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  1. #1
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    Default how hard is the hiking on Isle Royale really?

    i know this is a random shot in the dark but figured it was worth a try.

    i'm contemplating a trip to isle royale and several times now i have happened upon admonishments that say things like "experienced backpackers should plan no more than 8-10 miles a day."

    to me this means one of two things- the NPS be trippin' or the hiking here is on the level of hiking in the whites.

    i suppose the trails could be similarly rugged to the whites, but given the lack of any serious elevation, i still have a tough time taking their advice as something that should be heeded.

    i wish the NPS was more consistent about these things. they seem to on one hand make all sorts of hyperbolic warnings of imminent doom for doing some rather innocuous things, while on the other (though less commonly) telling people "yeah sure, take a 25 mile day hike over 2 mountain passes, you can do it! no problem!"

    it seems like the deciding factor is the gloom and doom is often done in places where unwitting travellers are present in droves and arguably need to be saved from themselves. (ex- the grand canyon)

    applying that concept here, i don't see isle royale as likely to be a place that some hapless soul will decide to venture to and bite off way more than they can chew. so maybe the hiking there is really THAT tough? but i digress...

    so is hiking here really that hard? if i plan on doing even 12 or 14 miles in a day i'm going to fall over unable to continue at the 9 or 10 mile mark for some reason? is doing 12 miles here somehow harder than doing say.... franconia notch to galehead in 1 day? or grafton notch south for 10 or so miles? or kinsman notch to franconia notch?

    thanks for any insight.

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    http://switchbackkids.com/three-days...national-park/


    I've read reports like the above with mud slowing folks down... also camping is like the smokies where you are staying at set intervals. If the mud is as bad as they say I could see it being tough to hoy 20 mpd to get to next site.

    I believe all designated sites are 8 to 10 miles apart.

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    My wife and I hiked across it in 2004. It is comparable the AT in difficulty and I don't mean the Whites, but an avearage section in say Georgia. We did about 15 a day on average. It is rocky like the PA AT in places but not loose rocks. Parts are similar to the ridge walking in Kitteney Ridge in NJ. You should go for it. You will see moose and the biggest island on the biggest lake on the biggest island on the biggest lake in North America. We took the boat from Grand Portage and started in Windigo. We went the long way around the south part of the island and then on the ridge to the Rock Harbor Lodge. From there we took the boat around the island then back to GP.

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    Quote Originally Posted by steve_zavocki View Post
    My wife and I hiked across it in 2004. It is comparable the AT in difficulty and I don't mean the Whites, but an avearage section in say Georgia. We did about 15 a day on average. It is rocky like the PA AT in places but not loose rocks. Parts are similar to the ridge walking in Kitteney Ridge in NJ. You should go for it. You will see moose and the biggest island on the biggest lake on the biggest island on the biggest lake in North America. We took the boat from Grand Portage and started in Windigo. We went the long way around the south part of the island and then on the ridge to the Rock Harbor Lodge. From there we took the boat around the island then back to GP.

    awesome, thanks. thats what i was looking for.

    definitely going to go for it (well, pending the weather) but just more getting an idea of how far i can go in how many days.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Huntmog View Post
    http://switchbackkids.com/three-days...national-park/




    I've read reports like the above with mud slowing folks down... also camping is like the smokies where you are staying at set intervals. If the mud is as bad as they say I could see it being tough to hoy 20 mpd to get to next site.

    I believe all designated sites are 8 to 10 miles apart.

    i am aware of the camping restrictions. the thing about the sites also though is they arent all on a linear trail and im not necessarily planning on just straight line hiking the island end to end, so theres possibly (havent examined it to closely) spots where hopping from trail to trail will get you from shelter A to shelter B in 12 or 13 miles.

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    I have hiked Isle Royale on several occasions over the past 20 years.

    I took the whole family when my youngest was just 9 yo. Even with the 9 yo and many breaks to pick blue berries, we still managed to easily cover 8-10 miles/day.
    The Minong Ridge trail, advertised as the "most difficult trail in Michigan" is not so difficult that a motivated hiker cannot cover 12-15 miles and still have plenty of daylight left to spend around camp. I am a middle aged man but have managed several 15+ miles days on Isle Royale.
    One couple I met on the ferry from Grand Portage stepped off the ferry at Windigo Tuesday AM with a nothing but a few gallons of water and an itinerary to hike the entirety of the Greenstone Ridge trail and catch the same ferry at Rock Harbor for a Wednesday 9:00 AM departure to return to Grand Portage ( roughly 35 miles in less than 24 hours).

    So, no. The hiking on Isle Royale is not hard. Also, Summer days are pretty long on Isle Royale. You could hike by ambient light until nearly 10PM. However, Isle Royale is breathtakingly beautiful. It is common to stop hiking just because you'll want to enjoy 'this one spot" for a while. And you might ask yourself, "Is it more important to cover 2 miles or fill my Smartwater bottle with blue berries?" You'll chose: Hike an additional 4 miles or swim in the clearest water you've ever seen? Hike an additional 6 miles or, lie on a rock and be simultaneously warmed my the sun and chilled by the breeze off Lake Superior.

    Keep in mind, you are not bound to the itinerary on Isle Royale. If you plan 10 mile days but, decide you want to hike 20, that is OK.

    Good Luck, Enjoy your trip to IRNP

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    Quote Originally Posted by OCDave View Post
    I have hiked Isle Royale on several occasions over the past 20 years.

    I took the whole family when my youngest was just 9 yo. Even with the 9 yo and many breaks to pick blue berries, we still managed to easily cover 8-10 miles/day.
    The Minong Ridge trail, advertised as the "most difficult trail in Michigan" is not so difficult that a motivated hiker cannot cover 12-15 miles and still have plenty of daylight left to spend around camp. I am a middle aged man but have managed several 15+ miles days on Isle Royale.
    One couple I met on the ferry from Grand Portage stepped off the ferry at Windigo Tuesday AM with a nothing but a few gallons of water and an itinerary to hike the entirety of the Greenstone Ridge trail and catch the same ferry at Rock Harbor for a Wednesday 9:00 AM departure to return to Grand Portage ( roughly 35 miles in less than 24 hours).

    So, no. The hiking on Isle Royale is not hard. Also, Summer days are pretty long on Isle Royale. You could hike by ambient light until nearly 10PM. However, Isle Royale is breathtakingly beautiful. It is common to stop hiking just because you'll want to enjoy 'this one spot" for a while. And you might ask yourself, "Is it more important to cover 2 miles or fill my Smartwater bottle with blue berries?" You'll chose: Hike an additional 4 miles or swim in the clearest water you've ever seen? Hike an additional 6 miles or, lie on a rock and be simultaneously warmed my the sun and chilled by the breeze off Lake Superior.

    Keep in mind, you are not bound to the itinerary on Isle Royale. If you plan 10 mile days but, decide you want to hike 20, that is OK.

    Good Luck, Enjoy your trip to IRNP
    awesome thanks.

    i hear you about stopping and not rushing, and its good to know i'm not bound by a set itinerary (didnt think i was, but wasnt sure).

    really just trying to get a sense of what i was potentially getting myself into as far as that ominous sounding NPS warning. especially when it comes time to make it back to the ferry and get off the island at the right time.

  8. #8

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    I've hiked the Minong Ridge trail from McCargo cove to windigo. Back when I did it like 11 years ago, I was not a frequent hiker and found it hard. Now that I hike a lot, looking back the trails were not that hard, at least on the minong ridge (that's all I've done), a bit difficult to follow at times and overgrown but nothing too crazy. If you can hike 10 miles without problem in AT in New Jersey or PA and certainly if you are a comfortable in the whites Isle royal will be a piece of cake.

  9. #9

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    I will also say, if you can go in August or September, that might be a better time. We went in June and the mosquito's were horrid, especially when you were inland.

  10. #10
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    The NPS regulates for the lowest common denominator.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Venchka View Post
    The NPS regulates for the lowest common denominator.
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    in general, perhaps even 80% of the time, thats true. but not universally. if it was, i'd disregard such warnings.

    ive been to places, mostly the parks in the rockies, where they are much more encouraging (there is a 25 mile hike with a shuttle back to the start that is encouraged in glacier, for instance, as a dayhike).

    and sometimes even in places where a lot of handholding goes on (grand canyon) some of the warnings arent just being overly cautious (nankoweap, from all i've heard and read, for example).

    being isle royale isnt a heavily visited park i wouldnt have thought they felt the need to think in terms of saving the ultra foolhardy from themselves, so i figured it was worth checking.

  12. #12

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    You can definitely do more than 8-10 miles a day. Some up and down but not that much vertical rise/drop at a time. Agree with those who said go later in the season to reduce bugs - but don't leave the headnet at home even in September.
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    when I did it 40 yrs ago 8-10 a day was good planning, made a nice 5 day trip end to end

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    Quote Originally Posted by George View Post
    when I did it 40 yrs ago 8-10 a day was good planning, made a nice 5 day trip end to end
    different strokes my friend...

    to me, 8-10 miles if the terrain is not very difficult means a lot of sitting around twiddling thumbs and so forth. if thats your idea of a fun time more power to you. it isnt mine. i go hiking to hike, not sit.

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    getting more into specific planning and thought i'd toss this idea out there for those whove been to the island-

    if one gets off the ferry at rock harbor at 2 or 3 or whenever it lands, heads out at lets say 4pm (and the sun is up until 10! no joke, sunset next week is listed as 9:59pm) having the rest of that day, followed by 4 full days, followed by a short day back into rock harbor to make the 3pm ferry departure, that makes basically 4 full days of hiking and 2 days that are almost, we'll call them 2/3rd days, do you think taking greenstone ridge to windigo and then looping back on minong ridge is possible?

    just doing the raw numbers, thats about 80 miles at most in 4 full days plus parts of 2 others. and with the sun being up until 10pm that feels like a no brainer.

    and yet, even reading some dedicated isle royale hiking forums, it feels like a lot of people would say that was impossibly hard. i found a thread speculating on weather it was possible to hike the minong ridge in 2 days and the answers are mostly on the order of "well.... i mean, it might be POSSIBLE." its 30 miles of trail. if that cant be done in 2 days it basically means its the mahoosucs. i cant see how that can be, i think maybe theyre all a bunch of wusses.

  16. #16

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    I think "Odd Man Out" may have hiked there, hit him up.

  17. #17
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    I do not recall the trail being especially challenging - less so than say the GA section of the AT - and yeah, I have a hard time hacking short hours/ miles to the point where I do not hike with my younger kids like I did the older ones

    IMO - with the expense/ logistics for Isle Royal, 5-6 on island would be the min
    plenty of options/ loops to fit daily milage for most

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    Quote Originally Posted by tdoczi View Post
    different strokes my friend...

    to me, 8-10 miles if the terrain is not very difficult means a lot of sitting around twiddling thumbs and so forth. if thats your idea of a fun time more power to you. it isnt mine. i go hiking to hike, not sit.
    oh, and you really missed the point of my post- the NPS is basically giving out 40 yo info

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    Tdoczi you mentioned other forums that discussed Isle Royale backpacking. Can you share the websites? Isle Royale sounds like a trip I'd like to try.

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  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by OCDave View Post
    I have hiked Isle Royale on several occasions over the past 20 years.

    I took the whole family when my youngest was just 9 yo. Even with the 9 yo and many breaks to pick blue berries, we still managed to easily cover 8-10 miles/day.
    The Minong Ridge trail, advertised as the "most difficult trail in Michigan" is not so difficult that a motivated hiker cannot cover 12-15 miles and still have plenty of daylight left to spend around camp. I am a middle aged man but have managed several 15+ miles days on Isle Royale.
    One couple I met on the ferry from Grand Portage stepped off the ferry at Windigo Tuesday AM with a nothing but a few gallons of water and an itinerary to hike the entirety of the Greenstone Ridge trail and catch the same ferry at Rock Harbor for a Wednesday 9:00 AM departure to return to Grand Portage ( roughly 35 miles in less than 24 hours).

    So, no. The hiking on Isle Royale is not hard. Also, Summer days are pretty long on Isle Royale. You could hike by ambient light until nearly 10PM. However, Isle Royale is breathtakingly beautiful. It is common to stop hiking just because you'll want to enjoy 'this one spot" for a while. And you might ask yourself, "Is it more important to cover 2 miles or fill my Smartwater bottle with blue berries?" You'll chose: Hike an additional 4 miles or swim in the clearest water you've ever seen? Hike an additional 6 miles or, lie on a rock and be simultaneously warmed my the sun and chilled by the breeze off Lake Superior.

    Keep in mind, you are not bound to the itinerary on Isle Royale. If you plan 10 mile days but, decide you want to hike 20, that is OK.

    Good Luck, Enjoy your trip to IRNP
    I'd rate the Minong Ridge Tr as one of the harder trails on IRNP with its rocky ascents and some scrambling but it's not steep or necessarily as long as say climbing to the top of Blood Mt in GA on the AT. Tdoczi, you can probably find write ups in various internet places including the NPS IRNP site on individual trail difficulty. There are no huge or incredibly steep ascent/descents though. I find the Greenstone Ridge, Feldtmann Ridge, and from Rock Harbor past Daisy Farm CS(crowded, sometimes mucky, often buggy in summer) to Lake LeSage or Richie to be very tame trails. Getting up to the Greenstone Ridge from this latter trail is relatively short and not that hard considering, I'm guesstimating, the greatest ascent is like 250 ft on any one trail.

    Agree that CS's are spaced nicely apart for various itineraries.

    As far as mosquitos several sites are more notorious for the vampires BUT Tdoczi HERE THIS, there are screened in elevated roofed individual party shelters available at SOME CS areas that you could avail yourself. Also, IF going during skeeter, gnat, and fly high season some of the CS's on the coast may very well offer a nice breeze cutting down on the aerial attacks.

    The CS's near Rock Harbor and Windigo get the most use.

    With the ferries making several stops to pick up and discharge people AND kayaks/canoes BEYOND Rock Harbor and just Windigo including some paddling prearranging some rentals is a GREAT way to mix it up on an IRNP hike and paddling excursion! Three NP's in the lower 48 that IMO one should definitely consider throwi ng some paddling into the backpacking mix are: Channel Islands, Everglades, and Isle Royale. It truly brings another dimension to experiencing these NP's!

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