Our next stop is Grand Marais, Minnesota, our base to visit Isle Royale National Park. Isle Royale is an island in the middle of Lake Superior. The park, famous for its moose and wolves, is one of the least visited national parks. It is only open from April to November and… it is only accessible by boat or plane. Another boat trip, this was now our fifth in a little over two weeks. We were really done boating. But it had to be done – we couldn’t miss the National Park… and a seaplane is not in the budget.
Grand Marais is about a 4-hour drive from our campsite in Washburn, Wisconsin. When we leave Washburn it is gray and pouring down rain, and most of the drive is through either rain or fog. Fortunately, the rain stops by the time we arrive at the campground, the Grand Marias Recreation Area. It is close to the water but the campsites are cramped, and none are right on the shore. However, when we locate our spot we are happy since it is at the end of a row and so we only have neighbors on one side. A great spot with a distant view of the harbor! And it has full electric, water and sewer connections, so it will be an easy stay. No need to monitor water usage or tank levels!
After we level the Airstream and hook up, we call to reserve our boat tickets to Isle Royale National Park. Isle Royale is an island in the middle of Lake Superior that technically is part of Michigan, but there is a two hour boat connection from northern Minnesota. We call and the woman informed us that the boats book up weeks in advance… but we were in luck because a party of three had just cancelled for the next day! That was a close call – how upsetting if we missed the park just because we had not made reservations in time.
After successfully booking our tickets, we drive the five minutes into town. Grand Marais is a small town spread out along the water. Motels, restaurants, two local grocery stores and a couple gas stations. We decided to treat ourselves to dinner. The Angry Trout is a small, cozy place with beautiful water views and we enjoy fresh grilled whitefish.
The next morning, we are up bright and early and by 7am we are on our way to Grand Portage to catch our boat to Isle Royale. Grand Portage is the town next to Grand Marais… but it’s a 40-minute drive and we didn’t know exactly where the dock is. Our plan was to arrive in Grand Portage early, park and get coffee and scones from a coffee shop while we waited for a boat. We got a bit of a surprise when we arrive at the dock. There was no marina. There were no shops nearby. There was a building, a parking lot and a single rickety dock. We have an hour before the boat and we have not had breakfast yet. Now we knew where the dock was but we figured we must have somehow missed the little town of Grand Portage. We backtrack a bit. A casino, a gas station, a school, a church and the Grand Portage National Monument. That is it. The casino gas station has a mini mart – we purchase coffee, bananas and some really terrible muffins. Then we return to the dock to catch the 8:30 am boat to Isle Royale. At 8:30am they load us all onto the Sea Hunter III. It is a clear day and the water is like glass. The trip over takes almost two hours.
At Isle Royale, we disembark at Windigo stop. This is the only stop for day trippers. The island is very quiet and green. Just trees and water. We are really away from it all. The island is too large to see the whole thing on a day trip (it’s about 200 square miles) and we only have four hours before our return boat trip so we plan on staying in the Windigo area. Our plan is to do some hiking. At the visitor center, we stamp our passports and request Elle’s junior ranger book and then we decide to take the one hour guided ranger walk to get a history of the island as well as information about the island’s flora and fauna. We learn there are only two wolves left on the island… so our chances of seeing them our slim. The park is planning on releasing more wolves onto the island in the next several years. There are many moose, however, and apparently we have a good chance of spotting them, especially down at the picnic area. So, after the ranger walk, we start down the trail to the picnic area. It starts to sprinkle. We keep going, reaching the water where the ranger said we might see some moose. No moose. But the rain has started to come down harder. Fortunately, we have our rain jackets. Abandoning our hopes of a moose sighting, we turn and run back to the visitor center. The rain is coming down in sheets and we arrived at the visitor center completely dripping.
We pick up lunch at the general store, Elle completes her junior ranger book. Since it is pouring outside, we decide we have had enough hiking and look at the visitor center exhibits, including the ones recounting Lake Superior ship wrecks. After Elle gets sworn in as an Isle Royale Junior Ranger, we attend the 2pm ranger program on moose down by the dock. At 2:30pm they load us all back on the boat. The rain has stopped, and the water is calm, but it is VERY foggy now. The thought passes through our minds that maybe we should have skipped viewing the shipwreck exhibits. The trip back through the dense Stephen King-like fog is interminable but the water remains calm and the return trip turns out uneventful in the end. We are happy to disembark in Grand Portage and regain landlubber status. DT comments that he has had enough boat trips for a while.
On the way back, we stop at the Grand Portage National Monument. It focuses on the Voyageurs (the French Canadians that canoed the portage trail into fur country), the Ojibwe Indians and the trading headquarters for the Northwest Company that existed at Grand Portage. We learn that Grand Portage once was a well-known international center of the fur trade. We find it ironic that now there is not even a coffee shop. There is a visitor/heritage center with interesting exhibits, fascinating documentaries, as well as a reconstructed fort containing a great hall, kitchen, a canoe warehouse, and rooms for clerks and businessmen who came to trade, as well as interpretive rangers. Elle enjoys watching them make a birch bark canoe and doing cooking in the fireplace using hanging iron pots. It is an unexpectedly outstanding National Monument. We really enjoy our visit. After our very full day we are quite content to return to the Airstream in Grand Marais.
The next day we decide to take the day “off” from hiking, sightseeing and exploring. It is a get-organized-and-pulled-together day. We desperately need to do laundry and the campground has no machines, so we drag ourselves to the laundromat in town. It is nice to have clean clothes, towels and sheets all at once by doing five loads simultaneously (that, however, may be the only advantage of using a laundromat). Then we stop at the grocery to restock, except it is closed. Because… it is Sunday. We are not used to this. We figure the second grocery in town must be open… but no, it too is closed on Sundays. Now what? We decide to try the gas station minimart… and are in luck, if you can call it that. Whole wheat bread, milk and frozen mac and cheese. Not exactly the restocking we had anticipated but it would have to do.
We return to the Airstream and Elle decides to write (actually dictate would be more accurate) a postcard to her grandparents: Dear Grandma & Grandpa, I went to an island. I won a junior ranger badge. My Mom and Dad thought we were going to be shipwrecked but we weren’t…