r/isleroyale • u/cogdisso • 13d ago

Camping Route Planning- Chippewa Harbor or Hugginin Cove/Washington Harbor

Hi again! I’m really close to picking an itinerary, but at this point it really comes down to whether I want to see/camp at Chippewa Harbor versus seeing Hugginin Cove and camp at Washington Harbor. The other stops are fairly consistent between the two itineraries.

What do you guys prefer between the two, and why?

From my research, both look beautiful, but Im leaning towards Hugginin/Washington as it seems more remote and there’s a higher chance of seeing a moose.

4 votes, 8d ago
3 Chippewa Harbor
1 Hugginin Cove day trip (camp at Washington Harbor)
2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

3

u/thesneakymonkey 17/18/21 13d ago

FWIW I saw moose at chip both hiking and out of that campground. It’s kinda a lower lying swampyish trail segment and we saw moose both times. You can’t go wrong with either option. I really enjoyed Chippewa a lot but we were there on a super quiet day.

Washington creek is dang near guaranteed moose sightings but is busier and feels less remote to me.

1

u/cogdisso 13d ago

thanks, this is the kinda info i'm looking for

3

u/FirstRunBuzzz 13d ago

You are over thinking it. Just go to the other one when you go back to the island.

1

u/KodiakSnake 13d ago

hot take i think hugginin is over hyped. at least when I was there the water seemed to have a bunch of little pieces of wood floating in it. its cute but i think little todd or todd was better. i could be biased as it hailed on me there tho. I also got muddier hiking that loop than in and out of Chippewa.

Chippewa does have the voyageur going to it so you do have to hope a bunch of people dont get off there. when I was there is was a bit busier as there was a group in the group campground but everyone was very nice and as a solo hiker I appreciated the conversation. I got the last shelter too. Wish I took my zero day there tbh.

1

u/KMSven 6d ago

I love Chippewa Harbor but I'd look at the boat schedule and avoid the night before the boat picks up folks heading to Windigo. We got there one year shortly after the boat left. The maintenance folks that were there said the place was packed to overflowing the night before the boat came. Once the maintenance folks packed up and left we had the whole campground to ourselves. Hug is OK. The path from the north/east is beautiful.