Hanging Isle Royale NP- Minong Ridge trail

[OCDave]

I am leaving in less than week for Isle Royale. Planning 6 days to hike Minong Ridge trail and explore the SW end of the island. While I have visited IRNP several times, I have never been west of McCargo Cove, Lake Ritche or Chippewa Harbor.

Anyone been there recently? Looking for a bug report. Mosquitoes are no problem but, Black Flies haunt my dreams.

[Staffy6]

I did the Minong Ridge Trail about two years ago and didn't have a problem with Mosquitoes or Black Flies. The campsites of Todd Harbor and Little Todd (favorite campsite in the park) are right on Lake Superior and this late in the season you should be fine. I would think North Desor should be fine, but I could see it having some minor issues.

[OCDave]

We are back! Happy to report that Black Flies were absent, mosquitoes were minimal, Blue berries and thimble berries were plentiful.

My 16 yo son was like a run-away stage coach and I, like comic relief, was unable to stop or slow him. Our planned 6-day itinerary was complete in just 3 days. While my nearly 50 yo bones, joints and muscles were able to keep pace, I was happy to catch an early ferry back to Grand Portage to begin my convalescence.

Hiking East to West from McCargo Cove we passed only 2 other hikers on the trail. The only evidence that the island was not our own was at the campgrounds.

Wednesday afternoon: Shouldering our packs immediately upon being dropped by the Voyager II at McCargo Cove, we covered the distance to Todd Harbor in a few hours and had our choice of campsites. Site #4 is the indisputable best site at this campground and is my favorite among the dozen on the island at which I've stayed. Right on the water, facing the setting sun with the waves of Lake Superior, muted by the harbor, lapping gently on the smooth rock beach made Site #4 alone worth the trip. Trees enough to hang several hammocks eased my own concerns about needing to resort to a go-to-ground option.

Thursday: An early start and an unbridled hiking pace got us to Little Todd before breakfast was finished for some. Despite cautions that Little Todd to N. Desor would be the hardest section on the island, we pushed on, dropping a night at Little Todd from our itinerary. While my son scoffed at the "Hardest" reputation, I'll admit to an internal whimper each time I checked the map and determined that N. Desor was still in the distance. When we did eventually arrive, we again had our choice of sites, we chose #1 for its slightly better view of Lake Desor. Any of the 3 sites would accommodate at least 2 hammocks and in fact there were hammocks deployed at all three sites that evening.

Friday: Slept late recovering from Thursday's hike. By the time breakfast was finished we found we were the last to hit the trail. Our original itinerary had us "Off-trail" camping one night between N. Desor and Huginin Cove. We left N. Desor with 10 liters of water prepared to spend the night somewhere along the ridge.

Friday was, by far, our hardest day hiking. I cannot stress how much I LOVE my hiking poles. Super steep climbs and decents, sloppy, sloppy swamp crossing and clearing my way through chest high vegetation would have been undoable for me without my hiking poles. However, spectacular views from the ridge and interesting scenery through the woods made this day's hike, while brutal, also the most enjoyable. The trail across the ridge top is marked by cairns and is sometimes easy to lose. We found ourselves backtracking on several occasions to re-find the trail. We hiked the entire 15 miles to Huginin Cove dropping the "Off-trail" camping night from our itinerary.

While any of the 5 campsites at Huginin Cove would accommodate at least 2 hammocks, Site 1 and 2 are on the water. We were fortunate to spend the night in Site 2. Site 1 was the only other site occupied that night. Friday night was the first that we deployed our tarps and a lite shower sent us off to sleep.

Saturday: With just 4.5 miles to Windigo and return ferry booked for Tuesday it was difficult to find the motivation to leave the hammock. The extra few hours was probably needed anyway to recover from Friday's brutality. It was after 10AM by the time we were back on the trail. The hike to Windigo on the West Huginin Cove Loop trail should be a painless walk in the woods, for me, on this day it was a little painful. Saturday was the first day I couldn't keep pace with my 16 yo.

We explored the all 5 tent campsites and Washington Creek Campground and liked site #2. Site 2 was, again, right on the water. Seemed like a moose should be grazing across the creek from our campsite. Three of the five tent sites would have worked with 2 hammocks. Most of the sites at Washington Creek are shelters. While we did not explore those sites, it seems reasonable that a shelter site might have suitable trees for hammocking.

We set up our hammocks and tarps, still damp from the previous evening's rain and then hiked into Windigo to inquire about advancing our departure to a Sunday return on the Voyager II. To our surprise, the Sea Hunter III was dockside. The Sea Hunter's Capt agreed to fit us on the 2:00PM return trip to Grand Portage. We hustled back to our campsite, hastily broke camp and made it back to the boat just in time for loading, dropping our night at Washington Creek from our itinerary.

In the end, 73 hours on the island with the Minong Ridge Trail under our belts.

Next trip:
1) I'll take less food. We brought back ~ 10 lbs uneaten. I doubt we'd have gone hungry even if we'd have stayed 3 days beyond our planned itinerary.
2) I might consider trail runners. I wore full-leather boots and I am glad I did. The trail is at times 90% exposed roots and rocks. I have just one small blister but, the soles of my feet feel battered. Perhaps less food (weight) and trail runners would keep me lighter on my feet.
3) More pictures. I had a camera in my hip pocket the entire trip but, took only 3 photos. The images are vivid in my mind but, a bit difficult to share with all of you. Sorry.

[charadeur]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like you had a good time. We have a group from my search and rescue group up there this week on a pleasure trip. I could not go due to work.

[PTAaron]

Thanks for the report!
What were the temperature like?

[OCDave]

Thanks for the report!
What were the temperature like?

Temps during our stay were low 80's with clear blue skies during the day and mid 60's w/star filled skies overnight. My son was comfortable w/40* HG Incubator, I needed to vent my 20* HG Incubator a little. Cooler weather was just rolling in as we were leaving. My IRNP experience has been that even in August you need to be prepared for 40* weather.

Sorry if the report seems too sparse. Primarily, I was just trying to include info regarding the access to "hammock-able" sites.

Synopsis: IRNP is a hammock friendly US National Park.

[NBrack]

Thanks for the report it sounds like a fantastic trip! Definitely a place on my list for the future.

[Kapang!]

Nice report. I worked at Windigo for two seasons, back in the day.

No pics?

[CamoEvo]

I just got back from 8 nights hangin' on the Island, Windigo to Rock Harbor with Todd harbor and Moskey Basin in between. 50.7 miles. I'll start working on videos soon, will post.

[Hoosierhammock]

Awesome Report! I am taking my wife and a couple of cousins to do that same path next spring. They are all noobs, so it should be interesting.