Isle Royale
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What started out as a five day, four night trip ended up being an overnight backpacking trip and three nights in a shelter because of heavy rain. I was there with my wife Mary and sisters Theresa and Barb.
We were in the island from the 5th to the 15th of September with ideal hiking weather, with the exception of one day of having 12 hrs of rain when we took a zero day. The park this year has experience a LARGE increase of hikers during September from past experience as the park closes down on the 17th. Was surprised to see the Isle Royale Seaplanes dock at Handcock, MI grew from one plane to three along with the over night parking. We started our hike at McCargo Cove to Windigo with hearing early morning wolf howling our first morning, but moose sighting along the trail during the hike were few. (Estimates from this winter indicate there are 1,346 moose on the island, down 28% from the 1,876 estimate in February 2020 . Part of the population drop can be attributed to wolf kills, which accounted for approximately 8.7% of moose mortalities AND other factors include blood-sucking winter ticks and a shortage of balsam fir, the food of choice during winter when moose dietary options are limited.) For those of you that some day would like to visit this park, it opens opportunities other than hiking such as pack rafting and sea kayaking AND reservations as of 2022 are not required!!
This park is another park feeling the increase in usage and desires to keep and preserve the WILDERNESS CONCEPT on which the park was founded. Presently in a comment phase for public input looking at three courses of action of which the Final EIS available to the public in Spring 2023.
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