Isle Royale

Isle Royale is an island in Lake Superior that is a National Park. No wheels are allowed on the island--cars, bikes, etc.--and as a result it is very pristine wilderness, probably very similar to what it was like over a hundred years ago.

To get there, you have to take a ferry, which was fun for the first half hour, but the next three hours were not. It was very, very turbulent; a third of the passengers were throwing up, and most of those who weren't were trying not to.

We hiked everywhere, staying at a different place every night. We obviously carried everything we needed for the four days on the island, packing out our garbage, etc. No campfires are allowed, so we had a little proprane tank and a camping stove.

In the middle of the trip, I woke up with my left eye nearly swollen shut. I'd gotten a bug bite on my eye lid during the night. It took a few days, but eventually it went away, though hiking was strange with impaired vision.


Our biggest day was 10.5 miles along the center ridge of the island with a lunch stop at an observation tower at the highest point. Our weather was perfect--no rain, sunny and 70s during the day. The nights were a little cold (in the 40s), which made our tents wet by morning because of condensation from our breath.

All in all it was a fun time; lots of pretty scenery and snazy wildflowers. Nathan saw a wolf, and he and I think we saw a moose swimming on the other end of a lake we were camped near. Nothing close or prolonged, but still wild kingdom-y.