Can ya'll give recommendations regarding Isle Royale National Park as a destination please? Anchorages? Departure ramps? Fishing Lures? Sites to see on Island? Best Local source for accurate weather and news?
Isle Royale National Park Lake Superior
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Where to start???
Isle Royale is bucket-list quality sailing, Really.
In a M26 you'd best start from Grand Portage MN, a 20 mile or run to the SW side; Washington Harbor and Windigo Station. Here and Rock Harbor on the North east side (50 miles apart) are the only two places you can get gas. Great anchorages are to be had in Hay Bay, Chippewa Harbor, and McCargo Cove.
RADAR is nice do to occasion heavy fog, but FOR SURE have a good GPS plotter with good maps. Water is clear down to 20 feet and often very very cold. Check weather on a regular basis... it no place to get caught out.
But go for sure. You'll never regret it.
Some pix from last year.
Isle Royale is bucket-list quality sailing, Really.
In a M26 you'd best start from Grand Portage MN, a 20 mile or run to the SW side; Washington Harbor and Windigo Station. Here and Rock Harbor on the North east side (50 miles apart) are the only two places you can get gas. Great anchorages are to be had in Hay Bay, Chippewa Harbor, and McCargo Cove.
RADAR is nice do to occasion heavy fog, but FOR SURE have a good GPS plotter with good maps. Water is clear down to 20 feet and often very very cold. Check weather on a regular basis... it no place to get caught out.
But go for sure. You'll never regret it.
Some pix from last year.
If you do go, I'd recommend this book. It's basicly the bible on sailing on Lake Superior.
http://www.amazon.com/Bonnie-Dahls-Superior-Way-Dahl/dp/0942235924
There are jump off points that would be a shorter drive (bayfield) but the open water part of the trip would be over 50 miles... Large part of the trip out of sight of any land. Grand Portage would be best.
Fiishing on isle Royale requires no license (national park), but the water around it are Michigan and to fish in Lake Superior requires a Michigan tab. Northern pike in the bays, lake trout casting off ridges. Big mepps and daredevils always a good choice.
http://www.amazon.com/Bonnie-Dahls-Superior-Way-Dahl/dp/0942235924
There are jump off points that would be a shorter drive (bayfield) but the open water part of the trip would be over 50 miles... Large part of the trip out of sight of any land. Grand Portage would be best.
Fiishing on isle Royale requires no license (national park), but the water around it are Michigan and to fish in Lake Superior requires a Michigan tab. Northern pike in the bays, lake trout casting off ridges. Big mepps and daredevils always a good choice.
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I grew up in Duluth. The creeks coming down out of those hills are only just above freezing even in late July. How you got your poor wife into that ice cold creek on Isle Royal is simply beyond imagination.
There was a documentary about Isle Royal some years ago, they called it an arctic rainforest.
There was a documentary about Isle Royal some years ago, they called it an arctic rainforest.
Wow. The water temperature down here now is in the 60's and us thin blooded southerners think that's freezing. Absolutely nobody is swimming outside.
That pool is the famous 'jacuzzi' that flows out of lake Desore. The water was quite warm and very comfortable. It's now a myth that Lake Superior is always cold. From late June on, we swim in the bays for hours. The apostle islands are the warmest, with long protected beaches the water is actually warm for most of the summer. Isle Royale cooler but still manageable.
Like I say, that was Duluth, and up the shore it got colder. Sometimes in a warm summer the lake water would get up past 50F along the point. And some would take a quick swim. Kids used to jump in (and jump out right away), the pools the creeks made up in the hills. I never wanted to, it was just too darn cold. Numbing cold actually.
We were in Grand Marais, MN some years ago, and I went down to the water and stuck my hand in to feel the temp. It was ice cold. Just then I heard tramping and this kid comes past and walks right out and starts back stroking. His buddies come up from behind and ask him hows the water, kid says not bad, lil nippy. Guess it really does depend on what your used to. You know those Scandinavians, they cook themselves out in the steam bath, then jump through a hole in the ice.
Guess I was on the cold end of the lake, lol.
We were in Grand Marais, MN some years ago, and I went down to the water and stuck my hand in to feel the temp. It was ice cold. Just then I heard tramping and this kid comes past and walks right out and starts back stroking. His buddies come up from behind and ask him hows the water, kid says not bad, lil nippy. Guess it really does depend on what your used to. You know those Scandinavians, they cook themselves out in the steam bath, then jump through a hole in the ice.
Guess I was on the cold end of the lake, lol.
I hear what you are saying. I grew up in Houghton and remember the lake being very cold.
Enter global warming. Without a doubt the lake is warmer, in particular surface temps in the summer. In bayfield for the last three years its common to see people in the water for over an hour at a time, and they still don't come out because they are cold!
Hey we live in a little town just 30 miles outside of Houghton and were planning on heading to Isle Royal this summer also...We should meet up..Private message me and we can chat.
Right now if all goes right me and the admiral are going to leave from Copper Harbor on the July 5th. So you people are interested you might want to reserve slip space at the Copper Harbor Marina it fills up quick as they have a huge fireworks celebration.
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