Minor official update: NPS.gov announcement confirming the location as South Lake Desor and that the identities have been confirmed.

https://www.nps.gov/isro/learn/news/update-deceased-campers-found-at-isle-royale-identified.htm

My parents are uneasy about my upcoming planned trip, which will be 4 nights solo. Tried to get others to go, but nobody is interested, and I’ve been patiently waiting and preparing for several years. So I’m pulling the trigger.

I’m relatively young and fit, though somewhat new to backpacking. I’ve acquired all the gear I need and have done countless hours of research and have read every Isle Royale informational resource I could possibly find.

No preexisting conditions and no health problems to speak of at all really. Taking the Queen into Rock Harbor and the furthest out I’ll be going is Moskey Basin.

Anyway, I’m feeling good but also realize this will sort of be something new for me. I intend to do a one-nighter trial run in the lower peninsula sometime soon to make sure I’m comfortable using all my gear, but otherwise, does anyone think it’s reckless for me to be going solo? Is there any legitimate concern there?

EDIT: Consensus is that everything will be fine and I will have a great time! 😃 Eager to hear any other first-timer tips you all have. Thanks.

I just took a look for next June and the cabins and most of the rooms at the lodge were about $400-500 a night, pretty much double what they were just last year. Anyone know how or why they got so out of hand?

I'd imagine this has stemmed from too many people not properly storing their food.

Reporting originally from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, reprinted on msn.com

Reminder to keep things respectful and remember that there is a ton of trauma for all those involved in this situation.

Planning a trip to isle royale in may and I would love to go swimming while there. However, I have seen advisories on some blogs about leeches, swimmer’s itch, and algae bloom. How much of a concern/how common are these things? Is there any place to swim safely or is it a no-go? Thanks!

Other families with us in Washington Harbor!

Here is the Isle Royale Lake Superior forecast through Tuesday. As of now The Queen IV has canceled tomorrow's ferry and the Ranger III is canceled tomorrow as well and is now scheduled to come to the island Saturday with a Sunday Departure

Does anyone just use a filter with Lake Superior water, or do you treat it after you filter it as well?

It’s been a few years now, and truth be told, I’ve been waiting to visit until it’s changed.

When I first learned the name of the ranger station years back, I was turned away and cannot imagine starting my trip that way and shaking that feeling. If you don’t know, you shouldn’t even speak that word or know the history of the word or traditional storytelling. I can’t imagine how it became the name in the first place?!

Why did it take so long that this had to be requested by Grand Portage..? In 2023, Grand Portage had to write an official statement and request the name be changed. After all, it’s just the name of the ranger station, not the whole park

My parents, in their late 60s, want to visit isle royale for 2 or 3 days. Wouldn’t be camping but would stay at the lodge. A moderate 3-4 mile hike would be the most of what they could manage. So I guess we would hike one day and do something on a boat for the other. I think it would take us 2 days to get there (one to Minnesota or Michigan, one over to Isle Royale).

Is that worth it? Does it feel natural/wild by the lodge and at the accessible hikes? Any additional activities we could do?

FWIW I am leaning against given the above but having a hard time convincing them.

Looked through and searched this sub but didn’t see this question recently here, apologies if I am repeating!

TLDR; planning D&D Campaign around day trips from Rock Harbor, also wondering about Wifi in cabins for use by the DM, and wondering about condition of the pots and pans.

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This summer my father will be celebrating his 75th birthday on the island. We've almost exclusively done backcountry trips visiting since I was 7, but he's finally acknowledged that this time around, housekeeping cabins will be best. For the youngest generation of our family, this will be their first trip and I'm trying to do something to get them engaged in the lore of the island... which is how we ended up with the idea of doing a D&D campaign in the evenings that aligns with the day trips we'll be taking.

The campaign will be set in the present day, with a band of discount adventurers taking over as the parks rangers due to budget cuts. The ultimate plot: a group of earth druids on the island are seeking to do a ritual to awaken the Sleeping Giant so that it can resume is role tormenting shipping near the island (remember the wreck of the America) and to stop traffic to the park.

Currently imaging a visit to Edison Fishery for a conversation with an old fisherman who will tell tails of the days when the sleeping giant was awake.

Visit to the McCargo Cove mine where a rune that's needed in the ritual is carved in the wall of the horizontal shaft.

Visit to Raspberry island where the druids are seeking an epic greenstone from the greenstone beach

Something involving pirates and Mosky Basin.

Anyway - for anyone who knows the island well, or knows D&D - what would you want in a family friendly modern campaign?

While we're at it - I'm used to DM'ing with internet. Heard a rumor that Wifi was being installed in the cabins this year, but wondering if anyone can say for sure.

Oh, and a final non D&D question - any who's been to the cabins recently, what's the condition of the pans and pots? We're planning a fair amount of cooking, and don't love the idea of using scratched teflon, etc.

Hi all, we’re going to be in Marquette for a wedding later in August (2025). I’m loosely trying to make my way to all the national parks. Since we’re going to be relatively close to Isle Royale I was trying to see if that could fit into our trip. We’re not really campers so the lodge would be better for us, I think the sea plane costs more than we’d like so probably the ferry from Copper harbor and I read where day trips aren’t advised bc often with the weather you end up not being able to make a return trip as planned. When I was looking at Rock Harbor Lodge reservations for August a few months ago it looked totally booked up, I went on again today just to see and while it still looks booked up, July seems to have a lot of availability, does anyone know what that’s about? Do more rooms become available? I’m wondering if we should book a hotel somewhere near Copper Harbor that’s cancelable and if we’re able to get a last minute room at the Lodge we can cancel that? Does anyone have suggestions for how far in advance the ferry needs to be booked? Are day trips on the ferry a very bad idea? We’d like to get some small hikes in and see the island but we understand that’d be a small glimpse of what all isle royale has to offer. TIA! Any other recommendations and advice welcome :)

Heading to Windigo next week. 4th time on the island, but first at windigo. I assume there is a small camp store there like rock harbor? I'm taki6tge seaplane and will need to buy fuel.

Finally got a nice eater Pike off the dock at birch island. Woke at 5am and casted 5 times and she bit. Many follows from other Pike as well. Here the pics plus some from yesterday casting for lakers and a big Pike from Brady Cove.

My week long backpacking trip starts on Sunday, while I'm going regardless, can anyone share how the wild fire smoke is looking on the island currently? The pictures I saw yesterday of the Mackinaw bridge was horrible.

I recently stayed in the Housekeeping cabins, so I figured I'd make a post about all the questions I had beforehand. They took our bags directly off the ferry and put them into our cabin, so we couldn't access our bags until check-in after 4pm. Just an FYI to put essentials in your day pack. The cabin has shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand wash, and dishsoap. Bathroom has a tub with shower. There was a large pot, small pot, medium frying pan, and a hodgepodge of utensils including a poorly functioning can opener. Full 6-person dishset with plates, bowls, mugs, etc. You may want to bring a dish cloth, sponge, and/or scouring pad. Microwave, coffee maker, toaster, and 2 burner stove. Bring your own ground coffee. Small mini fridge with very small freezer. There were not a ton of outlets, so if you have 6 people like we did, we'd recommend an extension cord and power strip. All the beds are in one room, 1 queen, 1 full pull out sofa bed, and 2 twin bunks (All comfortable). Ladder situation to top bunk is not great, hard to climb up, narrow, and hurts feet. Head clearance is low above top bunk. The windows have a great view, but only a couple of them actually open, so there is little ventilation. There is a ceiling fan. Towels, linens, and blankets are provided. Four chairs and round dining table. There is a good storage area for gear. Good working WiFi in the cabin. About 60% of cabins have have a great view of the water. There is electric baseboard heating. We had an absolutely great time, wonderful accommodations. We will be back!!

Hello, next year my wife and I plan on heading on a trip to Isle Royale with Voyageurs. We plan on spending two nights in Voyageurs, and a night in Isle Royale. I was wondering the feasibility coming from Grand Portage considering we only want to spend one night in Isle Royale. We have experience backpacking, so it’s not an issue of packing. We were looking at coming from Copper Harbor, but considering we’re flying into International Falls Minnesota, we would have no easy way to get over to Michigan.

So, the question is, how feasible is one night in Isle Royale coming from Grand Portage and back? We don’t want to do just a day because we want to experience the park, rather than just checking it off a list, but with our work schedules, it would be difficult to get more than one night in that park.

Any advice is appreciated.

Edit: I meant to specify that I will be also at Voyageurs National Park, I was not meaning the ferry

Hi all,

Weird question I may be over thinking, but given recent events, I wanted to run this by you guys here.

I'm noticing that a weeks worth of food in my ursack is taking up quite a bit of real estate in my pack when filled up. Typically in the past I would pack my pack so that the food would fill the void space in the pack. Is it required that food stay in the ursack while on the trail or is it still ok to have the food fill the void space of the pack and transfer the food/trash/other smelly things into the ursack and then into the storage lockers when I get to camp? I obviously do not plan on leaving my pack unattended at all while on the trail as it will be on my back or right by my side for any breaks. I keep all trash in a Ziploc which will be inside of a smelly proof bag as well for a little extra protection.

Per the NPS rules and regulations on the new food storage, I read it as saying food needs to be in a bear resistant containers while at camp. It's here as follows: "To be within food storage compliance, campers, backpackers, and paddlers are instructed to store their items in an animal-resistant container while camping....No matter the activity, visitors are not to leave their belongings unattended."

Thanks all, happy camping.

My very experienced (PCT, CDT, hayduke, etc) partner is planning a backpacking trip to the Isle next week. She's thoroughly researched/planned her trip, but is having some trouble answering a few questions. She's getting a little nervous about the trip, so I thought I'd check in here for advice from folks who've made the trip. Her questions are below and we'd appreciate any and all thoughts/advice! Thanks!

If I get injured (like a painfully walkable leg/ankle/foot) or ill and want to leave the island early, is it possible to get on an earlier ferry back to my car? (From Rock Harbor on IR to Copper Harbor MI). Or worse case, from Windigo on IR to Grand Portage on a boat I don't already have a return ticket for?

If I send a box via the ferry to Windigo, why left on dock? I understand that delays in my own itinerary are possible thru my research, but if I am delayed, does my food box really just get left on the dock until either I pick it up or an animal does? How is this safe for animals or humans? It's like hearing we have to plan to be flexible, but the support systems make being flexible challenging. There isn't/can't be a bear box at the dock at least to keep it safe from animals until it gets picked up? I was told to address the box in a way that included the RANGER STATION (c/o voyaguer boat, windigo ranger station, isle royale park, grand portage mn)

The info on the NPS website also says packages mailed to Windigo or stored at Rock Harbor have to be "non perishable" and "no food". What's the point of a package if not to send more food to myself? I can assure you my food is shelf stable, non perishable, but it IS food.

I'll be visiting the island at the end of July and am planning on taking a couple of radios with me and I thought I'd ask if any other hams have done the same. I'm planning on doing a POTA activation with my HF radio, but would also be interested to hear if anyone knows if the Park Service uses radios that I could listen in on as well. I'll also be listening on VHF for marine radio traffic and will be curious to see what, if any, traffic is happening up there.

Here are a few recent images I shot here on Isle Royale. What a year it's been so far. My brother Rob and I have decided to stay on the island for the entire season. We got here on opening day April 16th and camped for a month before we had to show up for work on May 12th. We have 2days/3nights off a week through the last day of work on September 25th. Then we will be camping again through October 31st, but this time I will have my boat here so we can camp at many different campgrounds, instead of just staying in the Rock Harbor Campground. I am excited to see what the fall has in store for us.

I'm planning a trip for 2026. Was thinking how rank do to Ferries smell?

Like if imma hike for a week then ride a boat for 6 hours I feel bad for the other passenge4s.

Planning my first trip for late summer, and I’ve been dreaming of it for years. Spent tons of time perusing this sub, reading related books (any Vic Foerster fans here btw?) and now acquiring my gear.

For those who also highly anticipated that first trip, how did it end up being different from your expectations? More rain than you expected? Mosquitos not as bad as everyone said? Prettier scenery than you even imagined? Quieter/louder?

Also, any thoughts on going the week leading up to Labor Day vs the week after? Will crowd thin out a bit right after Labor Day?