Isle Royale National Park, MI

Getting away from it all in a very unique location !

The last two days we have been at Isle Royale National Park with a complete “digital blackout” – so we have a bit to fill in !

We left Munising and the Pictured Rocks Lakeshore and headed west further along the lake. We didn’t have too much to see today ahead of our rendevous at Houghton further west for our Isle Royale transfer at 2pm.
The traffic was fairly thin heading west but a steady flow east – probably an indication of the end of the “summer holidays” and people heading home. It was certainly a lot cooler and the forecast for the next few days – especially where we were headed – was coolish temperatures.

So for todays drive Adrienne had found us a few quirky stops – to start though we had not gone far and we drove through the town of Christmas, MI, which, as you would expect, was all things Christmas – even a Christmas Casino ! But the first stop was Lakenland a “sculpture park” where some guy had created a drive through exhibition of welded creations, the result of his neighbours complaining about them all in his front yard ! I can probably see why !

Next was Da Yoopers – the self proclaimed “tourist trap” which was predominantly a vast array of souveniers inside and a vast array of tacky structures outside – lived up to the hype !

The next major town was Marquette where we stopped at the maritime museum to look at the lighthouse. The harbour district here looks like it has gone through a refurbishment as there were many nice apartments, parkland and bike tracks nearby.

We pushed on and arrived in Houghton a bit after 12.30 and we headed for the riverside park for coffee. It was a nice spot – many of the towns along the lake have gone to the effort to make their lake or river access areas very inviting. But our departure time was beckoning and so we made our way across the river to Hancock and our departure point on the river – at Isle Royale Sea Planes !

As you have no doubt guessed, Isle Royale is an island, and is located in Lake Superior not far from the Canadian border. There are a number of towns along the Michigan and Minnesota lakeside which have ferries departing for Isle Royale but these can take over 6 hours to get to the main “resort” area on the island at Rock Harbour. The quicker access is via seaplane so we opted for this option and the 35 minute flight across the lake.

This meant a major reduction in our luggage so we had bought two foldup bags with us to pack in a couple of days clothing and a few other essentials. These, with our “carryon essentials”, would go on the plane with us while the rest we would leave locked up in our car at the seaplane base.

The flight was full – 4 of us – and there was not much in the way of a security check. Adrienne kept looking for the lounge but to no avail – the waiting area was a couple of picnic tables and a port-a-loo ! Our luggage was weighed – max 50lbs each – before it was wheeled away and we watched as it was stowed in the floats of the plane. We were each given our lifejacket to put on and the mandatory pre-flight safety talk. Then we boarded – Adrienne in the back, the other couple in the middle and me up the front with the pilot. Then we were on our way !

There were a few clouds around Houghton but as we crossed the lake shoreline there were blue skies ahead of us. We cruised at about 6-7,000 feet and the flight was very smoooth except for a few bumps as we manouvered our way through a group of clouds. Isle Royale came into view ahead and the plane approached with a swing from the north into fairly calm waters between two land sections to dock at Rock Harbour. A totally cool experience ! We certainly can’t get much further north in the USA – I think we would be less than 10 miles from the border in the lake – as we swept in from the north my phone actually picked up enough of a signal for Telstra to welcome me to Canada !

Our bags were collected by a porter who took them directly to the lodge as we headed to the Visitor Centre for a briefing from a National Park ranger – certainly something we hadn’t experienced previously but this was no ordinary National Park ! The other couple – probably a little older than us – were staying at the lodge for one night then heading off to backpack for 3 days. So the briefing was a combination of general information about the island as well as backpacking specific matter. Just as well as we didn’t have our 0.4 micron water filter with us ! After our talk we showed our Natonal Parks pass and drivers licence – the ranger being totally flabbergasted that we were from Australia – and made our way to the Lodge office to check-in.

Like many of the National Park lodges we have stayed at the rooms are pretty basic but the locations are spectacular. Our verandah looks over a few scattered little islands and then over the vast Lake Superior to the south. When I say basic this one is probably the most basic we have encountered – not even a fridge. We made the mistake of buying a bottle of wine at the Lodge shop before we realised but thanks to the 29th amendment of the American Constitution that ice machines must be located in every hotel 😂, we managed to get our wine cold and be able to sit on our verandah and enjoy a drink with the view !

It is not suprising there are a few “hiccups” in a place like this – Due to its isolated location, it is the least visited national park in the “lower 48” and has the 4th lowest annual visitor count amongst all 61 national parks – the 3 lowest are the even more extremely located Alaskan ones ! In 2018 it had less than 30,000 visitors for the year – well it’s short “annual” season of about 4 months.

We had a brief wander around the harbour area before making our way to dinner. There aren’t many options – the “fancy” restaurant is only open from 5.30 till 7.30pm but the “grill” is open 7am till 7.30pm. We decided “fancy” for our first evening and arriving at 6.10pm managed one of the last available tables. By 6.15pm they were queueing up ! We ordered a drink and Adrienne’s wine came but my beer was “not cold enough” so it would be coming soon. Our salad (as in the staple “soup or salad” which just comes with many meals) arrived and then there was nothing. Tables around us ordered, ate and left while we waited. Eventually we flagged the waiter and said we hadn’t had my beer or our main meal. My beer eventually came but the food didn’t – we reminded the waiter again before it finally arrived – the restaurant was nearly empty by this stage ! Anyway, it turned out very tasty but totally “un-American style” service we usually experience !

We then wandered back to our cabin and sat on our verandah and watched the sun disappear and the stars come out before falling into bed with the sound of the lake waves lapping the shoreline below us.

Day 2

We started day 2 with breakfast at the “grill” – the “fancy” breakfast had just ended as we arrived at 8.30am ! They basically serve the same breakfast menu so no matter. Whilst we had our breakfast, we watched out the window as all the “serious” visitors head off in various directions for their hiking activity – some off on foot whilst others boarded boats and water taxis taking them to all points around the island to trek and camp. The place then almost seemed deserted !

Our choice was to do the Stoll Trail nearby which would take us out to the far point of the peninsula we were on – Scoville Point – and wind back to the starting point in a figure “8”. The weather has been great – cool when the breeze blows but nice and warm in the sun.

Our hike took about 2 1/2 hours, arriving back about 12.30. Then after a coffee sitting on our back verandah, we wandered back around near the Lodge HQ and decided to go back to look at the seaplane dock. Now Adrienne has been desperate to see a moose in these parts. My expectations of this were fairly slim and in fact when we were at the Ranger station yesterday there had been a sign saying the “moose activity” had been very low. As our main activity was around the more populated area I suspected that unless, by some chance, we saw one on our morning hike out to Scoville point, it wasn’t going to happen.

As we reached the trail to the seaplane dock, it intersected with another trail heading to more distant parts of the island. A couple of women hikers came past and asked if we were heading along the trail. We said no, however they told us there was a moose about 1/4 mile down the trail they had come along – so our plans changed very rapidly ! Off we went and sure enough a large bull moose was sitting amongst the trees just off the trail – a bit hard to see but unmistakenly a moose ! How amazing ! We watched for a bit and took photos as best we could then wandered back – still amazed at our luck !

After our “fancy” dinner last night we opted for the “grill” tonight. We went down about 4pm to sit in the outside section and have a couple of drinks before we ate. It was very pleasant – and even a bit warm – in the late afternoon sun, as we had a quiet drink and watched the day hikers filter back to the lodge. One of the “local specialities” in this neck of the woods – well Michigan generally – is pasties, as in “cornish pasties”. Immigrants started the tradition and there is now competition everywhere advertising “the best pasty”. They had one on the menu so we decided we had to give it a go – not too bad at all – then had nice burgers to finish.

This evening, after another stroll around the harbour, we have been getting our blogs together so we are ready to get back on the air tomorrow evening when we reach “digital civilisation” again. It has been very soporiphic listening to the lake sounds and watching the few boats pass by outside our window as we typed ! Isle Royale has been a very different experience for us but totally enjoyable.

Tomorrow our seaplane is scheduled to leave at 11 am to take us back to Houghton and our car as we then move south into Wisconsin – and the next part of our adventure !

Today’s Tour Trivia – Standing anywhere in the state of Michigan, a person is within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes.