Isle Royale, Here Come the MacAloney Crew! (Day 11)

In order to get to Isle Royale National Park you really have two options of travel.  The first option is to take a boat ride and the other option is to take a seaplane.  Based on where we were coming from, the ferry ride from Houghton, Michigan aboard the Ranger III would take approximately 6 hours each way.  Roundtrip we would be looking at $160 per adult and $80 per child to take this method.  That would be around $500 for the family.    

The other option was the seaplanes.  Based out of Houghton, MI as well, flying with Isle Royale Seaplanes takes about 45 minutes each way.  The cost was a lot more, as it was $360 each person roundtrip.  We had limited time in the park and I had to weigh whether I wanted to deal with my kids on a ferry for a total of 12 hours without internet or if I just wanted to get there and enjoy our time there.  The decision was simple.  Seaplane rides are amazing and give you a different perspective.  So we shelled out the $1,500 and got on the seaplane.  As you could see in a few minutes, the seaplane ride was well worth every penny.

But before we took to the air, we needed to pack up at our AirBnB in Gwinn, Michigan and make the 2 hour drive to Houghton, MI.  The drive was pretty scenic even though it was a little tricky.  There were times that Google Maps would try to send us down logging or mining roads, but I've traveled a lot of places and I know that Google Maps does not always have the best route in mind.  So I stuck to the main roads and we got there fine.

Driving on Route 41 along the shores of Lake Superior and overlooking L'Anse Bay and Keweenaw Bay was pretty beautiful.  I was doing the driving, so I had no time to stop and take pictures, but I sure loved the scenery.  I highly recommend driving this road at least one time in your life.  

Arriving in Houghton, I did not know what to expect.  What we did find was a really cool downtown area with a lot of shops and restaurants with the Portage Canal Lift Bridge in the background.  We first went to the Isle Royale National Park Visitors Center in Houghton to ask some questions and get some stickers for our passport books.

Next up, we needed to grab an early lunch before our 1:00pm flight to Isle Royale.  We decided on the world famous Ambassador.  I had actually heard about this place before by some beer drinking friends who had been in the area and it sure did not disappoint.  The old school bar with green glass lamps and large murals of elves brewing beer really set the tone.  The pizza just sealed the deal in that this was one of my favorite places I've been to for beer and pizza.  

I ordered the Barbeque Chicken Pizza and it was amazing as it looked.  

After our lunch, we rushed over to Isle Royale Seaplanes as we were all very eager to get to the island.  The process of checking in was real easy.  You pull up to the dock, unload your bags, park your car up near the road, get on the plane and head on your way.  The whole thing is pretty simple and made me realize we made the right decision.  

Seaplanes are pretty small and there were only seats for 6 passengers and a pilot on our plane.  We got lucky in that no one else was on our schedule flight, so we got the flight out to Isle Royale National Park all to ourselves.  I even got to be the copilot and sit up front.  It was so amazing!

The plane takes off going down what looks like a river into Portage Lake.  I probably should have taken a picture of the process, but I did take a video of us landing back in Houghton.  Here's a picture looking up the lake towards the Portage Canal Lift Bridge  

This really was a dream come true to me.  I've wanted to go to Isle Royale National Park ever since I learned about the place back in high school.  It is a pain to get to, but it was so worth every penny I spent getting there.  Flying there gave me a view I would have never received taking the boat.  So I was happy.  These pictures are as we fly over Portage Lake and circle west over the top of Michigan.  

It was so much fun flying over the open water in such a small plane.  It was loud, but everyone in the family was having fun with some amazing views.  

Soon we were starting to get over the Isle Royale Islands.  Looking down into the water from above was absolutely beautiful.  It was amazing to see how some of these islands spread out under the water.  

The flight path looked like this.

Once we landed, you leave your bags there at the docks and they will bring them to your room.  We then had a short, 10 minute walk from the docks on Tobin Harbor over to the ranger station on the east side of the island. 

It's so strange how things look on the Tobin Harbor side of the island and as you walk over to the Rock Harbor side.  This is more noticeable as we went on a hike later in the day.  

Once we go to the Rock Harbor Visitors Center at about 1:30pm, we went to check if we were able to check into our room.  We had booked one room for 2 nights at the Rock Harbor Lodge.  As we got to the room, we hit the bathroom, filled up our water bottles, and headed out for a hike.

We were told there are two hikes worth doing.  The first was along the Rock Harbor side of the island down to Suzy's Cave.  Suzy’s Cave includes an inland sea arch formed by wave action some 4000 years ago when water levels were higher.  It was about 1.75 miles down, then we cut across the island to the Tobin Harbor Trail for a 3 mile hike back.  

The hike down the Rock Harbor Trail was beautiful.  It was very rocky and we were able to stop several times to go down to the waters of Lake Superior.  It just was like no place I've ever been before and I loved every minute of it.  

We found ourselves stopping at Suzy's Cave to explore.  It wasn't a big cave or anything, but it was rather impressive that the waters of Lake Superior at one point reached this cave.  The girls had fun hiking through the cave and coming out through a small hole on the other side that my wife and I could not fit through.  

As I mentioned earlier, the hike back was much different.  While the east side of the island was pretty rocky and open to the elements, the west side of the island had a nice tree canopy and the trails were pretty rock free.  This is crazy as the part of the island we were on was only about a quarter of a mile wide.  

Norah and I had fun walking back as there were tons of little caterpillars hanging down from the trees.  The other two didn't like it that much.  

In total, the hike was about 4 miles long.  Unfortunately, I could not get my AllTrails application to work, even though I had downloaded my maps prior to heading there.  Maybe there was not good GIS satellite coverage up there?  I'm not sure.  However, I did make a map on AllTrails of our adventures afterwards.  

Our hike left us hungry for dinner.  With the remoteness of this island, you can imagine you have a very limited selection when it comes to food.  They have one restaurant in the area and it has limited hours.  So after cleaning up from our hike, we went to the Greenstone Grill.  The food there was nothing great, but it hit the spot after a long afternoon of exploring.  Plus they had beer which I enjoyed and did not expect out on the island.  Oh and they had Westminster Crackers too!

After dinner, Manina and Norah went back to the room to relax.  Avery and I went to a building for a Ranger talk on the Artist in Residence program.  I always enjoy going to ranger talks when in the National Parks.  There is so much you can get from these talks that is not blatantly apparent when visiting the park.  Some of the art that they talked about was pretty interesting and we were able to see some of it on the walls of the lodge.  

As Avery and I were looking at the artwork, someone rushed in and said "There are a couple moose outside!"  So Avery and I rushed outside to look.  Sure enough, there were two moose eating grass in the area behind the Greenstone Grill.  All day we had looked for moose on the hike and we find them behind the restaurant.  We rushed back to get Manina and Norah so they could see the moose.  

After we got done with the moose watching excitement, we went back to the room to relax.  I hung out on the back porch drinking a beer and enjoying the amazing view.  The girls played some card games inside the room.

Overall, it was a super long day, but I was in heaven.  I got to visit a rare National Park and loved every minute of it.  I struggled to go to bed as I was so excited for what tomorrow had to bring.