Mn & Mi, Isle Royale and Voyageurs NPs June-2026

Saturday, June 27

🌤 Weather: Good travel weather.

Travel Day

This was a solo car trip for me. It has a lot of driving but, key highlights will be a visit to Lorri and keith's in Gilman, WI, two national parks and two state parks.

Packed the car with tools and yard tools to be ready for anything Lorri needs help in fixing. Packed the cooler with lots of breakfast and lunch supplies, packed a suit case and backpack also prepared for an inclement weather overnight stay on Isle Royale. The nice thing about car trips is you can pack a ton and I did.

Left my house at 10:30a to meet Lorri after her work around 3pm. Drive was ~5hrs and 323 miles. Arrived Lorri's house around 3:30.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, visiting and enjoying their peaceful backyard. No projects today! Just a nice visit.

Keith and Lorri's back yard - Nice!

Sunday, June 28

🌤 Weather: 70s, partly cloudy and a little am rain, nice. Low temp and low humidity perfect for some outdoor projects.

Short Hike

In the morning Lorri went to church and I went for a short hike (rain shortened).

Wood Shed Back Wall Project

The back wall of the pallet made wood shed needed another level added to it to better support the tarp. Lorri and Keith had already cut some pallets to decent size so we just needed to remove the tarp, add the upper section and re-attach the tarp. It was a pretty easy project and should help the shed hold up to stronger winds.

Tree Landscaping Redo Project

The next project was re-doing the landscape stone around a tree in the front yard. About half way around the tree was one brick high and the other half was two bricks high so nothing was lining up. We decided to go one brick high all the way around so we removed all the bricks, cleaned up the dirt, leveled with sand and dirt to match the height of the tree edging border. We did it one brick at a time. Keith came out to help and did a lot of weeding and removal of the old weed block while Lorri and I re-did the bricks. Finally, we added new weed block and mulch. Done! It turned out quite nice.

Shed and Tree Landscaping

A nice day spent with Lorri and Keith.

Monday, June 29

🌤 Weather: 70s, cloudy, thunderstorms in the afternoon

Another Drive

It was time to say goodbye to Lorri and Keith and head to Minnesota. My destination was a "resort" in Lutsen, MN within driving distance to the ferry from Grand Portage for the trip to Isle Royale. To break up the trip (4:20, 259 miles) I made two stops for some hiking and views.

Gooseberry Falls State Park

First stop was at Gooseberry Falls. I was impressed. Many years ago we visited and it was just a stop on the side of the road. Since then they made an awesome state park with trails and great views of the falls. Did some hiking and bought a tee and hat!

Temperance River State Park

Second stop was at Temperance River. We had hiked this river and the aspen forest many years ago. Unfortunately, my hike was cut very short due to thunderstorms. Barely made it back to the car before the down pour.

Lutsen Cabin

Finished the drive to Lutsen in the rain. Pleasantly surprised the "Sholbakken Resort", which was simply a motel with cabin like rooms, was newly remodeled, fresh and clean.

Tuesday, June 30

☀ Weather: 50s, Sunny, Nice.

Spent a quite day in Lutsen. Decided not to do any hiking because my back was a bit tweaked (I think from all the driving) so, I laid low, enjoyed the views of lake superior and binged some Netflix. Boring but a good recovery day.

Wednesday, July 1

☀ Weather: 50s-60s, Sunny, Nice.

About Isle Royale National Park

"Isle Royale National Park is a remote island wilderness in the middle of Lake Superior. Get news, updates, and read the park newspaper the Greenstone. Discover what species made the journey to Isle Royale and how living on an island affects them. Find out what other visitors have explored Isle Royale's isolated wilderness." You can learn more about the park here:Isle Royale National Park.

Isle Royale National Park

Drove to Grand Portage (51 miles) to catch the Ranger III Ferry. They charter an out and back same day trip to the closest Isle Royale landing at Windingo. The other charters take you out one day stopping in Windingo, 1 1/2 hour boat ride from Grand Portage and then onto Rock Harbor, another 4 1/2 to get there. Then they dock there and make the return trip back the next day. So I decided to just do the same day out and back to Windingo.

The park website warns you that due to weather the out and back excursion could leave you on the Island overnight so come prepared for that event. So, I packed my backpack with a very compact mattress pad, extra dry clothes, rain jacket, warm hat, meds, extra food to be prepared. However, when I talked to the charter service they said not being able to get back is an extremely rare event. But, I was ready anyway. No need for a tent or sleeping bag as the Rangers allow you to stay in the visitor center (wall to wall people, but protected from the elements).

The boat carried 60 people with seating inside and out. The inside seating would be much warmer but looked uncomfortable, crammed and stuffy. Everyone sitting shoulder to shoulder on padded benches. So, although much colder, I opted for sitting outside on the cold aluminum benches. The weather was sunny and calm so great for the crossing but, only about 50 degrees. It was cold outside and with just a sweatshirt and long pants (like nearly all the travelers) I was pretty cold for the 1 1/2 hour ride.

Arrived at Windingo at 10:00a and after getting off the boat, the Rangers corralled us for a safety and leave no trace talk. We had to be back on the dock at 1:40 so, just a few hours to enjoy the Island.

Grace Creek Overlook Hike

This is a moderate out and back hike through the forest which gets you to two pretty sweet overlooks. I was surprised with 60 people getting off the boat the hike was just lightly trafficked on the way out and only saw 4 people the whole way back. The hike was buggy with mosquitoes so I am glad I had my bug spray. Even then, if you stopped, they would swarm so I kept moving. Fortunately, the outlooks were on outcroppings away from the forest with a nice breeze so no mosquitoes there. The second outlook I don't think many people know about because the first seems to be the spot (even All Trails stopped at the first outlook). So, another 1/4 mile to the second outlook and I had it all to myself! I had my lunch and just hung out until it was time to head back to catch the boat. The hike was just OK but the time spent on the outlook was what I came here for - quite - peaceful.

I got back to the landing with plenty of time so, sat in on a Ranger talk about Moose bones! Then it was time for the cold trip back to Grand Portage - chilly!

With Isle Royale in my rear view I headed to International Falls, MN (264 miles) which gets me near Voyageurs. Stayed at the Nomad Motel - actually much nicer than it sounds with a brand new remodel.

Thursday, July 2

☀ Weather: 60s-70s, Sunny, Nice.

About Voyageurs National Park

"Voyageurs is a mosaic of land and water. It's a place of transition, between land and aquatic ecosystems, between southern boreal and northern hardwood forests, and between wild and developed areas." You can learn more about the park here:Voyageurs National Park.

Voyageurs National Park

Much of Voyageurs is only accessible via boat. But I have experienced this type of land/water geology having had 5 canoe trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (just to the East of Voyageurs) in my youth. I found plenty of good hiking trails you can get to by car. First stop was the Kabetogama Visitor Center then a little North for my first hike Echo Bay . Not a car at the trail head and no one at all on this hike. The hike was through dense forest, the bug spray kept the mosquitoes at bay but not so much the black flies (same thing as I experienced on the BWCA trips). But it was still a nice hike.

Next were three short hikes in the Ash River area - Forest Overlook, Beaver Pond and Sullivan Bay, all hikes were nice, not as buggy and no one on the trails. Had lunch at Sullivan Bay.

Kabetogama Area - Echo Bay Hike

Ash River Area - Forest Overlook

Ash River Area - Beaver Pond

Ash River Area - Sullivan Bay

After a good day of hiking I stopped at the Ash River visitor center for a hat and tee! Then starting my long journey back home. Drove down to Duluth (147 miles) and stayed the night at Tru by Hilton. Also a complete remodel and it was nice.

Friday, July 3

☀ Weather: 70s, Sunny, threat of severe weather

Long travel day. Had a hot breakfast (first of the trip!) at the hotel and left for home around 8:30a. I had planned to stop about halfway to hike a state park to break up the drive but, weather was kind of threatening the whole way and the drive (hwy 53, 90, 94) was easy so I decided to skip the hike and beat the storms. 642 miles later... Home Sweet Home.

Summary

• Lorri and Kieth visit- Spent a really nice day and a half visiting and had fun doing the landscaping project.
• Gooseberry Falls State Park- A great state park and with all the rain the falls were really flowing.
• Temperance River State Park- Hike cut short due to thunderstorms. A unique river carved into the rocks.
• Isle Royale National Park- Tough to get to but a very peaceful place once you are there.
• Voyageurs National Park- Most of the park is accessed by boat but for my one day visit I found some really nice hikes I could just drive to.
• All the driving- All in all I drove about 1500 miles to visit two parks but, Minnesota and Wisconsin are very pretty States that made the driving not too bad.