The National Park Service tries to make it sound easy to get to Isle Royale National Park on their website. "Getting to Isle Royale in Three Easy Steps" is how the website page starts. First you determine whether you're leaving from Minnesota or Michigan. Then you decide whether you're taking the seaplane or ferry. Then you decide which side of the island you want to visit. Oh, and the island is closed from November until mid-April. Then, if you leave from Minnesota, which is closer, throw in the time zone difference. Yeah, easy.
It's one of the least visited national park in the contiguous 48 states. Contrary to what we knew, the park is actually over 400 little islands. Concessionaire service is only offered to the main island. It has no roads and no cars are allowed. However, those that visit the park tend to spend more time in the park, as in days, not hours. That's because those that make the effort to get there, camp and hike over several days to go from one end of the island to the other.
Well, we're not backpackers. We settled on a day trip. We left by ferry from Grand Portage, MN, and arrived at the Windigo visitor center on the southwestern side of the island. We spent four hours on the island with our primary activity being a nature hike with a ranger. We could certainly see the attraction for campers and imagined what a night sky would look like from there. No, we didn't do the park justice, but we did get a taste of its appeal.
As an aside, the National Park Service has a visitation page that's full of national park visitation statistics. It's rather interesting to see which spots are the most popular.
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| Rock of Ages |
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| The only moose we saw |
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| Thistleberries...a bit tart |
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| Moose munch |
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| Fresnal lense display at ranger station |
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| Sea Hunter III |
Where Are We Going Next?
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