
Scale is 0 to 4.
Time of year visited: September
- View: 2 Secluded lake in the woods.
- Water: 4 You’re on a lake.
- Accessibility: 1 Getting to the island itself is a challenge. It’s a long ferry ride or a seaplane or your own boat. Our journey to Lake Ritchie included a seaplane, a twenty minute boat ride, and a two mile hike.
- Solitude: 2 Most of the campsites on the island are tent sites spaced along an area with some foliage between them for privacy, or a community of wooden shelters. Lake Ritchie was the former and they could’ve been spaced out a little more.
- Comfort: 2 Flat and firm on a rock plateau on the lake. No fires. Minimal bugs in September.
- Coolness: 2.5 Being on an island, even a large one, is pretty cool. Throw in a handful of wolves and it gets even better.
Of Note: Isle Royale National Park is the only place in the world where moose and wolves live together without the presence of bear. At one end of the island is the Rock Harbor Lodge where you can spend a night or two before and/or after your backpacking.


Recent Comments