle Royale is the largest island in Lake Superior, the largest fresh water lake in the world.  

The French named it Royal Island (in English) after King Louis XIV. Isle Royale (pronounced royal, not Roy-Al) is the French and official name. There are copper mining sites reportedly from 4000 years ago throughout the island. There’s 165 miles of hiking trails and 36 campgrounds. The average visitor stays 4 days, unlike 4 hours at other national parks. It is completely shut down in the winter. It’s 50 miles long and 9 miles wide. You can only access the island by seaplane or boat. Delays or unexpected overnights are common. The seaplane company actually gave us a printed instruction sheet: Foul Weather Policy. Communication is difficult as there’s no public WIFI on the island and our cell phones did not work.

The island has a large population of moose and gray wolves …sadly… neither of which we had the privilege to encounter during our one-day trip. We did see a few ducks, a bunny, squirrels and birds and loads of indications that the moose were definitely out there! Tee hee. 

There were picnic tables by the ferry dock which made for a great lunch spot. We brought sandwiches, chips and drinks with us, as well as water bottles to refill as needed. We were well warned (as previously mentioned) to bring overnight provisions as weather can sock you in unexpectedly. Both Gary and Eric packed their Appalachian Trail distance hiking packs with the ” just in case” items. We brought sleeping bags and pads, extra food, extra socks, pants and a shirt, a fire starter, etc. We all wore several layers on the very chilly plane ride over to the island and slowly peeled them off, placing them in our day packs, as the sun came out. Luckily the overcast, 36-degree morning turned into a sunny 48-degree day! No clouds and intermittent sun, paired with hiking, helped a lot to keep us warm! We did not have to spend the night although there are a few lean-tos (3 sided shelters) and a very pleasant lodge employee that told us where we could find him if we got “stranded”.

Our post lunch hike took us eastward toward the tip of the Rock Harbor peninsula to Scoville Point. I went about three fourths of the way out and then walked back alone making my total miles hiked for the day around 8. Eric and Gary went out to the point, about 10 miles for the day. 

We saw a few backpackers at lunch time that had come in on later flights. They were staying on the island for several days walking the 50 miles to the other harbor on the west side of the park. Besides that, we only saw a few park employees working and training for the busy summer season. 

We left the Island after 8 hours of fabulous adventuring in this very isolated park. We loved being the first tourists of the season on Isle Royale, the least visited national park in the lower 48!

We picked up Rangeley who greeted us with whining, 360 spins and body rubs. Tiffani said he was great. First day in kindergarten was a success. Although the puppy day care is called Namastay, a play on the Indian prayer word Namaste, loosely meaning “I bow to you” and unlike naps students used to take during kindergarten, he must not have relaxed the entire time he was there. We got to the hotel and after drinking a bowl of water, Rangeley jumped on the dog sheeted bed and fell fast asleep. He didn’t budge until 7AM, not his usual 5:45 to 6 AM wake up.

We are off to Voyageurs National Park next!