A 45-mile long lake in the middle of Lake Superior, Isle Royale National Park is one of the least-visited parks within the National Park system. While the park territory also includes over 400 other smaller islands, most of the park lies underwater. Visitors can explore the almost 200 miles of trails within the park, revel in wildlife sightings of moose, foxes, wolves, and beavers, and fish and paddle on the inland lakes and rough shoreline. For anyone who makes the trip to Isle Royale National Park, only possible by ferry boat or seaplane, it will surely be an incredible adventure.
On our Summer 2020 RV Road Trip, following our stop in upper Minnesota at Voyageurs National Park, we traveled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to the town of Hancock. Our goal was to spend a day in Isle Royale National Park.
In order to visit this National Park gem, we had been forced to get creative several months earlier. Typically, the only way to visit this park, an island, is by a park-run ferry boat or personal watercraft. However, due to the COVID pandemic, the ferry boats were not running that summer. In doing my research several months before our trip, I discovered that, really, the only way to visit the island was by seaplane, which were still running amid the pandemic. So, long story short, our family decided to JUST SAY YES, and we arranged to fly by seaplane to Isle Royale for the day.
Because of the pandemic, our experience of this magical national park was unlike any other. Upon our arrival to the island, a Park Ranger met us at the dock, saying, “You must be the Gagnon‘s. We’ve been expecting you.” After the Ranger took down some notes about our plans for the day, in order for them to keep track of our whereabouts, he sent us on our way. On the island that day, we did not encounter a single person (aside from park staff). I remarked to my kids at several moments, “There’s a chance that you might come back here at some point in your life, but it will never, ever, be this kind of experience again.
The kids loved the seaplane ride (a first for all of us!), and Quinn was definitely nervous, but remained calm with reassurance from his siblings. We hiked the Scoville Lookout Trail, and meandered along the rocky cliffs and into the forested brush. It was spectacular! We even stripped down and jumped naked at several spots off the cliffs and into Lake Superior, drying off on the warm rocks. The palpable serendipity of this day was just too much to not take advantage of.
The day our family spent at Isle Royale National Park was a day that none of us will soon forget, our first National Park ALL TO OURSELVES.
