Isle Royale

July 22-27, 2008

Submitted by Bobby and Jim H.

This trip will be remembered as one of our troop’s first backpacking trips in a very long time. It did not disappoint. 10 scouts and 6 adults made the trek up to the north shore. We spent the first night at Grand Portage Marina Campground located near our boat departure point. That night we divvied up our food and prepared our gear before heading for the island on Wednesday morning. Our packs averaged 25-30 lbs. and some of the dehydrated food Andy G. prepared himself. The boat ride was long; it took 4 or 5 hours to reach the first drop off point of McCargoe Cove. We divided into one big group of 10 and another group of 6. I was part of the big group that got off at McCargoe Cove where we stayed for the first night. We were surprised to discover that we had to modify our camping plans right away. A moose had been killed in the Moskey Basin campground were we originally had planned to spend the second night. With the changes, however, we were thankful that our first campsite ended up being not far from shore on the first day. The second day involved a short hike through marshes and swamps – it was quite buggy. We camped at West Chicken Bone. The third day was the longest. We hiked up the ridgeline trail and trekked the spine of the island. We had to conserve water as there was no way to access any of the island’s lakes, but we made it intact to Daisy Farm. However, we were exhausted and decided to postpone our visit to the fire tower until the following morning. The next morning we a few hikers traveled up to the fire tower and were graced with a beautiful view. We may have even saw a moose, but we are not entirely certain that the moose was not a bush of some sort. On this final day we made a 6 mile trek along the south shore of the island. Water was easy to come by, and it was extra cold when it was freshly filtered from the lake. We spent our final evening in Rock Harbor and prepared to depart the island the next day.