Isle Royale National Park - A Must See

 

Anchored at Passage Island

Island time tells it all.

One does not need to have a boat to visit magical Isle Royale.  Tours depart daily from Grand Portage, MN, and from Houghton and Cooper Harbor, MI, and seaplanes are also an option.  There are choices as to where one wants to be dropped off, and also what kind of experience one is seeking.

Seeing wildlife, particularly a moose or wolf, is on everyone’s list.

When at Royale one can sleep on their own boat, a tent, lean-tos or the lodge or cabins that have plumbing.   There are multiple campsites and free docks throughout the park.  One can rent motor boats, canoes and kayaks.  Multiple-day canoe trips, backpacking trips and fishing trips are very popular.  There are also ranger talks and guided tours of lighthouses, fisheries and copper mines.  While the park is 99% wilderness, there are even three restaurants! 

Source: Wikipedia 

How is it that a 45-mile-long island, only 15 miles from Ontario, ends up being part of Michigan, at least 50 miles away?  For that we can start by thanking Ben Franklin, whose negotiations with Britain led to the 1783 Treaty of Paris that put the US boundary north of Isle Royale.  The island ended up in Michigan because it was the first territory bordering Lake Superior to be admitted as a state.

Often cited is the story that Franklin had heard about the copper deposits on the island, and he, more than anyone of his time, knew about the potential of copper in conducting electricity. 

We spent 5 days and nights circumnavigating Isle Royale.  Each night was in a different location, and most days included an additional stop.  Below is a pictorial record of our travels.

Isle Royale.  The yellow reflects our boat travel, blue our hikes and the numbers our day there.

Day 1 – Cruised 25 miles from Grand Portage, MN to Windigo, Isle Royale.  10 miles of hiking.

 

 

We did see otters at Windigo, but Dick took the picture of these otters on the marina dock in Grand Portage.  They seem to live in the marina, and are frequently playing on the docks or swimming around the boats.

Ron saw a fox, but that was it except for the common red squirrels. 

Day 2 – Cruised 35 miles to McCargoe Cove to hike to Minong Copper Mine where we were able to enter one of the mine shafts.  The mine was only marginally successful and operated from 1872 to 1884   It was located in an area where indigenous people had dug open-pit mines for copper.

After the hike, we cruised another 10 miles to Lane Cove to hike to the top of Mt. Franklin, named for you know who.

Day 3 – Cruised 10 miles to Duncan Bay.  Ron and I then hiked to Lookout Louise and Monument Rock, passing through the remains of the 2022 forest fire.  Rather than spend the night in the Bay we decided to go to Passage Island, 10 miles away.  The beautiful harbor on the island has a very narrow entrance.

Entering Duncan Bay.

Ron on top looking toward Monument Rock.  He would have climbed the
Monument had he had his shoes and rope!

Passage Island Light

 

Day 4 – Cruised 8 miles to Rock Harbor Marina and hiked the trail there multiple times, including dawn and dusk, in search of moose.  No luck there, but I did see a rabbit!

Rock Harbor Marina.  The largest ferry boat is in the top left.

 

Day 5 – Cruised 8 miles to Daisy Farm and dinghied across the channel to Edison Fishery, Rock Harbor Lighthouse and the Wolf-Moose Project headquarters.  We saw a wolf just before departing for Hay Bay!

This is the Edison Fishery, named for the family that lived and fished there seasonally  for years.  At
one time as many as 40 families had fisheries on the island.

The Park is in the process of restoring the Edison Fishery.

Wooden gravestone off path
To lighthouse.

Ron sharpened his jackknife.

Rock Harbor Lighthouse.  It was only operational when copper was mined, but it has been restored and includes a great museum focused on the 10 shipwrecks around Isle Royale.

The capstan was taken off one of the wrecks.  Ron was making sure that Dick didn’t get out of line.

Rolf and Candy Peterson have summered on Isle Royale for years and have been very active on observing
and researching the wolf-moose relationship.  Moose arrived here over 100 years ago by swimming from
Canada, only 15 miles away.  Wolves came across the ice as the strait used to freeze over.  The table
below shows the relationship since 1956.  

Because of inbreeding, the wolf population declined significantly from the early 2000s
and was down to 2 in 2018.  Without wolves as a predator, the moose population 
will explode and decimate the undergrowth, particularly balsam fur.  12 wolves from various
Parts of Canada were moved to the island in 2018.  Unfortunately, only the wolves from
Michipecoton Island were dominant, and the inbreeding issue remains.  Presently, there are
an estimated 37 wolves in three packs on the island.

The Peterson’s backyard.  The bigger the antler on the male, the more likely a female moose will
 be receptive to mating.  Loved the cartoon below.

Our wolf was 1000 feet or so from the Daisy Farm dock.  My phone camera isn’t the greatest, but the wolf looked awesome through the binoculars.

Hay Bay free dock.  A wonderful place for our last night.

Day 6 – After a morning kayak, we cruised 75 miles from Isle Royale to Grand Marias, MN.

One last kayak trip around Bay.  We will leave without seeing a moose. (The one pictured at the top of this blog was of a moose in Maine!)  Here, though, I was very surprised to see
two swans!  I have only seen them in Boston Commons or Central Park.

Goodbye, Isle Royale!

Last of the Northern Canadian Shore

Most unique rock formations are given a name, typically based upon what they look like.  The problem here is that rock continues to erode, and we end up with a name that no longer fits.  Examples of this include New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain, which lost its face in 2003, and Lake Superior’s Sea Lion, which lost its lion face over 100 years ago.

The Sleeping Giant, however, is one rock formation that may be true to its name for eternity.  The beginning picture for this blog is, from right to left, the head, Adam’s Apple and chest.  Other pictures are below:

Approaching the Sleeping Giant from the east.

The Sea Lion is in the shadow of the Sleeping Giant.

The Sleeping Giant viewed from Thunder Bay to the west.

Ron and I climbed the Giant’s knees (see left image below), and Ron, Dick and I all climbed the head (see image at right).

 Below is a map of our Lake Superior cruise to date.  Our location, route and even speed can always be accessed by going to https://share.garmin.com/CruisingonSaltyPaws .

Salty Paws out of the water

After climbing both ends of the Sleeping Giant, our boats sped across Thunder Bay to the city of the same name.  Here the boats were pulled out of the water for 100-hour servicing.  Our cruise then continued south, reentering the USA outside of Grand Portage, MN.  The reentry process was very easy using the CBPRoam app of the US Customs and Border Patrol. 

Ron and Dick check out early
transportation on Battle Island.

Battle Island Light.  The whole island is well-
maintained by a nonprofit and includes a dock,
campsites and historical markers.

Earlier we also cruised to a number of interesting places between Rossport and Thunder Bay.  The first one was Battle Is.

As I blogged earlier, the Ojibwe had been very successful in their diplomacy with the British, and seemed to be protected.  In 1885 other First Nation forces initiated a fight against the British/Canadian government due to multiple grievances .  The conflict became know as the Red Rebellion.  Battle Island was named for one of the skirmishes, even though it is unlikely any fighting took place there.

The Ojibwe remained neutral during the rebellion, knowing that the fight would not be successful.  Yet, at the conclusion of the 5-month conflict, the victorious Canadians increased their dominance over all the tribes, including the Ojibwe.  All indigenous peoples were restricted to approved reservations dictated by the government.  I will cover the fate of the Minnesota Ojibwe clan in another blog.

In Red Rock we saw the oldest pictographs on the Lake.  The 1000-year-old paintings by Ojibwe predecessors are barely discernible, however, and may disappear for the next generation of boaters.

We cruised along the cliffs trying to find the
pictographs.

Pictographs found!

POW Camp photo under the Red Rock cliffs.
Source: powsincanada.ca

The history of Red Rock included a WW II POW camp.  Canada agreed to a British request to house undesirable civilians that included Jews, Germans and other “concerning” nationalities.  In July of 1940 over 1,000 prisoners were moved to Red Rock.  Camp infighting among the various groups along with a severe winter led to an early closing of the facility in October 1941.  Prisoners were moved to other camps throughout Canada.

Same viewpoint today of Red Rock cliffs

The housing of Jews reminded me of our earlier visit to Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York while doing the Great Loop.  The US reluctantly allowed 900 or so Jews, including children, to live there during WW II provided that they returned to where they came from prior to the conflict.  Fortunately, that stipulation was reversed before the end of the war.

Interestingly, thousands of POWs held in both Canada and the US ultimately became citizens of their former captors.

The Silver Islet mine (picture of a Parks Ontario image)

Our cruise took us by Silver Islet, a very small island that was once one of the largest silver mines in the world from 1868 to 1884.  At its peak, workers numbered over 400.  The mine shaft went down 1,200 feet and was protected by pumps that ran around the clock.  Unfortunately, a coal shipment arrived too late in 1884, resulting in the mine flooding and its closure.

Model of the mine shafts.

We docked in the mainland town by the same name that was created a year after the mine opened so married miners could be with their families at night.  The village remains a vibrant summer community.

The General Store in the late 1800s.

The General Store with our boats in
the background.

The Silver Islet General Store, opened in 1871, continues in operation today and satiated us with pizza and various savories while the skies began to clear.  We then hiked 7 miles round trip to visit the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park visitors’ centre to learn more about the area and pick up a trail map.

So far, the weather has been mostly excellent and not impeded our cruising plans at all.  Our arrival at Silver Islet was very well-timed as less than an hour after docking, a squall ripped through the area with heavy rain, thunder and lightening and 40-mph winds,  Salty Paw’s small bow flag and pole was blown flat!  

Dick got a little wet!

Tomorrow we motor to Isle Royale National Park, only 25 miles away!