We recently returned for a stay of several nights in Isle Royale, one of America’s most lightly visited national parks. Based on our memory of the previous trip nine years ago, pretty much everything was unchanged, and that was fine with us. The park remains quiet and uncrowded with beautiful vistas, friendly people, and cool temperatures. Coming from our home in South Georgia, the latter was particularly welcome.
Nearly every visitor to Isle Royale is there to experience the best of nature in a quiet and solitary way. They visit this out-of-the-way park to hike, boat, read, and converse with other visitors who have similar interests. In a triumph of nature over technology, the island has no cell phone service and a woeful Wi-Fi system.
A Different Kind Of National Park
Visitation to Isle Royale during the last two decades has remained steady at approximately 20,000 individuals per year. Compare this modest visitation with Grand Canyon National Park and Yellowstone National Park, which in 2015 welcomed 5.5 million and 4.1 million visitors, respectively. Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota receives 30 times as many annual visitors as Isle Royale. The vast differences in park visitation go a long way in accounting for differences in visitor experience.
Isle Royale, unlike most national parks, has no roads. Without roads there are no vehicles and visitors must walk or take a boat wherever they wish to go within the park. Few visitors combined with a lack of vehicles result in Isle Royale being a special place of solitude where hustle and bustle is only a memory.
Modest visitation is due in large part to the park’s isolated location. Isle Royale is part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a beautiful, raw land that can cause travelers to feel they are in Sweden or Finland. The U.P. is a part of the United States that even many experienced travelers never get around to visiting.
In addition, the park is located in an isolated part of an isolated slice of the state. Isle Royale is a 45-mile long, 9-mile wide island along the northern reach of vast Lake Superior, one of the world’s largest inland bodies of water. The park isn’t on the way to anywhere else, and visitors to Isle Royale must deal with the extra cost and hassle of scheduling transportation to a park for which the only means of getting there is by boat or floatplane.
Staying In Isle Royale National Park
Other than two camper cabins on the west side of the island at Windigo, Rock Harbor Lodge is the only overnight lodging facility within the park. The season is relatively short, beginning in late May and ending in early September. The Rock Harbor complex includes four identical lodge buildings, 20 cottages, a small registration office, a combination restaurant/grill/gift shop, and a small building with what appears to be first aid equipment. A small store and a National Park Service visitor center are at the marina, a short walk from the lodge.
Guest rooms at the lodge are modest but comfortable, and cost about $250 per night for two people. The four buildings with guest rooms are side-by-side on the rocky shoreline of Lake Superior. The location couldn’t be better. Views from room windows and balconies are outstanding. Each of the two-story buildings has 15 guest rooms. Rooms on the second floor enjoy large picture windows that overlook the water. First floor rooms have smaller windows but open to a semi-private balcony with two chairs. Three first-floor suites comprised of a regular room plus a slightly smaller adjacent room are available at a premium of about $100 per night. We have found one of the great pleasures of staying at Rock Harbor Lodge is enjoying a morning cup of coffee while sitting on the balcony and taking in the vistas of Lake Superior. The splashing of small waves on the rocks below and an occasional cry of a loon are likely the only break in the silence.
The 20 cottages are constructed as duplex units on a hillside overlooking Tobin Bay. Each cottage has a kitchenette with a stovetop, microwave, and refrigerator. The cabins offer more privacy and interior space compared to the lodge rooms. However, they are a longer walk from the registration building and restaurant.
What To Do
Isle Royale is a destination for travelers who enjoy hiking, canoeing, and simply relaxing. Canoes, motor boats, and kayaks are available for rent at the marina, while tours aboard a concessionaire-operated sightseeing boat allow visitors to explore this section of the island from the water. Guided fishing is also available. During the evening we found it enjoyable to walk along the waterfront. People are frequently sitting on benches watching the sunset or grilling dinner near the small marina.
Dining is a short walk from each of the lodge guest rooms. Both a dining room and a grill are available with the latter offering lower priced items such as hamburgers and pizzas. We can testify the hand-made pizza is excellent. The dining room offers more upscale and expensive fare such as fish and steak. Michigan-brewed beer is available on tap.
How To Get There
Transportation to the island is one of the important issues travelers face when planning a trip to Isle Royale. Passenger boats to the island depart from Houghton and Copper Harbor, Michigan, and Grand Portage, Minnesota. Each departure point offers a different experience and the boats typically operate only certain days of the week, so it is important to carefully check the transportation schedule when making lodge reservations. Schedules change during the season, so when you plan to visit will play a role in choosing the most appropriate transportation.
The expense for each of the transportation options can be quite different, depending upon the season. The least expensive transportation is the NPS boat that departs Houghton each Tuesday and Friday, and returns from Rock Harbor the following morning. The most popular transportation option is the Copper Harbor vessel that, at 3 hours, offers the fastest boat trip. The longest voyage in terms of both time and distance departs from Grand Portage and requires most of a day to arrive in Rock Harbor. This alternative provides the most complete view of the island and the boat remains overnight at Rock Harbor before returning to Grand Portage the following morning.
The quickest and most expensive ($310 per person RT) transportation is a float plane that departs daily, except Wednesdays from Houghton. This is was our choice of transportation during the most recent trip. The 35-minute flight offers a very different view of both the lake and the island.
A Different Kind Of Place
America’s national parks are each different and Isle Royale is no exception. However, this park may be just a little more unique. Surrounded by huge Lake Superior, the island has retained the uniqueness that made it so attractive when it was established in 1940 as a national park. During winter the island is totally abandoned, both by the concessionaire and by the National Park Service. This is a place where a lover of nature is in his or her element. If you haven’t visited, add it to your bucket list. You won’t be disappointed.
Comments
Isle Royale is best known for it's long term (50+ years) study on the moose and wolf population, one of the most interesting ecological real time studies anywhere. Anyone who goes to Isle Royale will want to learn more.
http://www.isleroyalewolf.org/
Its also possible to camp/hike across the island either the short or long route. You'll carry all your gear on your back. When you land at one of the drop-off/pick/up docks you'll tell the captain when and where you wish to be met by the boaT. You better be on time because if you miss the boat it won't be back around for 2-3 days! A beautiful hike for backpackers!
Meh. Two unsupported assertions in two sentences. Quite frankly most visitors are unaware of the study and would only find it mildly interesting at best, and is only one bullet point in a long list of what the park has to offer. The park is, and would be, wonderful without either wolves or moose, both of which are recent arrivals to the island following over a thousand years of population by caribou and lynx, both of which were extirpated by humans after copper possibilities by white entrepreneurs were exploited.
What speaks to me about this park (where I lived for a period of years) is the mutlifacted nature of its history, natural character and biogeography. Precontact and historical mining. Geology. The resort period. The fire history. Maritime history including tragic shipwrecks. Even more recent history as a national park.
And the silence. Hard to find in many of our parks.
It's sounds great I'll be planning trip