Isle royal

[Liquid]

how many days do you have to pack?

[suydam]

5-7 days, 4 people all of whom are in good shape as far as daily mileage

I suppose we could PM this discussion, but I think others might benefit from your advice as well, so I've kept it public.

[Liquid]

right on....I have never packed with more than myself or 1 other person, so hitch hiking is probably out. meaning.....when I pack, I dont like to have to walk the same trail to get back to the car, I'll park at one trail head, & pop out on the opposite side of the mountain, than walk south boundary road (thumbing it) till I can find a nice person to let me sit on there tail gate back to the car. the most I've ever had to walk on the road was an hour.
with that many days its plenty to make it anywhere, but I think If I just tell you my favorite places, part of the adventure is deciding how you want to get there. if you have a g.p.s. it makes it really easy to get to all the off trail places, just make sure to bring a long enough rope to pull your food bag up into a tree as there will be no convenient bear polls. & there WILL be pesty bears.
I love trap falls, lake of the clouds is of coarse the main attraction, but I suggest hiking to it & not driving to it like the tourists. (its much more rewarding.)
my favorite trail is little carp river trail, I find it to be the most scenic. it used to be cool to go to mirror lake & run into sumoe the bear, but the d.n.r. put him down with a gun a few years back as he was rushing campers with the intent to scare them off & get there food (never would he attack). he never got my food, I wouldn't budge. I got some good pictures of him & of what he did to other campers food packs.
in the past I have rented the 8 bunk mirror lake cabin too. very cool as they give you a row boat to take out on the lake. there I've seen a bald eagle swoop down & grab a fish, take it to a dead tree & eat it. I felt like I was back in "mutual of omaha's wild kingdom"
I find it a must to make it to the superior trail, but be warned of all the black flys on the coast if its still summer , they dont seem to dissapear untill end of august into sept.
big carp river trail is a great way to go or come from lake of the clouds.
do you need a map? they give you maps there, but if you need one before hand I can scan you one & e-mail it to you, I also have one that shows bear pole location. let me know!
typing about all of this is making me want to go RIGHT NOW...I miss that place, its my little home away from home.
oh, as long as you have a water microbacteria filter pump, than your all set there, its some of the best tasting water...it has a lot of minerals so your stomach may need a day to adjust. let me know if you have any more questions.
by tradition I listen to dead music (usually live shows) the whole trip up, it sets the perfect mental mood for the long strange trip it'll be!

[Nate_H.]

Sounds like some really excellent places to backpack. What's the weather like in the porkies around early-mid October?

My girlfriend and I are looking for a place to do a 5-7 day backpacking trip when she has some time off from school in October. She's mentioned wanting to go to the porcupine mts, but I'm curious about the weather there that time of year.

Also, any recommendations for places to backpack south of here (that might be a tad warmer/drier)? We're considering Land Between the Lakes in KY, and possibly part of the AT in the southern Appalachians.

[Littlebike]

My path at the porks was:
-Start at Lake in the clouds lookout at late afternoon and walk the ridge for a while camping at the last cliff.
-follow the trail to the lake superior (big Carp River trail) by far the best. Camp on lake sup.
-go along the lake to the little carp and head back in. We stopped short of Mirror Lake camping along the river.
-Next stop was Mirror lake. The people the the cabin let us take the boat out and we climbed on the rocks at Mirror lake. Very cool.
-From there we hiked it out cutting through the middle of the park to Mirror lake climbing the big hill.

We had planned on being there a few more days but the girl I was with was way too freaked out by the wilderness. Any little noise and she would wake up yelling for bears to go away.

As for Sumoe, she was killed by hunters not by the rangers. She had ransacked a cabin while hunters were out hunting. They reported it. The following weekend she tried again and was killed. The rangers pretty much told them to do it because the bear was becoming more aggressive towards people.

I had my own, too-close-for-comfort run in with her my first year I was up there.

the short version-

I had a backpack full of camera gear and had set it on a rock near mirror lake. I picked it up a few minutes later and walked to the lake for one last view before leaving. As I was heading back toward the path, and the rock, I was a huge black bear sniffing the rock where I had set my pack previously.

As soon as I saw her (bear) grabbed my wife (girlfriend at the time) and went the other direction and off trail making sure to give her plenty of room. A few minutes later a group of hikers came through, I told them about the bear and they joined us off the trail.

After about 5 minutes I went to look for her and make sure it was safe. While doing this I walked past a big bush and the bear was on the other side of it walking the opposite direction. From what the hikers told me it was straight out of a comedy, me on one side and the bear on the other.

They wanted to yell a warning or something but did not want to startle the bear and get me killed.

We all decided to leave the trail as a group (safety in numbers) and stayed pretty close together. Sumoe (bear) shadowed us as we were walking. She was up on the hill next to the trail watching us for about a 1/2 mile.

-ok, long story... sorry.

That was the scariest thing I have ever had happen in the woods. Just freaked my out completely. My wife has never been back there since. I might get her out there again, though.

I would love to go on the Isle Royal trip but fear I do not have the money, vacation time, and my knee would give out under a 5-7 day load.

Mirror lake is incredible. You MUST walk the big carp river trail. One night on Superior is also a MUST.

GPS is worth it. I used it to correct a few missed turns out there.

I might try to plan a trip up there this fall, mid september or so.

I suppose I should read the rest of the thread and see when you guy/girls are heading up.

[Liquid]

The people the the cabin let us take the boat out and we climbed on the rocks at Mirror lake. Very cool.
.

I read 3 biography's on that rock. one called [motley crue the dirt]. very good book, another was [howard stern's private parts] a very entertaining & funny book. & another was [marylin manson the biography] a very shocking & interesting book.
& thats funny that you got to see sumoe too.......small world isn't it?

[MKnezek]

I'm interested in great routes in the Porky's as well. Me and a few friends are going in July, it'll be our first backpacking excursion. I wanted to hit that before Isle Royale.

[Littlebike]

1st piece of advice:
Porkies is very hilly. I cannot stress that enough. If you can hike 6-8 miles typically then you should plan on doing about 4-6 miles in the porks. The terrain is rough and will wear you out quick.

What I wrote above is advice I received from park rangers before I made the trip.

2nd piece of advice:
Call the park rangers at the porks, these people are insanely knowledgeable!!! Thet know every route intimately. They will know if a trail is particularly good or bad that year. They will be able to advise you on routes so you can get the most out of your trip. In your case (July trip), they may be able to help avoid some particularly buggy (bugs) areas. They will be able to tell if they have been having trouble with bears steeling food at particular campsites. In other words, CALL THE PARK!

3rd piece of advice:
Go out and buy some paracord to hang your food. There are bear poles up there but not in every camp site. Also, for safety's sake you may as well send all your toiletries up there as well. Critters dont know food from toothpast or deodorant.

thats all for me.

[Liquid]

I'm interested in great routes in the Porky's as well. Me and a few friends are going in July, it'll be our first backpacking excursion. I wanted to hit that before Isle Royale.

its to small of a place to worry to much, you can easily hike across the whole length (long ways) in less than a day with a light load. as far as skill level its VERY novice friendly, like little bike said "very hilly" not mountainous, its not like the rockies or the smokies, these are hills, very easy to backpack through for someone with good physical structure, if you smoke cigarettes or dont ever exercise than I can't say what you'll feel like.
for the most excitement & adventure, I highly recommend going off trail, definately if you want the real wilderness feel so you dont come across other hikers. I like to feel like there is noone around for miles.
I've never been there in the middle of summer, so I dont know about the bugs then, I always plan u.p. trips for early fall if I can, than I'm sure the bug population is very minimal. & I like to see the changing of the leaves which happens much earlier up there.

[Nate_H.]

I'm going to restate one of my questions because it hasn't been answered yet. What are the Porkies usually like in early-mid October?

[Littlebike]

Again, I will encourage you to call the parks people BECAUSE they will know more about that place than anybody on this message board.

I will predict cold and no leaves on the trees.

[Liquid]

I'm guessing the leaves to be full tilt & on there way out.

[Scotty]

I've done each of the ferry routes to the island and I advise anybody coming from lower Michican to take one of the boats from the kewenaw. Grand Portage is a long long drive from Michigan. It added an extra day on either end of my last trip to the big island. The boat out of Grand Portage is also small, so if seas sickness bothers you, you might want to take the ferry out of Houghton/Hancock, which is large and a smoother ride. The Ferry from Grand Portage also circumnavigates the island, coming from the west. The trip to Rock Harbor, for instance, is pretty long, as the boat has to travel north after making several stops, around the island.

All that being said, I have to also say that the best way to get on and off the island is the Sea Plane. It allows you to spend more of your time hiking and less time traveling to and from the island.

I suggest that anybody with some time to spend on the island tries to plan a route away from the main Greenstone Ridge trail where ever possilbe. The Minong is probably my favorite because it gets far less traffic than the "highway" (up on the ridge). The campsites are less used. Very beautiful.

I also can't say enough about picking a time when kids are in school. If you want a solitary trip, with quiet, consider hiking the island when all the kiddies are back in class. You'll avoid the Boyscout troops and families with screaming brats that seem to hover around Rock Harbor and the southern end of the island.

[jeff r]

try here also: Isle Royale Info

Jeff

[boks]

I also can't say enough about picking a time when kids are in school. If you want a solitary trip, with quiet, consider hiking the island when all the kiddies are back in class. You'll avoid the Boyscout troops and families with screaming brats that seem to hover around Rock Harbor and the southern end of the island.

Good point about going when the kiddies are in school. Let me know if a trip is developed. In interested in heading up there early to mid sept. for 5-7 nights.