Access
See also: Isle Royale Ferry ServiceThe park is accessible by floatplane and by ferry during the summer months from Grand Portage, Minnesota, and from Houghton and Copper Harbor in Michigan. Private boats travel to the island from Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario.
Isle Royale is quite popular with day-trippers with day trip service provided from Grand Portage, MN and Copper Harbor, MI to and from the park. The ferries that make this voyage from Grand Portage, MN do so in an hour and a half, and spend 4 hours on the island, allowing plenty of time for hiking, picnic lunches and taking in a guided hike or program by the park staff. Some ferries may delay—and in some situations cancel—trips during heavy weather, although this occurs very rarely.
The Ranger III is a 165-foot (50 m) ship operated by the National Park Service, said to be the largest piece of equipment in the National Park system. It carries 125 passengers, canoes and kayaks—even small powerboats—and operates out of Houghton, Michigan. This is a six-hour voyage from the park, and the ship overnights at the island before returning the next day, making two round trips each week, June to mid-September. The Isle Royale Queen out of Copper Harbor, Michigan, arrives at the park in 3-3 1/2 hours and the Sea Hunter, out of Grand Portage, Minnesota, arrives in just 1 1/2 hours and operate round-trips and offer day trips through much of the season, less frequently in early summer and autumn. The Voyageur II, also out of Grand Portage, crosses up to three times a week, overnighting at Rock Harbor and providing transportation between popular lakeside campgrounds. The Voyageur II and boat taxi services ferry hikers to points along the island, allowing a one-way hike back to Rock Harbor or Windigo.
For the 2008 season, the Ranger III carried visitors to/from Windigo on several occasions, this proved to be a failure and was discontinued after 4 trips due to lack of interest and extremely long crossing times. Visitors may take the Voyageur II and land at Rock Harbor and depart from Windigo several days later or vice versa. Hikers will frequently ride the Voyageur II in one direction to do a cross-island hike and be picked up at the other end when they finish.
Because of the difficulty of travel and the hazards of wilderness survival during the winter months, it is the only major National Park Service park to close entirely for the season. Because of the relative difficulty reaching the park and its seasonal closing, fewer than 20,000 people a year visit Isle Royale - fewer than the number of people who visit the most popular national parks in a single day.
Isle Royale had 15,973 visitors in 2007, making it the least-visited national park in the continental United States; and the fifth-least visited overall.
Read more about this topic: Isle Royale National Park
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