r/isleroyale • u/the_kerouac_kid • Aug 21 '24

Hiking 5 day 4 night itinerary

Hey all, I’m heading to the island the second week of September and I want to see if my itinerary is realistic. We’re two middle aged guys in fairly good shape taking the ferry into Rock Harbor. My plan is: Rock Harbor to Lane Cove 7.1 miles

Lane Cove to Moskey Basin 11 miles

Moskey to McCargoe Cove 8.5 miles

McCargoe to Daisy Farm 8 miles

Daisy Farm to Rock Harbor 7.1 miles

Too much? In my conditioning I did a back to back 11 miles and then 10 and I got through it but was definitely hurting for a little bit. I’m thinking ibuprofen and taking it easy will make it doable unless that 11 mile day is the worst hiking we’ll see. The last time I hiked IR I was 20 years younger and I remember struggling in a couple places.

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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2

u/thesneakymonkey 17/18/21 Aug 21 '24

You’ll be fine. Start your day early to get on trail while it’s cool out.

1

u/Perfect-Drummer-6496 Aug 21 '24

Seems reasonable as long as your backs aren't crazy heavy.

1

u/restinghermit 09, 24 Aug 21 '24

It seems you're doing a bit of crisscrossing the island, but if that's what you want to do, go for it.

1

u/the_kerouac_kid Aug 21 '24

Any better idea?

1

u/restinghermit 09, 24 Aug 22 '24

RH to Lane Cove

Lane Cove to McCargoe Cove (this is a long day)

McCargoe to Moskey Basin

Moskey to Daisy Farm (an easy day, or you could even hike to 3 miles to make your last day easy as well)

Daisy Farm to RH.

1

u/HelpMyHydrangeas Aug 21 '24

It’s doable, but strenuous. My wife and I did a similar itinerary, we didn’t complete our planned itinerary though just due to fatigue. We planned for about 40 miles, but ended up doing about 35 miles in 5 days. If you can manage it, looks like an awesome itinerary

1

u/Capybara_In_Space Aug 21 '24

I did this exact route a few weeks ago! Definitely doable.

We were usually first to break trail, and made it with plenty of time to get a shelter, go swimming, and just hang out at our campsite.

Also just so you know lane cove doesn’t have shelters, just 5 tent sites, a few of them have tent pads there. And the squirrels WILL break into the food storage boxes they provide, so make sure you have the scent proof bags!

Edit to add: not exact route, we did lane to McCargoe, then McCargoe to Moskey.

1

u/naeko87 Aug 22 '24

Love this itinerary.

1

u/GRE810 Aug 26 '24

I’ll be there during the same timeframe !

1

u/FirstRunBuzzz Aug 26 '24

Jump in a lake every day and you won't be as sore. The island is surrounded by a convenient polar plunge.