We wake to the sun peeling back the clouds from the island. Shrouds of evaporating fog leave Lane Cove looking mysterious and spellbound, like something from a pirate’s novel.

July 2–4, 2024

After landing in what seems the smallest airport imaginable (only a single gate), in Houghton, Michigan, we head to Copper Harbor to spend the night before our voyage to the park aboard the Isle Royale Queen IV the next morning. Arriving early to check in our gear, we grab a local thimbleberry donut and biscuit for a lakeside breakfast at Jamsen’s Bakery and make our way onto the ship. The weather is moody and the waters choppy on the four hour journey across Lake Superior.

Soon enough we spy the faint silhouette of the ridgeline in the fog as we approach Isle Royale National Park—an ambivalent greeting for sure as I try to make out what kind of island excursion this will be. The captain pulls into Rock Harbor at 11:45 a.m. and unloads our gear. After a brief orientation from the ranger station, we head over to the Rock Harbor Lodge Dock to catch our 12:30 p.m. water taxi to Hidden Lake and kick off our backpacking adventure.

12:30 rolls around. Then 12:45. Soon 1:00 p.m. Still no sign of our water taxi. Growing anxious, we check in with the taxi service. Of course we are reassured the trip is not canceled, just late from weather delays. Two hours later, our boat pulls up to the dock and drops off a single passenger. “Have fun on the waves”, he jokes as he passes us. Apparently, the small taxi boat suffered 8-foot waves on its way into Rock Harbor. A little alarmed, but still determined to arrive at our starting point, we hop in the taxi and take off for Hidden Lake Dock in Tobin Harbor.

Much to our relief, the route is not tumultuous. We are met with some large swells, but nothing impassible. Within fifteen minutes we arrive at Hidden Lake Dock ready to embark on our 3-day, 25-mile trek. The rest of the day consists of making our way up to Lookout Louise, across the Greenstone Trail, and down to Lane Cove Campground. Lookout Louise is a northeastern viewing point along the ridge of Isle Royale. This is one of the best places on foot to view the magnitude of the island and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior. A brief stop and we continue along the ridge line of Greenstone Trail, the backbone of Isle Royale. The unusually wet spring has left the trail overgrown with waist-high shrubbery, soaking us thighs down. I make note that jeans are not a great choice of clothing for such a path. We are afforded short breaks from the drenched undergrowth with pockets of spruce and cedar when about four miles down the trail we hang a right and descend sharply to the coastline towards Lane Cove Campground, pointing out moose and wolf tracks in the muddy trail along the way.

Lane Cove Campground is comprised of five official campsites but many more unofficial dispersed campsites throughout. We pitch camp in site #4 and start dinner. But we are not the only ones in hope of a feast this evening. The persistent buzzing of a hundred mosquitos around our ears reminds us to eat quickly and duck in the tent before we become dinner ourselves. Safe inside, we bed down for the night listening to the quiet lap of water on the lakefront, pierced every now and then by the eerie cry of a common loon flying overhead. Day one, in the books.

The next day we wake to the sun peeling back the clouds from the island. Shrouds of evaporating fog leave Lane Cove looking mysterious and spellbound, like something from a pirate’s novel. I snag a few photos and pack up for the day’s journey. We backtrack two miles up to the Greenstone Ridge again and continue southwest to nearby Mount Franklin Overlook. Here, the breeze both cools us down from the morning sun and blows us free of the hovering mosquitos. Looking north just across Lake Superior we can make out the cliffside of the Canadian coast and the general location of Thunder Bay, Canada. But this is not our best view yet, because about three miles down the spine of Isle Royale we come across Mount Ojibway and the fire lookout tower. Though the top of the tower is closed to hikers, the stairway up is not. We climb six or seven flights and are met with Isle Royale’s best view along our route—a sweeping 360 degree panorama of the island. The morning sun bathes the ridge in warm humid light as the cross breeze sweeps away the biting insects. A perfect place to rest our weary legs.

The descent from Mount Ojibway to our next destination, Daisy Farm Campground, is a quick 1.5-mile trek. We no sooner resume our hike than find ourselves walking into Daisy Farm a little after noon. A more established campground than Lane Cove, Daisy Farm has roughly twelve manmade shelters screened-in to offer campers respite from weather and bugs. We claim one of these for ourselves and take a moment to rest taking a dip in the cold lake to freshen up and clean off. The rest of the day affords lazy lakeside camping as we watch loons casually float offshore.

At 8:00 p.m. we gather for a ranger-led talk on the balance of moose and wolf populations since the 1970s. The isolated island environment offers supreme conditions to monitor and track the predator-prey relationship. In a moment of levity, the ranger pauses as a fat beaver carrying a bouquet of ferns waddles out from the lake, across the shore and into her dam across the campground. The presentation wraps up as the summer sun sets below the clouds in a display of brilliant pinks and purples. Because we are located so far north, the twilight hour lingers on well past 10:30 p.m. as we head in for the night wrapping up day two.

Though the sun will not rise for another two hours, morning light begins to dawn around 4:00 a.m.—a northern summer phenomenon we are still not accustomed to. The nightly chill has no effect on the mosquitos as we are met with their incessant humming the moment we step foot outside the shelter. Today, we pack up our gear and head seven miles back to Rock Harbor to complete our trip and catch the shuttle boat home. The route back follows the coast of Lake Superior, passing Three Mile Campground and Suzy’s Cave. The bright morning sun catches Rock Harbor Lighthouse across Moskey Basin on our right as we pack out. We keep our ears pressed for the slightest sound of a moose, but come across only a snowshoe hare and a couple Canadian geese along the way. Apparently this year is a down year for moose.

Arriving back at Rock Harbor, we drop our packs, grab some lunch and regroup for our voyage back to the mainland. With a couple hours to kill before our 2:45 p.m. departure, we scope out Scoville Point hoping against all odds to spot a moose in broad daylight. Once again, our hopes are left hanging as we return with only a bald eagle sighting. Though disappointed at not seeing the iconic moose of Isle Royale, the boat ride home offers a chance to reflect on the incredible wildlife we did see—a beaver, a hare, an eagle, geese, and other lakeland dwellers—reminding us that every wilderness experience is unpredictable and special in its own right, and that alone is worth the adventure.