We started the trip by running the Grand Island Trail Half Marathon near Munising, Michigan, on July 21. This was a course on mostly jeep roads but had a great section of almost a mile on the beach of Lake Superior. The sand made it very difficult, but the view of the lake was fantastic.
After a couple of days in Marquette, we headed to Copper Harbor for a few days. We saw a fabulous sunset on Brockway Mountain and spent a few hours on the famous mountain bike trails in the area the next day. The intermediate trails certainly tested my skill level, but were a lot of fun, especially coming down the mountain.
Instead of taking the ferry to Isle Royale from Copper Harbor or Houghton, we decided to make the drive around the lake, through Wisconsin, and up to the northern end of Minnesota, Grand Portage. It is a beautiful drive, and we took a small diversion to the Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains. I have now finally seen the legitimate mountains in Michigan; it is a long drive to get there.
![]() |
Sunrise at Hollow Rock Resort, near Grand Portage. |
We stayed overnight in Grand Portage on Tuesday night and then caught the Voyageur II ferry to the island. I should back up first and say that since this was our first backpacking trip, it took a ton of preparation and purchasing of gear. I originally was going to try it with a 35-liter Ultimate Direction fastpack, but Anita decided to go with a lighter weight version of a more traditional Osprey 60-liter backpack, the Lumina 60. Two weeks before leaving we did a fully loaded four-mile test hike (highly recommended if you are just starting out) and my pack really dug into my shoulders. Anita was fine. After some more research, I decided to switch to a traditional backpack, the Osprey Atmos AG 65. We did another test hike and it went better for me so I went with that setup. All of our other gear was middle-of-the-road stuff. With water, we were both packing about 30 pounds.
![]() |
At Rock Harbor, the start of the trek. |
![]() |
Inside the shelter at Daisy Farm Campground. |

In the morning we checked our food bags and I found one with a hole chewed in it and an inner bag of trail mix had a hole and was compromised. I had to put that one in my trash bag. We were lucky to not have lost more food and learned our first lesson.
After a breakfast of freeze-dried Breakfast Skillet (quite good, actually), we left the campground about 9am and started the trek to Hatchet Lake Campground. It is listed at about 15.5 miles, but I ended up with about 17.5 miles on my GPS. The Daisy Farm trail starts with a climb up to the Greenstone Ridge, the main ridge that runs the length of the island. Once you reach the ridge, the trail mostly follows the ridge and is a rolling trail, with some steep ascents and descents, but you never come all of the ways down again until the end. The trail on the eastern half of the island is generally pretty tight. You are walking through plants the whole time, and the trail is difficult to see at times because of the growth. It doesn't look like the park service does much trail maintenance, except for putting boardwalks in the boggy areas (and there are a lot of these).



In the morning, the toe still hurt. It was also raining. I had to unlace my shoe to get it on, with a lot of pain. I noticed some guys digging a hole and figured they were NPS employees so I went and talked to them. They had a radio so I asked if they could help me figure out what my options were. After a few calls to park HQ, they confirmed my thoughts from the night before. There was an 11-mile hike to a dock where the ferry would stop, but the ferry didn't run until Sunday, a day later than we were hoping to get off the island. The other option was to hike our way out, as originally planned. The NPS guy said the issue was probably a strained toe from not being used to hiking with 30 extra pounds. That seemed logical, as there had been a lot of uphill the day before, which would put a lot of strain on the toes.
I limped back to camp and we packed everything up. I figured I could hike at some speed, but it was going to be a long day. After packing up, we started on our way, with a light rain still falling. Within a couple hundred yards of walking, I didn't have any pain. It is a bizarre thing, but the pain went away completely. I've got no explanation for it, but I was very thankful.
![]() |
Island Mine Campground. |
![]() |
End of the trail. |
We found the camp store, ordered a pizza, and devoured it. We stowed our packs and hiked around a little while waiting for the ferry. After a one-and-a-half hour ferry ride back to Grand Portage, we hopped in the car and drove to Duluth/Superior and spent the night in a motel, with hot water. In the morning we drove to Manitowoc, WI, and took the SS Badger ferry to Ludington, MI, about a four hour trip. The drive to Grand Haven is a little over an hour so we were back home by 10pm.
It was a great trip and we had a pretty good first backpacking experience, leeches, and toe issues
aside. All of the equipment worked pretty well and the days basically went as planned. Doing the 40-50 miles in essentially three-and-a-half days is a significant load. If I did it again, I might add another day in there somehow. There is certainly more of the island to be explored.
Oh, and thimbleberries. These berries were just getting ripe and we ate them as we traversed the island. We also found some ripe blueberries. Both are a good treat as you trek.
![]() |
Thimbleberries. |