Isle Royale National Park

Friday morning I headed a few miles down the road from my campsite to the docks for my trip out to Isle Royale. You can get to Isle Royale from 2 different points in MI but Grand Portage, MN offers the shortest distance for a manageable day trip. Isle Royale is the largest island in Lake Superior and is entirely a national park. There are a few scenic stops on the way out to Isle Royale

• The Little Spirit Cedar Tree: Over 400 years old, the ancient cedar tree was believed by the Chippewa to have the power to protect and calm the waters of Lake Superior during travels. It was customary for small gifts to be left for the tree as a protective measure before trips on the Lake. You can only see this tree by boat as public access was restricted due to vandalism.

The Sunken Steam Ship "America": This 185 foot long steamship serviced Isle Royale and the North Shore until 1928 when she hit a submerged reef and went down. The bow of the ship is less than 2 feet from the surface but with the gray skies and waters, we couldn’t see it. Here's what it looks like on a clear day though.

We arrived at the Windigo docks and were first instructed in how to behave on the island so we could best preserve it. 

Playing with moose antlers is acceptable

The first thing I did was join up with a ranger walk. Our ranger, Karen, was absolutely wonderful  and it was one of the best ranger programs I’ve done. I learned so much! For instance, did you know you can eat the leaves of a daisy plant? Isle Royale National Park is known for having wolves (who walked over the ice) and moose (who swam over). While I didn’t get to see any, I did learn about this unique closed environment. Isle Royale has been colonized by roughly just one third of the mainland mammal species, due to it being so remote. We did get to see this little guy cuddled up in an old cold storage room.
 
In addition, the environment is unique in that it is the only known place where wolves and moose coexist without the presence of bears. The nature trail has a unique “moose exclosure” that shows how different the island would look if moose weren’t there.  I had worked up quite an appetite after the ranger program hike so I grabbed a sandwich from the small store and ate under the eaves while it rained.
  
Luckily the rain let up so I was able to head out on my own to explore for an hour or so before the boat left and the sky cleared for about 15 minutes.
 

 Since Isle Royale is so dense with trees, I focused on taking pictures of the variety of plants and appreciating its unique ecosystem. 


 
Before boarding the boat I listened to another ranger talk on the history of people living on Isle Royale (Indians, fishermen, copper miners, tourists). We did get to see the Rock of Ages Lighthouse on the way back but then it started pouring so I cuddled up inside the boat until we got back. 
  
It was nice to be able to access such a remote park but I would love to go back and do some hiking and camping to really see more of the island.