Canoeing the Chain of Lakes in Isle Royale National Park: Portaging McCargoe Cove to Malone Bay
Distance: 22.1 miles / 35.6 km
Isle Royale National Park is one of the most beautiful and unique National Parks in country when it comes to planning a visit. That being said, this article is about our specific adventure on the Chain of Lakes, as well as everything that one would experience, regardless of what you decide to do on the island.
By this, I mean there’s a ton to talk about with Isle Royale National Park regarding information that I believe the National Park Service could provide in a better way. For this reason, I believe this post is worth reading through, whether you’re interested in the Chain of Lakes or not.
All said, the distance above includes everything from hiking, canoeing, and portaging our canoe across the Chain of Lakes. We double-carried 6 out of the 7 portages on this route, which is all included in the distance above.
My Print - Wood Lake
Planning Your Trip to Isle Royale
The National Park Service boasts that 99.9% of the land area on Isle Royale is federally designated wilderness, and I say this to tell you that the best way to see Isle Royale National Park is, without a doubt, in the backcountry!
Being the case, don’t book the ferry around the island and expect that to be your Isle Royale visit.
Riding the ferry is quite literally the worst part about visiting Isle Royale, and I don’t say this to talk bad about the ferry business.
How to Decide What to Do in Isle Royale?
Some of the best advice I can give is to simply look over the map below and decide what looks fun. It’s amazing how random an itinerary can get on these lakes, islands, and trails.
That being said, an average stay on Isle Royale is anywhere from 7 to 12 days, which made our 5-day trip seem like nothing.
However, planning your trip is truly dependent on getting on and off the island, so even if you only plan on taking the Voyageur II around Isle Royale, you’re still committed to staying on the island for one night in Rock Harbor before you return back to Grand Portage.
This all means that depending on where you want to get dropped off and picked up, you may need to commit to a few extra days, depending on the ferry’s schedule. For example, we started our trip on June 1st and got picked up at Malone Bay on June 5th. If we even wanted even just one more day on the island to move a little slower while taking this same route, then we would have had to commit to at least three more nights because our next pick up wouldn’t have been until June 8th.
This is all to say that whenever the Grand Portage ferry leaves for Isle Royale, they only circle half of the island in one day, staying overnight in Rock Harbor every time because the journey takes that long.
What are Some Common Isle Royale Trip Itineraries?
Simply by talking with other groups, some of the most common trip itineraries were hiking visitor center to visitor center, or some groups would hike the Greenstone Ridge one way and return back to Windigo on Minong Ridge.
If you’re considering either of these two options, I recommend starting at Windigo, so that you can have a much shorter ferry ride both to and from the park.
That being said, other groups would get much more creative, making the most random routes on the trails around the island. Some people would get dropped off at one place for a few days, then wait for the ferry to come back around and take it to the next stop as they worked their way around Isle Royale. For example, one person wanted to start at Belle Isle, then continue onto Rock Harbor a few days later, and so on.
When other groups heard of our itinerary, we were looked at like the crazy ones for wanting to take a canoe onto Isle Royale. However, after two trips to the BWCA and one to Voyageurs National Park, there was no doubt in my mind that if we were going to do the Chain of Lakes, we had to have a canoe.
Having a canoe also gives you access to paddle-only campgrounds that are not otherwise accessible from any other trail, like Wood Lake. Furthermore, campgrounds that are off of the main trail tend to be incredibly busy, and it kind of ruins the backcountry experience at places like West Chickenbone or Lake Richie. However, I am spoiled after first visiting Voyageurs a few years earlier, where the campsite you reserve is 100% yours, and you will be the only group on that lake for your entire visit.
What is the Best Time of Year to Visit Isle Royale?
In my opinion, I answer this question around the mosquitoes and biting flies, which can be horrible whenever the temperatures start to reach the mid-50s and 60s.
Being the case, I would only ever visit Isle Royale, Voyageurs, or the BWCA at the end of May/ beginning of June or mid-September through October. The latter would be incredible for amazing fall fishing, and the beautiful changing colors.
However, the busy season begins in July and if this is you, plan on bringing a bug net.
Where Can You Rent Canoes or Kayaks for Isle Royale National Park?
If you don’t have your own canoe, you’re basically restricted to two options. The first and easiest is to rent the aluminum canoes provided by the same Grand Portage Isle Royale Transportation Lines, and they are available right near the dock.
The second option is to rent from Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte, MN, as they are one of the few outfitters in the area that will rent canoes and kayaks to Isle Royale. However, if you choose Sawtooth Outfitters, you still need to have a vehicle that’s capable to transport the canoes or kayaks to the ferry in Grand Portage.
The advantage of renting with Sawtooth Outfitters is that they can rent lightweight Kevlar canoes, which will make portaging significantly more enjoyable than one of the aluminum ones in Grand Portage.
Getting to Isle Royale National Park
The most practical and popular option is to take one of the four ferries from either from Grand Portage, MN, Houghton, MI, or Copper Harbor, MI.
However, if you want to get to Isle Royale faster, sea planes can be the better, more expensive option, but a sea plane limits the amount of weight you are allowed to take with you on your trip.
In any case, should you are decide to begin at any of the niche trailheads, like McCargoe, Belle Isle, Daisy Farm, Chippewa Harbor, or Malone Bay, then you are restricted to the Voyageur II, which leaves from Grand Portage. This is because all of the other ferries are only good for roundtrip transportation to the two visitor centers.
To this point, take either the Ranger III or the Isle Royale Queen IV from Michigan if you want to begin from Rock Harbor. If not, you will be on the Voyageur II, which will take much longer, as the boat stops at all of the niche trailheads along the way. They say they will skip these trailheads 'if' they don’t have people getting off, but it seems like they will always have people getting off at each stop.
As a side note, if you want a canoe on the inland waters, the ferries will transport a canoe—either rented or personally owned—on the ferries. However, the canoes that the National Park Service rents out on the island are only intended for the immediate areas near the visitor centers in which they are rented, not the backcountry.
Isle Royale Ferry
The Voyager II out of Grand Portage, Minnesota is a very good, professional, and knowledgable business to get you to and from Isle Royale safely. However, I mentioned previously that taking the ferry is the worst part about the trip, and that’s because of how slow it is.
It took longer to get where we were going than the times posted, and the slow trip feels even worse when you’re leaving the island and you’re tired, hungry, and in need of a shower!
However, the ferry is a necessary evil, which is why I recommend that you bring some small headphones and download a movie or two because whether you leave from Minnesota or Michigan, you will be bored and possibly sea sick for the majority of the transit.
Google Maps Directions: Grand Portage Ferry Pier
How to Get Isle Royale Backcountry Permits?
Permits in Isle Royale National Park are issued only once you arrive in the park, at either Rock Harbor or Windigo. This means one cannot reserve a site ahead of time, and the same goes for off-trail or what they call 'cross-country permits.'
At first, I was wondering how we would get the permit for where we wanted, but as long as your ferry ride is scheduled for your desired drop-off and pick-up, then you should have no issue explaining your itinerary once you get off at either visitor center.
I believe they do it this way because of the park’s remote nature and high chance that individuals won’t undertake the proper planning before visiting. From what I could gather, it seems that there are many people who would like to visit the park, but they never actually follow through because visiting Isle Royale is not like driving up to Zion and paying your entrance fee.
How to Pay Isle Royale National Park Entrance Fees?
Isle Royale National Park entrance fees can either be paid in advance online, which is what the National Park Service recommends, or in person once you get to the island.
However, if you have a valid park pass, bring it to the island; they will verify your pass at the same time they issue your permit.
Pay Here: Isle Royale National Park Entrance Fee
Camping Checklist - Isle Royale
Obviously, for camping, you will need general backpacking gear. I wrote a separate post about what backpacking gear is worth the money from my experience and what are the best alternatives to save you money.
Read My Separate Post: Best Ultralight Backpacking Gear
In addition, here is a complete list of must-have things that you will want for any backcountry trip on the Chain of Lakes in Isle Royale National Park.
Portaging the Isle Royale Chain of Lakes
Voyageur II
Our day started at 6:45 a.m. in Grand Portage for a 7:30 a.m. departure to Windigo.
In my experience, crossing Lake Superior was nothing short of an average day on open-ocean swells. Believe me, I lived on the ocean for more than a year.
If you are prone to getting sea sick, there’s a good chance that this may impact you, as we watched more than one person losing their stomach over the back of the boat.
However, on our return trip, another group commented about how much rougher the transit was as opposed to when they first arrived, but to us, this same return trip was like glass in comparison. I hope this shows how much the swell on Lake Superior can vary.
I realize that I keep saying it, but the ferry to Isle Royale and back is the most boring part, even when you’re circling the island.
For this reason, you should download movies or shows to pass the time and bring food and water for the trip because it takes much longer than you might expect.
Additionally, you won’t have access to your bags once you’re on the ferry, so grab anything that you might need beforehand.
Windigo
In our experience, the transit was right around 2 hours to Windigo, and we started to get views of the island about a third of the way into the trip.
Once we docked, we were all briefed by a park ranger about Isle Royale and what to expect. The ranger thankfully told us that we were experiencing the best stretch of weather they had seen in weeks, given that the weather just a week prior was really making us question if we should even go. However, to our benefit, the forecast changed in our favor!
Immediately after the orientation, we were told where to go to get our backcountry permits and pay any park entrance fees that were applicable.
Then, right after we got our permit, we tried to walk up to the store quickly, but we were immediately turned around to get back on the ferry. We knew we had to keep moving quickly, but this seemed a little unnecessary because there were still at least two more groups that needed to go through the permitting process.
We all had said that it would have been better if they gave us a time to get back on the boat, once we noticed that we easily had enough time for a few minutes in the store.
However, since the ferry takes as long as it does, it makes sense why they want to get moving as quickly as possible.
Therefore, make sure that you have everything that you need before departing Minnesota or Michigan because you will not have the chance to see Windigo if you are going further around the island.
McCargoe Cove
After Windigo, the rest of the transit was fairly long and tedious, and we didn’t arrive in McCargoe until after 2 p.m., which was originally estimated to be 1 p.m.
Keep in mind that Isle Royale National Park is on Eastern Standard Time (EST), which is an hour ahead of Minnesota.
Immediately after getting dropped off, we started the hike toward Chickenbone Lake, but we weren’t going to make it far on our first day because of how much time the ferry took up just to get to McCargoe Cove.
In any case, our mistake with the canoe was ambitiously trying to single-carry to Chickenbone Lake when we first set off. While we did it, this was the only portage for which we opted for a single-carry because hiking over was unnecessarily more difficult than it had to be.
Chickenbone Lake
McCargoe Cove to the northern tip of Chickenbone Lake was a 1 mile (1.6 km) portage.
Once we got to the start of Chickenbone Lake, we launched our canoe right at the most northern tip of the lake and paddled for about 0.9 miles (1.4 km) to the West Chickenbone Campground.
From this experience, I do not recommend three people in a canoe along with your bags, but that’s exactly what we did. Looking back, it would have been much more practical to do one canoe and a kayak if you have an odd number of people.
West Chickenbone Campground
Regardless, we made it to the West Chickenbone Campground in the late afternoon, and it was nearly full.
Before visiting, I was under the impression that a campground would have one site available per group, but that is not the case. Multiple sites are available at every campground, which made West Chickenbone a very busy site because it’s right off of Greenstone Ridge.
Once we were set up, I fished the rest of the day in the canoe, and while I read that fishing in Chickenbone is some of the best on the island, I didn’t have any luck, likely related to how early in the season we were visiting.
However, if you’re having any luck, you can expect to catch Northern Pike and Walleye on Chickenbone Lake.
My Print - West Chickenbone Sunrise
After breakfast and a stunning sunrise, we set off for the portage to Lake Livermore. We knew that we were going to pass over a few lakes with our amount of days, so Lake Livermore was our first of three that we didn’t stay at.
This didn’t bother me too much because from what I read out of a fishing guide, the fishing on Livermore is really take it or leave it. There are better lakes to fish on Isle Royale, but you can expect to catch Northern Pike on Livermore if you do fish it.
In any case, the paddle from West Chickenbone to the Lake Livermore portage is about 0.8 miles (1.3 km), which is located right in the middle of the smallest strip of land between both Chickenbone Lake and Lake Livermore.
Chickenbone-Livermore-Greenstone Ridge Junction
On this portage, we crossed over Greenstone Ridge, so it’s important to know exactly what turn to make because it can be confusing.
When you come to the split at the stream, cross over the stream and head uphill after the stream crossing. If you end up following the stream, you will actually be on the Greenstone Ridge and hiking in the wrong direction.
Lake Livermore
The portage from Chickenbone Lake to Lake Livermore was one of the easier portages on the entire trip, at only 0.25 miles (0.4 km) each way.
From the portage in the middle of Lake Livermore, we paddled toward the southwest corner of the lake to meet the next portage, which joins up with the Indian Portage Trail.
This paddle across Lake Livermore is about 0.5 miles (0.8 km).
Indian Portage Trail
The portage from Lake Livermore to Lake LeSage was longer and more uphill than the previous; therefore, double-carrying for this stretch definitely made it easier, as the trail climbs steeply immediately after Lake Livermore before descending to Lake LeSage.
That being said, look out for the small portage trail on the left to get to Lake LeSage immediately after the boardwalks.
The portage from Livermore to LeSage is about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) each way.
Lake LeSage
After launching the canoe, we paddled for about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to the western peninsula on Lake LeSage where we spent the night. However, another camping option to consider may be the smaller western peninsula next to the marsh.
In regards to fishing, the best spot, in our experience, was on the north tip of the western peninsula.
Personally, I caught about 15 Northern Pike on Lake LeSage alone, but they were all way too small to consider keeping. I believe the biggest was only around 17 inches, and the minimum size to keep a Northern, when I visited, was 24 inches, with a maximum size of 30 inches.
That being said, I would skip fishing the southern half of LeSage entirely, as the depth never gets over 5 ft (1.5 m). The north half of the lake is where all the structure is, and it’s the best place to have a chance of catching something worth keeping.
In all, camping and fishing on a lake without people, compared to how busy West Chickenbone was, made Lake LeSage completely worth it!
Lake LeSage to Lake Richie was our biggest day with three portages, and I was definitely disappointed that we didn’t have time for a night at Lake Richie. Tied with how beautiful Wood Lake was, Lake Richie was up there for the most beautiful lake on Isle Royale, which doesn’t even mention that everyone raves about how good the fishing is.
However, just like West Chickenbone, Lake Richie was a busy lake! Even the paddle-only campground had more than one group staying there.
In any case, we packed up soon after breakfast and paddled the 0.25 miles (0.4 km) across the lake to the south side of LeSage, where the portage is located in the middle of the south arm.
This portage was about 0.6 miles (1.0 km) each way to Lake Richie.
Indian Portage Trail
The photo below is where the portage between the two lakes splits with the Indian Portage Trail.
Go right to continue toward Lake Richie.
Lake Richie
Once we were on Lake Richie, we canoed by the paddle-only campground and found at least two groups utilizing the one site.
I can only imagine that these popular sites get more busy as the summer goes on.
Paddling from the Lake Richie portage to the Intermediate Lake portage was about 0.9 miles (1.4 km), which is located on the west arm of the lake on the far side of the little bay.
In my opinion, portaging from Lake Richie to Intermediate Lake, at 0.8 miles (1.3 km), was one of the more difficult portages, as there is a steep climb right as you leave Lake Richie.
Before portaging to Intermediate Lake, we came across our second notice for toxic algae blooms in Intermediate Lake.
The notice was a year old, but I believe this becomes a problem in Intermediate as the summer goes on.
Intermediate Lake
I was not as impressed with Intermediate Lake compared to some of the others, and I think that simply paddling the 1.1 miles (1.8 km) across the lake was the right decision.
On the far side of Intermediate Lake, the portage to Siskiwit Lake can be found on the westernmost side, and at only 0.5 miles (0.8 km) each way, I thought this flatter hike between the two was one of the easier portages compared to others.
Siskiwit Lake
The paragraph in the photo below was pretty spot on with our experience on Siskiwit Lake.
When we first hiked over to Siskiwit Lake with our bags, the waves were pretty mild.
However, by the time we returned with the canoe, the wind picked up, and the lake was averaging at least one-foot swells. This wouldn’t have been so bad with only two people and two bags, but with three people and three bags, we were sitting very low in the water.
This inevitably meant a number of waves came over the top and nearly swamped our canoe, which likely would have meant lost bags on top of trying to swim to shore to get everything back in order. In addition, Siskiwit Lake was not warm in early June, which also could have meant hypothermia with the strong winds we were fighting.
Take a look at our route below, as we hid behind every island that we could on the east end of Siskiwit to get to Wood Lake.
Nevertheless, we thankfully made it to Wood Lake safely after a number of close calls and fighting the wind to keep the canoe the way we wanted it.
This route was about 2 miles (3.2 km) of paddling from the portage to the Wood Lake campsite.
Wood Lake
We tried to do some fishing on Wood Lake, but since the wind and waves were so rough, it didn’t make sense to stay out on the water trying.
Be that as it may, Wood Lake was by far our group’s favorite campsite because of the upper views you can get of Siskiwit and Wood Lake from a few different directions.
In our experience, it was more beautiful to watch the sunset from this rocky overlook over Siskiwit Lake, and sunrise was more beautiful from the Wood Lake side of the campsite.
In addition, one of my favorite things about Wood Lake was that it was a paddle-only campsite, making us the only group there.
Since our time on Siskiwit was so awful the day before, we left first thing in the morning at around 7 a.m. when the lakes were usually calm and glassy.
That being said, the second paragraph in the above photo was 100% accurate, as this long paddle took us just under 2 hours to the Malone Bay portage. However, the entire time we hadn’t even a gust of wind, as we paddled across a completely glassy Siskiwit Lake.
When we got to the portage, we left our canoe on the Siskiwit side to continue fishing throughout the day.
Then, we hiked over to the Malone Bay campgrounds, located on the Lake Superior side of Isle Royale, which is when we crossed over from the backcountry to front-country camping.
In all, this was a 3.5 mile (5.6 km) paddle from Wood Lake to the portage for Malone Bay.
Malone Bay
When you walk the 0.4 miles (0.6 km) to Malone Bay, there are multiple cabins to choose from, with views of Lake Superior where you can set up your tent right inside the little shelters.
We stayed in cabin 1 because we thought it had the best views of Lake Superior, and we were able to fit two two-person tents inside of the shelter very easily.
Since we left Wood Lake so early, we arrived at Malone Bay just after 9 a.m. to have breakfast there.
Then, after setting up our campsite, I hiked back over to Siskiwit Lake to do some fishing for the rest of the day.
Fishing on Sikiwit Lake
After trying for about 5 hours on the water, we caught nothing, despite trying many different spots, depths, and lures. Fishing Siskiwit Lake during the first week of June was extremely tricky, as it seemed like nothing was working, and it appeared as if the fish were still waiting for things to warm up.
After our first time out, I took a short break only to return 30 minutes later by myself to keep trying. The amazing thing was that you could see at least 30 ft. (9.1 m) down when the water was calm because of how clear it was, but I could not find a single fish in the first 30 ft. (9.1 m) of water. I was wondering how successful the loons must have been because I couldn’t even find any bait fish swimming around.
Then, at around 5:45 p.m., I was fishing with a spoon, casting it out into some pretty deep water. When I cast, I let the spoon sink for about 30 seconds before I started to reel it in slowly. That’s when I felt a couple of taps and figured I was just on the bottom. However, it started to pull the line out, which was the most action I felt all day. After fighting the fish for about 30 seconds, it broke free, which was pretty heartbreaking to lose the one fish I had on the line after nearly 8 hours of fishing by that point!
Then, two casts later using the same technique, I had it on again. This time I was trying to be much more careful because I didn’t know what I was hooking into. I barely set the hook to try not to fight back too hard, like when I lost it the first time. After over a minute of fighting, I had it about 10 ft. (3 m) below the canoe, and I could see that it was a beautiful Lake Trout. However, just as I was starting to try to bring it in, it broke free for a second time!
My Lake Trout
This was was my first Lake Trout that I had ever hooked into, so everything about catching one was unfamiliar to me. Unlike a Northern Pike, Walleye, or Bass that gets on the line and fights against you by swimming away, these Lake Trout don’t just swim away from you, but rather, they twist and turn in every direction, as they thrash and try to get off of the line. Therefore, I consider catching Pike, Walleye, and Bass to be pretty easy compared to one of these Lake Trout.
After it got off the second time I didn’t feel anything using the same technique for a while after. However, after about 20 minutes, I was onto a fish again. This time I was being as delicate as I have ever been trying to reel in a fish, and when I finally got it about 10 ft. (3 m) below the canoe, I could see that I barely had it hooked with only one hook on the treble of my spoon. When I finally had it close enough to reach for my net, it dove back down below the canoe. Then, when I had it back up again, I tried netting the trout only for it to thrash back out and dive below the canoe again. On my third attempt with the net, I finally landed this beautiful Lake Trout that you see in the photo here, and I can honestly say that I’ve never worked so hard to catch one fish!
There’s no way catching it would have been possible without the net, and I estimate that I hooked into the trout at least 40-50 ft. (12-15 m) down after looking at a depth chart of Siskiwit Lake at the time of writing this post.
Shortly after catching the trout, I headed back to Malone Bay to clean the catch and make dinner.
There is a fish-cleaning station at Malone Bay to the right of the dock behind the fuel tank on the point, but I couldn’t figure out where it was when I needed to fillet the trout.
To cook the trout in the backcountry, we cooked it in a pan with Shore Lunch and coconut oil over the fire on one of the grills at the campground. That being said, I highly recommend coconut oil over a heavier, messier oil if you plan on frying any fish.
In any case, I used to think that Walleye was the best freshwater eating fish, but now I believe that is surpassed by Lake Trout, based on this experience!
Voyageur II
The next morning, we were scheduled for a 9:15-10 a.m. pickup window. When the Voyageur II arrived, the whole stop took less than 5 minutes, even with loading the canoe because it was only our group and one other.
From Malone Bay, the ferry returns to Windigo to drop off and pick up any more people leaving Isle Royale. This is another very quick stop, so don’t expect to get off the boat here. The ferry should be on its way for the roughly two-hour-long transit back to Grand Portage shortly.
After arriving in Grand Portage, you will be required to pay your parking fees, and we were required to pay for our canoe rental at this time.
Fishing on Inland Lakes in Isle Royale
Fishing on any of the inland waters in Isle Royale National Park does not require a fishing license. However, a Michigan fishing license is required if you fish on any of the Lake Superior waters.
Please follow all Isle Royale Fishing regulations, and any regulations that are not specifically mentioned on this website fall under the general Michigan fishing regulations.
For example, keeping any of the small pike that we caught on Lake LeSage would have been far too small, not to mention how tedious it would be to fillet something that small.
My Fishing Experience in Isle Royale
Since we were visiting so early in the season, fishing was a challenge in Isle Royale compared to the rest of my trips in the BWCA and Voyageurs National Park, where the temperatures were a bit warmer.
With temperatures, on average, around the mid-50s during the day and in the high 30s at night, we only caught fish on two of the four lakes we camped on. If you visit any later in the summer, the fishing should ideally be much more active, but you sacrifice the temps with biting insects.
Nevertheless, I previously mentioned that I was fishing Siskiwit Lake—extremely deep for most types of fishing—and I believe we were having luck on LeSage because that was our nicest and warmest day on our entire trip.
In all, I believe we were riding a fine line between it being too cold and a waste of weight carrying the fishing gear, and some of the best and most active fishing in the country on these lakes that don’t have high fishing pressure.
Isle Royale vs. Voyageurs National Park
Regardless of my opinions below, do not let my thoughts steer you away from visiting one park over another. They are both incredible National Parks if you get into the backcountry.
That being said, if you are looking to hike/ backpack, visit Isle Royale. Voyageurs National Park is much more renowned for its beautiful, secluded backcountry lakes than its trails. However, backpacking across Isle Royale is just one of the many adventures that you could choose.
While it’s very popular to hike from visitor center to visitor center on Isle Royale, you can see from our trip on the Chain of Lakes that we choose just one of countless different combinations for a trip.
In any case, if backcountry fishing interests you more, then Voyageurs National Park is more of the park for you. Even though we did a lot of backcountry fishing on Isle Royale, I believe that Voyageurs is better suited for it because on the inland lakes in Voyageurs, portaging a canoe is not required, whereas we had to portage across the Chain of Lakes on Isle Royale.
When it comes to choosing between either Isle Royale and Voyageurs National Park, my overall recommendation is Voyageurs, and I say this for a number of reasons, centered mainly around the ferry, how each park operates their permitting, and how busy each park gets.
First and foremost, the ferry is pain. The ferry is very slow, annoying, and it makes visiting Isle Royale one of the most expensive National Parks in the lower 48.
For three people transporting and renting 1 canoe, it cost us $889 (2022 prices), and we were lucky to not have to cover the park entrance fee. That’s a massive barrier to entry over many other National Parks, and the cost only goes up from here if you choose to fly in by sea plane.
The second reason I choose Voyageurs over Isle Royale is because Isle Royale is busy! They like to tell you that visiting a secluded hard-to-get-to island on Lake Superior is its own barrier to entry, but Isle Royale’s backcountry was by far, more crowded than Voyageurs.
Voyageurs may have more visitors overall, but that is mainly because of the large lakes surrounding the backcountry, meaning that the backcountry in Voyageurs National Park is, by and large, less visited than the backcountry on Isle Royale.
As previously mentioned, when you reserve a backcountry site in Voyageurs, it’s yours, and you will be the only group on that lake because there is only one campsite per lake. Therefore, after this experience in Voyageurs, I thought it was a little annoying to arrive at what you’d think would be a quiet backcountry site on Isle Royale, only to be hunting to find a spot to camp, like our experience at West Chickenbone, and keep in mind that we weren’t even visiting during the busy season.
It seems that as long as you pay for your way to Isle Royale, they will issue any number of backcountry permits needed, which is what I meant by how the park operates. I don’t believe that Isle Royale should be restricting visitors, but finding a way to prevent overcrowding in the backcountry at popular spots should be a priority.
Notes
For a trip like the Chain of Lakes that’s more canoeing than backpacking, I always pack much heavier than normal because of my fishing gear.
Furthermore, on top of having a full tackle box, a net, and things for cleaning and cooking the fish, I always pack an anchor bag because it’s a must on windy days. For me, it’s the same setup that I use for a bear bag.
Take a look at my recommendation, utilizing an REI Durable Stuff Sack on the gear list, to make fishing that much more enjoyable.
Weather in Isle Royale National Park
During our orientation, the ranger told us that the inland temperatures can range from 10-15° F (5.6-8.3° C) warmer than they are reported.
However, the temperatures that you typically see on your weather app are cooler because of Lake Superior.
Safety
Overall, Isle Royale National Park is a relatively safe park to visit in terms of wildlife.
By this, I mean that Isle Royale does not have bears; only moose and wolves, which would be quite the sight to see. However, with all of the moose on the island, our group did not come across any on our five-day trip.
That being said, the worst part about Isle Royale was the leeches in the water. Just by stepping in and out of the canoe, we would get leeches on us, which pretty much turned me off to swimming in any of the lakes. I even pulled a few leeches off a few of the Northern Pike that I caught.
As always, find the most up-to-date information and conditions on the official National Park website.
