Ever since I made the goal to visit more places close to home, I’ve had Isle Royale national park in Michigan on my bucket list. While doing research on national parks in the surrounding states, I was amazed that I had never heard about Isle Royale before and was fascinated by the fact that it was a group of islands on Lake Superior that you have to ferry or sea plane to.

Years ago, I had brought up Isle Royale to my friend Amy while we were camping in Minnesota and we decided we would go there together someday and years later that day finally arrived! My sister-in-law Jena decided to join us last minute and together the three of us had an amazing time. 

When I first planned our ferry, I had us staying on the Windigo side of the island because the ferry ride was two hours versus the eight hour ride to the Rock Harbor side. The drive to the ferry was already ten hours each way from North Dakota so making our travel time a total of over 35 hours seemed daunting. However, the more research I did the more I wanted to visit the Rock Harbor side because I felt it had more to offer as far as trails, scenery, and activities.

We booked the trip over Memorial Day weekend and figured out after that their season doesn’t officially start until summer so we were unsure if we would be able to rent anything to go on the water or have any amenities. Just in case we weren’t able to, we planned to backpack into the campground and brought all our own supplies. I also found out right before the trip that I was pregnant, but that wasn’t going to stop me. When we arrived on the island, we were absolutely ecstatic to figure out that we were able to rent a canoe and motor boat.

The weather was unexpectedly gorgeous, especially for that time of year so we really lucked out. Since we were now able to access the water, we spent our first full day taking a motorboat to explore Caribou Island where we looked for greenstones (the state gem). That night we stayed at Moskey Basin campground and got a shelter right alongside the water and it was beautiful.

Our next day, we rented a canoe and explored Tobin Harbor and hiked up to Lookout Louise, which gave us a birds-eye  view of the park and Lake Superior. That evening, we watched a sunset on the dock. 

Although camping in 30° weather, cooking food on a tiny stove, filtering water from the lake, and carrying everything needed on your back can be challenging and uncomfortable, it really makes you appreciate all the amenities we have so easily accessible. I love camping because it makes me so grateful for the luxuries I have every day.

This trip was way better than I could’ve ever expected and I adored my time spent with Amy and Jena who were so helpful with me being pregnant. Whether it was Amy carrying extra gear and setting up the campsite or Jena driving the boat or them paddling the canoe while I sat in the middle, I was spoiled! Amy said it best when she said the trip was very therapeutic.