This was our first trip to Isle Royale.  Our small group initially consisted of myself, my wife, our almost 15 year old daughter.  After other vacation plans fell through we thought of Isle Royale, since as soon as we tell anyone we are backpackers, they immediately ask if we've been there.  A little quick internet research identified our options (Mike T's site was a great deal of help…thanks again, Mike)

We have backpacked every summer for the past 6 years and have experienced some grueling 3-5 day hikes in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and along the Lake Superior shore, so the prospect of putting together a 5 day wilderness hike on 2 weeks notice wasn't particularly daunting.

After reading everything we could find, we opted to take the Voyageur II out of Grand Portage (partly because my wife isn't good with long boat rides, partly to avoid the crowds on the eastern end of the island, and partly to have an excuse to drive the beautiful north shore of Lake Superior)  on to McCargoe Cove and hike back to Windigo via the Minong Ridge trail, with the option to shift to the Greenstone if the leg from McCargoe to Todd Harbor proved more difficult than expected. I called to see if we could get on the boat sometime during our window of opportunity. (We're both educators so we had some options) and found room on the 27th.  I then booked a room through the internet at the Grand Marais Inn for the 26th, printed out the confirmation and filed it with the other paperwork for the trip.

My brother had expressed interest in trying backpacking in the past so, on a lark, we asked if he would like to join us.  Another call to Grand Portage and he was on the boat.  We we're able to outfit him pretty easily out of our collection of gear and a few trips to the outfitters.  We already had 2 tents and my old external frame pack.  I urged him to start walking every day.

We left Flint at 7am on the 25th, intending to camp that evening at Pukaskwa National Park on Lake Superior's northeastern shore  (there is a coastal trail there that is on my list if things to do before I get too old!)  By the time we got to Marathon it was raining so we opted for a room at the Best Western, a wise move since it rained all night.  Heading west through the foggy mist the next morning I spotted a moose in a roadside swamp.  Stopped in Thunder Bay for some final supplies and headed for the Grand Marais Inn.  Drove through Grand Marais….no Grand Marais Inn!  Stopped at the tavern to ask…no one has heard of the Grand Marais Inn!!  Pulled out the reservation confirmation - no phone number, no address!  Uh ohh! Sure hope this isn't a portent of things to come.  A phone call from a kind waitress to her daughter cleared up the mystery.  It's the Tonawanda Motel, right across the street.  Turns out the sign hasn't been changed yet.  Got checked in and headed to town to find a good meal, our last taste of civilization.  Had fine dinner, microbrews, and service at the Gunflint Tavern (We highly recommend it!) then back to the mystery motel to pack our packs.
Left at 6:15 to be at the dock by 7.  No time to find coffee.  Already at the dock were four forty-something brothers and their father with canoes.  Figured it had to be John I. from this board.  Made quick introductions and chatted on and off with then through the remainder of the voyage.  What a nice bunch! They too were headed to McCargoe Cove as well as a group of Boy Scouts and a young couple.  We left the dock at 8 on the dot and arrived at Windigo around 10:30.  The lake was very smooth.   Free coffee on the boat was a godsend.   Ranger Lisa gave the Leave No Trace talk, we got our permits, checked a bag of clothes at the store for the trip home, and headed for McCargoe Cove at 11.  Many of us rotated naps on the engine hatch covers. The noise and vibration puts you right out.  We arrived at McCargoe around 1:30.  The boat hadn't even left the dock before a bull moose wandered out of the trees and into the water across the cove, a mere 70 feet from a small pleasure boat.  After final adjustment we said farewell to the brothers and headed toward Todd Harbor around 2:30.

The first section of the trail gave no warm up.  It ascended quickly to the rocky ridge and we found it tough going as we adjusted to our packs.  The first day with the packs is always the roughest.  There were many blueberries along the way, and the thimbleberries were just starting to ripen.  The trail  got easier as we approached Todd Harbor, becoming a fairly easy walk on a soft woods trail.  By the end of the day's hike, my brother was obviously favoring his right knee.  We set up camp, had dinner of tortellini w/ pesto and sundried tomato, and cleaned up.  A small rabbit appeared, and while the other three of us were gawking, my wife teased, "we came all this way to see a bunny!"  We spoke to a ranger who was staying in the shelter and she suggested shifting to the Greenstone as it would be easier on the tender knee.  She also warned us that the Island Mine water source was dried up should we decide to take that route.  We thanked her and decided to wait until we were at the junction with the Hidden Lake trail to make our decision.  Thunder and lighting sent us scurrying to the tents.  It rained steadily most of the night but the day dawned clear.

We hit the trail at 10.  The first section was easy.  Brother was feeling better, and after some discussion at the junction, he led the way toward Little Todd Harbor, opting for the Minong.  Most of the trail was on soft surface through woods and bogs, not too rugged.  It was hot and sweltering though and we stopped to rest and drink water often.  We were drenched in sweat.  As we neared the campground I went ahead of the group to filter water (we had gone through 2 litres each in the heat) and arrived at Little Todd Harbor at 3.  The others followed by ½ hour, with brother in a good deal of pain.   The shoreline at Little Todd is very beautiful….a small spit of sand and pebble beach and large rocks for sunning.  There was a group of college students already encamped.  They were pretty quiet, but they sure did like to throw rocks in the water!  We followed them the rest of the way to Windigo.  We spent several hours swimming, splashing and sunning on the rocks.  Dinner was chicken soup w/ dumplings and lemon poppy seed cake.  Brother was definitely in some pain and moving slow.  Fortunately we have a well stocked supply of anti-inflammatories, pain killers, knee supports and ace bandages.  We briefly discussed whether we should turn back or press on.  With 14 miles behind us and 19 ahead we figured we may as well keep moving and make the best of it.  Knowing that the next day was the toughest segment, we decided to get an early start in order to beat the heat and allow us to move slowly and stop frequently.

Morning…rain….too dangerous to hike this segment in the rain.  We waited.  The rain finally let up around 10 and we were on the trail at noon.  I took brother's share of food and early in the day the others took more of his load.  He could barely bend his knees and was having a difficult time on the ups and downs.  He was able to straight leg it pretty well on the ridges though, so I hauled his pack up and down the worst sections of trail.  Once again it was very hot and steamy on the rocks.  There were many beautiful views and we stopped many times to rest and cool off in the breeze.  We finally staggered in to North Lake Desor around 7.  Had just enough time to wash up and have dinner before falling into bed exhausted.  Our itinerary had included a second night at North Desor, but we decided to get moving early in the morning, figuring that we might have to bivouac somewhere in the long final stretch.

We were on the trail at 8:30 and brother was moving pretty well.  The first mile or so was similar to the previous day, then the ridges were less extreme and there wasn't so much up and down.  We had covered more than half the distance to Washington Creek campground by 1 and were feeling confident we could complete the stretch.  By late afternoon we had slowed considerably.  The hikes up and down to the beaver dam bridges were pretty tough and I started to ferry my brother's pack from ridge to ridge.  He never stopped moving, and I got to see some of the trail three times!  We did see a moose cow and calf at the first of the two ponds.  Eventually the girls went ahead while I did what I could to help my brother out.  We finally made the campground around 7:15 and occupied the last available shelter.  Dinner was crappy pasta with a runny cheese sauce…very unsatisfying.  We dreamed of beer and pizza as we hobbled to the showers at Windigo.  A moose cow grazed in the harbor.  The miracle of hot running water soothed our aching muscles.  In our dazed state we missed the trail to the shelter and ended up walking up the road to employee housing.  Just felt like we needed that extra ¼ mile walk!!

In the morning we heard a moose splashing in the creek outside our shelter, but we were too tired to get up and look.  We were booked to leave the next day on the Wenonah, but the sky was gray and we decided to see if they had room to take us a day early.  We hiked down to the store, claimed our bag, and waited for the arrival of the boat.  While we sat on the dock, we watched a moose swim across to Beaver Island.  We watched the new arrivals and day trippers disembark then asked about passage.  Yes! beer and pizza for dinner tonight!  We headed back to the shelter to pack up.  While the girls were changing, my brother and I wandered over to the next shelter and read the writings on the walls.  Among them I found this.  "I saw a man with wooden legs and real feet" It was an apt description of my brother's painful journey.  I wish I had taken a picture of it.  We returned to the dock in the rain.  The crew of the Wenonah was kind enough to take our gear onto the boat rather than let it sit on the dock in the rain.  We then headed up to the store for a sandwich and to the visitor center to submit our revised trip plan.

Despite the overcast skies and the distant rumble of thunder, the lake was very calm. The house flies on the Wenonah were the most annoying bugs we encountered on the trip.  The girls got some mosquito bites on the last day's hike, probably from sweating off the bug dope.  We treated our clothes with pemethrin and used 3M Ultrathon on the advice of Scoutdad.  Sawyer's time released DEET was also employed.  I only saw a few black flies, and as long as you didn't stop for too long in the low lying areas the mosquitoes were practically nonexistent.  The exception was at North Lake Desor.  After dark the the skeeters buzzed like the interstate, but by then we were safely ensconced in our tents.

The Wenonah was headed over to the Voyageur dock to refuel, so we stayed aboard after dropping off the other passengers. The deckhand said that even if they hadn't been going that way, one of them would have given us a lift to the car.  From start to finish, this trip was blessed with friendly and helpful service people… restaurants, hotels, rangers, ship crews….. except for that surly Canadian Customs guy at Grand Portage!  We had dinner and spent the night in Thunder Bay, then drove 15 hours to Flint, much of it through pouring rain.

I was proud of the way my wife and daughter handled the added stress of my brother's condition, they usually get more attention from me than they did!  He should be commended too for dealing with the situation with grace and humor.  Fortunately, my wife and I had been walking and running regularly and were in pretty good shape for this trip or the outcome may have been different.  Despite the struggles and the slow pace, we did have lots of laughs, saw some beautiful scenery and camped in some lovely places.  We plan on exploring the east end of the island at some time in the future.

Written by Doug Mueller
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