Hard, 12.4 mi One Way
2,270 ft elevation gain
Hiked 7/23/25
The Lesser used and 'wilder' trail to traverse Isle Royale compared to its sister Greenstone Ridge trail, I did this as a 4 night backpacking trip beginning at Windigo Harbor and ending at Rock Harbor. Not the favorite trail I've hiked, I'll be breaking it up into each of the four days of hiking. Also included a couple photos from the ferry over, which was largely fogged in until we got to the island.
Day 1 for me had 2" of rain fall while hiking, which was less than ideal, especially given that the first two days involve walking along and through beaver ponds as well as a preference for routing onto bare rock. Forested sections were nice but few. N Lake Desor CG had nice views and elk calling through the evening. If your go this route, you'll have no choice but to make it this far on the first night (unless you stay at Windigo).
A boat we passed had gotten stuck on an outcrop in the inlet near Windigo Harbor. The smaller boat is passengers going to shore while one person remained on the boat.
Looking back along the shoreline, a neat little overhang on the right and views of our wake on the left.
Nice mushroom I saw while waiting out one of the bad rain spells. Looks similar to a lion's mane with shorter hair, but have not identified what it is.
The longest of the boardwalk sections, this goes well what you see in the frame, maybe 4 or 5 of these sections and 100 yards or so. Got vertigo just from how long it went on haha.
An incredibly large reishi mushroom (I believe) that when I measured my trekking pole later would have 19.5" along the track in the photo.
The white mushroom is definitely a Hericium, looks like Hericium Coralloides or coral tooth fungus to me. Same genus as lions mane, very tasty!
Ooh, thanks for the info!