Visiting Isle Royale

Bounding Fox

My daugter Miranda Davis, of Copper Harbor, went out to the island in late September on one of the last regular seasons runs of the Isle Royale Queen IV. She and a couple friends took a day-hike on the lovely and easy trail to Lake Ritchie from Moskey Basin, a great hike in the fall. They ran across a fox on the way, and Miranda got this video of him on her digital camera. It's a very cool sht of him bounding through the woods. Of course the island is all closed up for the winter now. I haven't been posting much. There was some news about fears of the recovery of the moose population in the Detroit Free Press a couple weeks back, but I haven't had a chance to look up what the latest is or who said what. I'll try to get to that. In any case, I will try to offer some new photos from last summer as time goes on. Enjoy Miranda's fox.

Ruins

There is something about ruins that is haunting, as has been observed by many artists and art critics of generations past. It might have been English art theorist John Ruskin (19th century) who first discussed the matter of the aesthetics of ruins in detail. One inevitably thinks about the passing of one's own life when looking at ruins and pondering the lives that were lived in the construction of things that have been gradually disintegrating and decaying. Such were some of thoughts I had as I was composing another shot of one of my favorite subjects on Isle Royale, the ruins of old docks and cribs. This is one such crib in Crystal Cove, on Amygdaloid Island, where the Johnson family toiled for decades at fishing the Big Lake on the north side of the island. This all took place years before Isle Royale became a national park. Now they are gone, and their docks are no longer used and have been falling into decay, and it all makes me think of the passing of my own life, as a captain and co-boat-owner, who has brought visitors to the island for decades now. And yet everything is so new in the Kilpela family business. We have a new boat, the Queen IV, and a new dock, and other new things. Looking at this ruined dock reminds me to enjoy and cherish this great life, for it too shall some day pass away and slowly become a ruin.

A Fisherman's Light

I spent a morning at Crystal Cove on Amygdaloid Island on the north shore of Isle Royale late in the summer. The water was still quite low (it has since risen a great deal with all the rain that has fallen this autumn), so I took the opportunity to walk all the way around the cove. On the way, I went into one of the old storage sheds that were built by the Johnsons about a hundred years ago or so at Crystal Cove. Some of them are rotting away. Inside one, which has no roof any longer, I found this rusted lantern from days of yore. Of course, all such items are historical parts of the national park and as such owned by the people of the United States corporately and should not be removed, which would be in effect stealing. But discovering the lantern brought about some moments of reflection on the lives led by fishermen and their families decades ago on this wild, remote island. That way of life has all passed away. Crystal Cove is such a distant place, so far out in the wilds of Lake Superior, that it is bewildering to think that lives were once lived there and families prospered for a time in the northern wilderness.

The Isle Royale Leprechaun

Logan, Logan, Logan. What am I going to do about you? My son Logan, now 15, has been up to his old tricks this fall, altering some of my photos of Isle Royale for fun. Last year, he made a nice alteration for the annual Isle Royale Slide Show, which you can find easily enough on this blog. In that one he added velociraptors to the Isle Royale landscape (2006 Slide Show, Photo 7). This year, he had some fun with me, portraying me as some kind of northwoods elf sitting on the blue beads of a blue-bead lily. The shot was taken somewhere in the woods down the Rock Harbor Trail at the end of summer, when the yellow flowers of this lily have become these blue beads (hence the name). Keep watching for more from Logan in the months ahead. I hear he's working on some new alterations.

Stones Neverending

One thing about Isle Royale: there are always plenty of rocks and stones to pick through and study. This photo is one of me, Captain Ben Kilpela, on a little nook of a stone beach -- I'm sitting in what is a semi-seacave -- on the north side of North Government Island at the north end of Tobin Harbor up near the very northern tip of Isle Royale, which is Blake Point. My son Logan and I were out this outer island for an afternoon, just exploring, when we came across this ordinary beach, just like hundreds of others in the national park. We spent some time just studying stones. What is it about stones and rocks that so interests people like us? I'll have to think more about that, but in thinking about it that day, I did realize that I spend a lot of my time at Isle Royale doing just what is shown in this photo, picking through and studying stones. As you might not realize, Isle Royale is a geological infant, almost what a geologist would call a newborn land formation. It came out from under the stupendously gigantic, miles-thick glacier that covered the Lake Superior region just 11,000 years ago. It was nothing but a big rock when the glacier melted and pulled back and alowed it to see the light of day, in the amazing ways glaciers do. But gradually the great Lake the glacier left behind in the Superior Basin begin to gnaw loose some cracked and loose sections of the rock -- and then began to tumble those loose chunks and pieces around -- and then began to toss the smoothed chunks and pieces up into nooks and crannies all around Isle Royale, where we find them now as stone beaches of all sorts of sizes and ages and formations. The stones I'm sitting on in the photo contained very few quartz-like pieces of silica and no semi-precious stones, no agates or greenstones, that I could discern. They were almost all pieces of basalt in an infinite number of shades of gray. I found even all those similar yet subtly different shades to be fascinating, as I always do. But why? Perhaps a little more thought will reveal an explanation. Rock-houding is one of the joys of Isle Royale.

Off on a Paddling Journey

Some folks were headed out across Tobin Harbor in canoes one day late in the summer. Though it looks as though rain might be in the offing from this photo, we would not see rain for a couple more weeks at the island. I am back home in southern Michigan now, but I will continue to post shots of the summer at Isle Royale over the next month or so.

The Future of Moose and Wolves on Isle Royale

Did you notice that there was a major article in the Detroit Free Press in August about how global warming might hurt the moose population on Isle Royale, and thus hurt the wolf population in turn? The article is available at this link, if you missed it:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070827/NEWS06/708270367/1048/COL08

Much the same information, in briefer, also appeared in a Backpacker magazine article that came out this summer about the biggest coming changes in America's national parks. This article might have prompted the Free Press to give John Vucetich, the leader of the moose-wolf research study nowadays, a call. Isle Royale made Backpacker's list of their Top Ten for the possibility that moose might die out on the island. The island has without question been much warmer overall, and year round, over the past few years, though there have been a couple hard, cold winters as well over the past 15-20 years. This year I saw more sign than ever before of the decline in the moose over the past decade. There were wide stands of young balsam, which moose have browsed heavily, in many areas. I even found several small American yew bushes on the main island and the outer islands of Rock Harbor in places where they would be easily acccessible to moose. The yew was long ago eradicated on the main island because of moose, which favor the yew over just about anything else. Well, the yew is starting to come back. I have a couple photos of the yews I found, but I don't have them immediately available as I write this post.

No Rain Since

I believe this photo of wild roses was taken on the last day that there was significant rain on Isle Royale, and it was really only a light rain that day as well. The shot was taken on the Scoville Point Trail on July 10 of this year. I am writing in late August now. So you see that we have been without rain for a long, long time. The island is starting to take a beating because of the lack of rain, as beautiful as it always is. Once again, the trails are getting very dusty and the campsites are getting rather harended under foot. The forecast has been for rain many times over the past couple weeks, but nothing has come our way. It is all coming down elsewhere in the Midwest, and some places have had bad floods and even mudslides, in Ohio and Wisconsin.

Don't Get a Soaker

My son Logan, 14 years old, came out to Isle Royale with me one day recently on a day that I was working as captain of the Queen IV. By boat, we went out to an island near the northeast tip of the main island, North Government Island. Logan and I both were trying to walk along the short cliffs on the north side of the outer island that afternoon. Our progress was finally stopped at this particular cliff, the one in the photo, which ran out of an edge to get a step on. Around the corner of the cliff face on the left side of the photo, the cliff was too sheer. This is basalt rock, some of the oldest exposed rock on planet earth. These ancient lava flows form the ridges that you see all around Isle Royale. They're fun to climb on, too.

Loons

Man oh man, have the loons been out this summer at Isle Royale. By my estimate, there are three pairs of loons living and breeding in Rock Harbor, the main entry harbor, and another couple pairs in Tobin Harbor close by. I have been seeing the loons regularly on my canoe and boat journeys at the island this year. They seem not the least concerned with boating traffic of any kind any longer. My son Logan and I went past a loon in our roundabout -- the loon just popped up close by all of a sudden -- at a distance of only about 25 feet and didn't even flinch or pay us the least mind. This is a shot of one of the Rock Harbor loons fishing near Bat Island, which stands across the channel from the islet on which I was standing to take the photo. There have been so many days lately just like the one shown, beautifully sunny with pleasant temperatures and low humidity. Sad to say, we need rain, and it's starting to get serious. I would say the island is in semi-drought conditions now and is drying out dangerously. I am hiking with greater care because everything is getting that burned-out look.

Unloading the Boat at Rock Harbor

When one arrives daily at Isle Royale on the Isle Royale Queen IV these days, it can be quite a sight as everyone starts getting organized on the dock for departing on their backpacking or boating journeys. This is a shot from one morning day a couple weeks ago, maybe the last day when the weather was even slightly iffy (though it certainly wasn't bad on this foggy day). The days have been just spectacular ever since on the island and on the Keweenaw Pennisula, with one sunny, impossibly bright day after another. It's a great time of year. Lots of people are going to the island, but no one's coming back the least disappointed in their trip. How can you be disappointed with this great place?

The Keweenaw Approaches

Oh, these wonderful summer days, the dog days as they say. Here's a shot over the bow of the Isle Royale Queen IV on the daily return trip from Isle Royale to Copper Harbor. The two gentlemen in the photo were both taking a day trip to the island with their wives, and they had a great time during their 3 1/2 hours on the island in the Rock Harbor area. How can you not have a good time, when the weather has been so darn perfect day after day, as it so often is at this time of year. We offer day-trip specials all summer long, sometimes really low prices, sometimes just moderately low, but always a darn good price for going over and back on the same day. It's a great way to find out something about the island before you make the expense of going to stay overnight. I've marked the location of Copper Harbor in the distance as we look at the Keweenaw Peninsula as the Queen IV approaches from the northwest. The boat was about 15 miles off the coast. The air temp was about 48 degrees, but the sun was so warm on this day, like so many others lately, that one of the guys was out on the bow in shirt-sleeves.

Young Moose in Snug Harbor

Moose are down on the island this year, as you know from the annual Moose-Wolf survey conducted each winter (a link to the press release on the survey is available on this blog in an earlier post). Consequently, people are seeing moose much less often than in previous summers. But there have been a few very interesting sightings. One was the occasion of a pair of twin calves with their mother crossing right through the Snug Harbor marina and dock area, the developed part of the Isle Royale. I wasn't there, but Isle Royale Queen IV crewman Jaime Engstrom was, and he took the shot you see of the two calves over by the Rock Harbor Lodge dock. Their mother is just up ahead of them in the photo, at the foot of the dock in the shadows. Jaime took the shot from the deck of the Queen IV across Snug from the Lodge Dining Room, which you see in the background. I still haven't a moose myself this year

Two Islands Now One

On a recent day out at the island, I took my canoe across Rock Harbor to Shaw Island, just to the southwest of the main dock in Snug Harbor. I pulled up on a large stone beach, which is shown in the photo. The Isle Royale Queen IV stands at the big main dock in Snug about a mile away from this beach. The interesting thing about the photo is that this stone beach has been completely under water for nearly a century before low water exposed it this summer. I have canoed right over this beach between Smithwick Island and Shaw Island many, many times. Now these islands are run together as one. The water level of Lake Superior has come up a little over the summer. Someone from Thunder Bay, Ontario, on the north side of Superior, told me that that area has has been having a lot of rain. Copper Harbor and Isle Royale have not seen any more than average rainfall, and some parts of the Upper Peninsula remain in a semi-drought.

Canoeing along Rock Harbor

Foggy days, rainy days, windy days -- they were suddenly gone this past week, and Isle Royale became the glorious northwoods, lakeshore wilderness that it is most of the time in the summer, especially in July, the month with the very best weather on this great island. Here's a shot of the cliffs on one of the outer islands along the edge of Rock Harbor. It was taken from my canoe as I easily cruised along the islands one fine day recently. This was one of those days that just make you glad that you're alive and spending any amount of time at Isle Royale. It was in the 60s, the sun was amazingly bright, the winds were calm, the water was stunningly clear, the birds were swooping and diving and calling. What a day!

Isle Royale National Park

The Donald Kilpela family owns the Isle Royale Queen IV, the passenger ferry to Isle Royale National Park from Copper Harbor, Michigan. The three Kilpela brothers, Captains Don Jr., Ben, and John operate the vessel, which is 100 feet in length, carries up to 85 passengers, and has three cabins.

Isle Royale is a large island national park in Lake Superior, the largest fresh water sea in the world. The island is 55 miles northwest of Copper Harbor, which stands at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Isle Royale is Michigan's only national park, one of the very few island national parks in the United States. It is mostly a spectacular northwoods wilderness, but it does have one developed area, Rock Harbor, to which our ferry service out of Copper Harbor sails nearly every day in summer and two days a week in May and September.

Copper Harbor and Isle Royale

Let's begin this overview with the town we sail from, Copper Harbor, which has long been known with good reason as The Gateway to Isle Royale. Copper Harbor's reputation as the Gateway started back in 1930, a dozen years before Isle Royale became a national park. It was then that the first charter service to the island started running out of Copper Harbor. Ferry service from the town to the island has continued ever since.

The current ferry operating between Copper Harbor and Isle Royale National Park is the Isle Royale Queen IV, a trim, fast 100-foot ship owned by the Donald Kilpela family, longtime Copper Harbor residents. The Kilpelas have owned the Isle Royale ferry service in Copper Harbor since 1971.

The ferry trip is a long one, some 55 miles from Copper Harbor. But that's the shortest distance for any transportation service from Michigan. The Isle Royale Queen IV makes the daily crossing in just over 3 hours. That's the shortest crossing time of any ferry service from either Michigan or Minnesota to the one developed area of the island, the Rock Harbor Entrance.

At Rock Harbor there's a small community. The Rock Harbor Lodge offers cabins and motel-style rooms. The Lodge, owned by Forever Resorts, has a superb dining room and grill that are open to all island visitors and also operates the Rock Harbor Marina, the Rock Harbor General Store, and other amenities.

The Rock Harbor Entrance is also the location of the Rock Harbor Visitors Center, operated by the U.S. National Park Service. There visitors can get complete information on making their Isle Royale visits memorable.

In addition, at the southwest entrance to the park, which is called Windigo (40 miles away from Rock Harbor), there is a small Visitors Center, boating facilities, and a snack bar.

What's there to do on Isle Royale?

Isle Royale offers wonderful lakeside and ridge-top views, superb wilderness hiking and backpacking (of moderate difficulty), lots of wonderful wilderness campgrounds, fine canoeing and kayaking, great wildlife viewing and fishing, endless photographic opportunities, and much more.

It's a huge island. Isle Royale is 45 miles long and about 10 miles wide. It's the second largest island in the Great Lakes. Isle Royale looks a lot like Copper Harbor and the Keweenaw Peninsula, but it's a wilderness and hence much more rugged and pristine. This makes it one of the most unusual places in North America, a spectacular and rugged Great Lakes wilderness that's very close to America's heartland. It is one of the largest wilderness parks east of the Mississippi River.

Except for the small developed area of Rock Harbor, the island is entirely wilderness. There are 165 miles of wilderness trails leading to more than 30 wilderness campgrounds, some large, most small and remote.

Visit the web sites of the National Park Service, the Isle Royale Queen IV, the Rock Harbor Lodge, and the web site and blogs of Copper Harbor's Captain Ben Kilpela for lots more information on visiting the island.

There are several ways to experience Isle Royale:

Stay at the Rock Harbor Lodge

There are lots of things to do during a stay at the island: day-hike, fish, sight-see, take boat tours, rent a canoe or kayak, and more. The Lodge offers excellent meals and rooms in various room-packages, or you can stay prepare your own meals in one of the Lodge's Housekeeping Cottages. With its superb setting on the shores of Rock and Tobin Harbors, the Rock Harbor Lodge can serve as your wilderness base camp with all the comforts of home.

Wilderness Hike and Backpack

Isle Royale's trails follow the Lake Superior shore and crisscross the vast, foresed interior, pass lakes and streams of all sizes, and traverse the high ridges of the island. There are dozens of possible hiking-backpacking itineraries that can be arranged and followed. Jim Dufresne's book on the island "Isle Royale Foot Trails and Water Routes" is the bible of island hiking. Captain Ben Kilpela sells an informative pamphlet on loop trails on the northeast half of the island. But are available through the Isle Royale Q ueen IV.

Canoe and Kayak

Isle Royale has become renowned across the world for the excellence of its sea kayaking and canoeing. There are many harbors and coves off Lake Superior and about two dozen inland lakes that have great fishing and superb views. Isle Royale has set up several portage systems for paddlers to get deep into the interior of the national park. If you love to paddle, Isle Royale is a must.

Visit for the Day

Yes, it's a great way to get a good taste of Isle Royale. The Isle Royale Queen IV offers fast round-trip service to Rock Harbor almost every day in summer. More and more people are taking advantage of day trips to the island from Copper Harbor. It takes a little over 3 hours to get to the island. You have 3.5 hours at the island. That's time for a long hike, a paddle, or some fishing. You can have even lunch at the Rock Harbor Lodge. Or you can simply relax at one of hundreds of isolated and beautiful spots along the trails near the Queen dock. Then it's 3 hours back to Copper Harbor, where you can have an outstanding meal at one of our village's fine restaurants and a great night's stay at one of our comfortable motels.

The Isle Royale Queen IV offers many Day-Trip specials throughout the summer. Check at the Queen dock in central Copper Harbor or the Community Center -- or give the Queen office a call. A Day-Trip from Copper Harbor is an excellent way to experience two of America's great natural treasures, Isle Royale and Lake Superior, the world's largest body of fresh water.

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Isle Royale has had a long and special connection to Copper Harbor. The businesses of Copper Harbor encourage you to give Isle Royale a try as part of your next vacation adventure.