Isle Royale
Greenstone Ridge Trail

Shawn and I planned a big adventure to Isle Royale in the fall 2019. Isle Royale is a island in Lake Superior up by the Canadian border. You have to get to the island by ferry or sea plane. We took the ferry. The ship is called the Voyager 2. It looks like a prison toilet bowl.

The day before our ferry was scheduled we drove up and camped at Judge Magney State Park. We ended up getting there kind of late, so we pretty much set up and went to bed. We woke up early the next morning to drive to Grand Portage to catch our 7:30 ride to the island.

It was kind of a rough boat ride, but I don't think anyone 'fed the seagulls'. We arrived at Windigo around 9:30, checked in, and secured our permits. After that we left for our hike. We went maybe an 100 yards and realized we were going the wrong way, so we turned around and headed in the correct direction.

Our plan was to take the Greenstone. The Greenstone is the main trail that goes through the center of the island. It's described as the highway of the island. We weren't really sure how far we would get on day one. We arrived at the turn off to Island Mine campground, but there was still lots of day left so we ventured on to South Lake Desor Campground. The campsites are up on a high hill. I was kind of surprised how thick the brush was on the island. In alot of spots it would be pretty difficult to navigate and get around with how dense the foliage is.

Day 2, we hike to Hatchet Lake. This was like a graveyard of dead birch. Lots of the trees looked diseased. The trees were not stable, there was one near us that fell and made a loud noise. Most of the campsites are actually up and away from the lakes. There were less mosquitos this way.

The next day we hiked to West Chickenbone. Oh my god, the lake is disgusting. I think someone we ran into described it as a drainage swamp for the island. The lake was filled with algae and was pea colored. Luckily we were warned about this and got a bunch of water at a stream before making it to the campground. There is a really cool site there that is right on the water and has a great view. Unfortunately, it was occupied so we took a site that was tucked away a little bit. We watched a storm roll in, lots of lightning. We were beat and ended up sleeping through most of the storm.

Next, we headed to Daisy Farm. It felt like making it back to civilization. There are alot of shelters, campsites, and an office here. We saw a bunch of mergansers and loons.

On our last hiking day, we hiked all the way to Rock Harbor. My feet were acting up pretty bad by this point. It felt good to make it to our end point. I think we only saw one moose while we were there. Nothing can really prepare you for how huge they are. Also, Shawn got a video of a Fox. This fox was well known at the time, it had a den that was pretty much on the trail.

On our final day, we boarded the Voyager 2 and rode along the island back to Windigo and then back to Grand Portage. We probably should have stayed another night up on the north shore, but for some reason I decided to drive all the way back to the Twin Cities.

We said we were going to go back the next year and do the Minong trail. But you know Covid happened and then Shawn moved away. We will need to get back to the island at some point.

*Sept 2019 - Photos and video by Shawn Marquez