Isle Royale National Park -- report
 

We were in Isle Royale for a few days earlier this month and had a terrific time. We took the ferry from Copper Harbor, MI, which takes a little over 3 hours. This seems a much better option than the ferry from Houghton, which takes 6 hours even though it's only about an hour's drive to Copper Harbor. Most of the people on our ferry were going hiking and camping, and this is a park that attracts hard-core outdoorsy-types. We were fortunate to have very good weather, so each day we did hikes and other things outdoors like canoeing and boating.

We stayed at the Rock Harbor Lodge. The Lodge is not inexpensive -- more than $200/night, but quite spartan. The rooms are small, do not have televisions, and are very basic. They do, however, look right out onto Lake Superior, so the views are amazing. (If you get a room on the lower level you'll have a balcony; we were on the second level so didn't get one.) It is actually quite fitting for the park that the lodge accomodations be nothing fancy, since the park is so beautiful and the purpose of visiting is to be close to nature and enjoy the wilderness, not to enjoy a luxury hotel. I suppose the price is what it is because of the island's isolation and the fact that they have to bring all supplies in by boat. We actually really loved it (aside from grumbling about the price). It has a real "camp" feel and the lack of modern touches helped us feel like we had gotten away from everything. Absolutely no cell phone coverage (for our Verizon Wireless phones, at least), and we didn't miss it. Instead of going back to the room at night to watch TV, we stayed outside to watch the sunset (which takes place after 10 pm in the summer) and observe the many loons that nest in the surrounding waters.

The food options at the lodge are a restaurant that has a fixed-price menu for each meal and a "snack bar" that serves sandwiches, burgers, etc. We weren't too fond of the restaurant so ate at the snack bar each night. The restaurant is fairly pricey and the food is only so-so. Honestly, the food is not terrific but is passable.

Overall we loved Isle Royale, and want to go back and try camping next time. Now that would be an adventure!

We came to Isle Royale from Minnesota on a much smaller boat. They dropped us on a dock on the north side and we backpacked for 3 days... before ultimately getting to the lodge. Then the same company picked us up and took us back to Minnesota. It was a nice mix...

ps1111,

How was the ride on the boat? I know they upgraded recently. The nickname for the Copper Harbor boat is not pretty.

Were you lucky enough to see any moose? They are on the bottom end of a population swing right now. My DH and DD were excited to meet the Isle Royale wolf expert on the Ranger III back to Houghton.

We have gone over to Isle Royale many times from Grand Portage, MN - both in private boats and on the two boats that leave from there. It has always been a good trip over but we never go when the weather is predicted to be bad. It truly is a beautiful location - can imagine how remote it felt to the people who used to live on the Island - even if they were only there for the summer.

The ride over from Grand Portage was fine... but the ride back looked like the opening episode of Gilligan's island. We were all so sea sick - it was the longest day of my life. There is the ability to fly and land on the water - and after the return trip that seemed like the best option.

We saw lots of moose - but its been around 10 years since we went. Our daughter was 2 years old and rode in our backpack when we hiked. People seemed more amazed to see a small child than the moose.

We were lucky enough to have calm days for both of our ferry rides. I have a very sensitive stomach/inner-ear (whatever it is that causes motion sickness) and was worried about getting sick, but it wasn't bad at all. A few times I made myself go outside to get fresh air, because it can get stuffy inside and that can make the motion worse, but I never felt sick. We did overhear people one day we were on the island saying that the ferry ride that day had been rough and that people got sick. So I think it just depends on the weather. Because Lake Superior is so huge, it can get really rough.

We were lucky enough to see an adult and baby moose while hiking one day. We may have heard a wolf howl too but we weren't sure. We talked to a few hikers who said they were disappointed they didn't see more moose, but also described hearing multiple wolves howling back and forth while camping, which sounded really neat.