Our family loves to visit U.S. national parks and we have visited most of the ones that are easy to get to. We had pretty much written off going to Isle Royale due to its remoteness and the difficulty of getting there. However, our daughter did some research on what it would take to get there and we decided to give it a try. In this post, I will share some information we gained about making the trip that would have been good to have known as we were planning.
Who does this apply to?
There are several ways to visit Isle Royale. The information I'm providing here will mostly apply to people who:
- want to camp
- who are NOT backpacking
- who are arriving on the west side of the island from Minnesota by ferry.
It generally does not apply to people arriving by float plane, who are going to the east side of the island from Michigan, and who are going to stay in the Rock Harbor Lodge.
I also should mention that our visit was late in the season when there were fewer visitors than during the peak of the season. So, if you go earlier in the summer when it is busier, you may have problems that we did not encounter. Also, this information is current as of September 2025. As time passes, it will become less accurate as conditions change on the island.
Getting there
There were three reasons why we decided to visit the western end of the island. One reason was that our daughter lives in Minneapolis. Another was that the ferry crossing from Minnesota is significantly shorter than the crossing from Michigan (2 hours vs. 6 hours). The final reason was that fewer people visit the west end of the island, and since it is not possible to making camping reservations, we thought that it was more likely that we could get a non-reservable campsite there than on the eastern end.
The ferry terminal is located in Grand Portage at the extreme northeastern tip of Minnesota. It takes five or more hours to drive there from Minneapolis. So unless you want to start driving in the middle of the night, you'll probably want to stay in Grand Portage the night before a morning departure. Pretty much the only place to stay there is in the hotel of the casino (Grand Portage Lodge; no AirBNBs or other hotels there). The nearest other U.S. town is Grand Marais, MN, which has places to stay, restaurants, and stores, but is about a 45 minute drive from Grand Portage. (Thunder Bay, Ontario is under an hour away, but involves the additional complication of a border crossing.) There is a large parking lot at the ferry terminal where you can park your car while you visit the island. Be prepared to pay a small parking fee to the Village of Grand Portage, which owns the lot (credit cards accepted).
Sea Hunter III at the Grand Portage dock. This is the smaller ferry that runs between Minnesota and Windigo
There are two ferries that run from Grand Portage in the morning, and during most of the summer season there is at least one leaving on most days of the week except Tuesday. There are ferries returning in the afternoon most days except Monday. Check the
schedule for detailed information on days and times. You need to make reservations well in advance of your trip, as the ferries have limited capacity and fill up weeks or months in advance. The cost per person is about $200 round trip and is probably the largest expense in visiting.
Voyageur II at the Windigo dock. This is the larger ferry between Windigo and Minnesota
One important thing to pay attention to is the time. The terminal in Minnesota is on Central Time and Isle Royale is on Eastern Time. The ferries from Minnesota express all departure times on Central Time regardless of whether you were departing from Grand Portage or Windigo. If you have a conventional watch and don't change it, then their times will make sense. However, if you use your phone to set an alarm or to use as a clock, and if you use the Internet on the island (yes, there is Internet -- see below), your phone may automatically update to Eastern Time. The main point is to PAY ATTENTION to what time it is when your ferry is arriving to take you back to Minnesota and what time your timekeeping device thinks it is.
Washington Harbor from the Windigo boat dock
The crossing itself was interesting and provides the best opportunity to see Lake Superior and the shores of Isle Royale. The park facilities at Windigo are located on the long and narrow Washington Harbor, so once you arrive, you aren't likely to see Lake Superior again before you leave unless you do significant hiking.
Road from boat dock to Washington Creek campground. This is one of the backpacks we rented.
The ferries are passenger-only and there are no vehicles on the island, so that means that you need to plan to carry everything that you will need on the island, or buy it in the camp store in Windigo. One of the key pieces of information that we had trouble finding online was just exactly how far the Washington Creek Campground was from the boat dock. It is 0.4 miles on a flat and easy road from the dock to the campground entrance and you could wind up walking a few tenths of a mile further depending on how far your campsite is from the entrance. So even if you aren't backpacking, you'll need to have some means to carry your gear and to keep the weight down to what you can carry that distance.
Camping gear
As I mentioned earlier, one of the complications of doing non-backpacking camping on the island is that you have to carry everything on the ferry and to the campground. If you exclusively do car camping, then you probably don't have backpacks. One extremely useful thing that we learned was that the University of Minnesota recreation center will rent backpacks and other gear to the general public. We rented backpacks and bear canisters from there. Although there are no bears on the island, there have been cases of wolves being habituated to camp food, so all food must be kept in bear canisters to keep the food secure from any animals it might attract. Because bear canisters are pretty expensive, it was nice to be able to rent rather than buy them. The type of canister we rented from them was BearVault BV 500. For more information about outdoor gear rentals, see the
recreation center website. NOTE: The location shown on Google Maps for 244 Walnut St. SE, Minneapolis is the correct location for the loading dock where you pick up the rental equipment. However, using Google Maps to navigate there will send you to the other side of the building. So look at the map to find your way there rather than following the directions given by Google Maps.
Although you will probably want to bring your food, it is good to know that there is a camp store near the dock and visitors' center in Windigo. Supplies are somewhat expensive, but it is good to know that you can pick up most of the basics if you run short on food. They do have standard size butane cylinders for sale and there was even a box outside the store where people left partially used cylinders for anyone to take. We had bought an extra cylinder in case we ran out and that was unnecessary because of their availability on the island. (Note: depending on where backpacks are being stowed on the ferry, you may have to place butane cylinders in an outside location on the boat. So make sure that you have written your name on your cylinders and kept them near the top of your pack before you get on the ferry.) The store also sells a limited selection of prepared foods like pizza and hot dogs in the event that you get tired of rehydrated backpacking food.
Because of the necessity of carrying everything, we packed backpacking tents rather than our larger (and heavier) car camping tents. When we arrived at the campground, we were surprised to discover that there were multiple shelters available. Supposedly you pitch your tent in the shelter, but we just left our tents packed and slept in our sleeping bags directly on the wooden floor of the shelter. However, since there's no guarantee that a shelter will be available, you probably will want to bring a tent even if you hope to get a shelter.
Amenities detail
Campsites. In contrast to the relatively expensive ferry, camping on the island is free. When you arrive, you can get a free permit to camp. When we arrived, one of the rangers met us to issue our permits at the kiosk by the dock. However, you will need to pay an entrance fee for the park, unless you already have an annual or permanent park pass.
At the Washington Creek campground, there are 10 shelters and 5 tent campsites without shelters. The signs at the shelters said that it was not allowed to pitch tents on the site outside of the shelters, although this apparently is not enforced and we saw people doing it. One of our major concerns was what we would do if we got off the ferry and discovered that there were no sites available. Online information indicated that one could potentially appeal to those who were able to obtain a site to share their sites with you. However, the dynamic we observed was that when all of the sites were taken, people camped in the group campground next to the regular campground. So the group campground was effectively an overflow campground.
Shelter, back view
When we visited at the end of August, at the time of our arrival on a morning ferry there were several shelters available, and most of the tent campsites were unoccupied. However, as the day progressed and backpackers arrived from other parts of the island, all of the shelter and tent sites were full and people were having to go to the group campsite. As far as I know, site sharing was not necessary. It is likely that earlier in the season when visitation is higher all of the main and overflow campsites might be full, at least by the end of the day.
Water. Potable water is available, so we did not end up using the water purifier that we brought. There is a spigot near the boat dock that was the most convenient one for us since we regularly went from the campground to the dock area to use the nice bathrooms there. We later discovered that there was another spigot located at the second entrance to the campground (see map), but the spigot shown on the map at the first entrance was no longer there.
Bathrooms. There were three pit toilets located at the campground (see map) but be aware that they were not stocked with either toilet paper or hand sanitizer. There were nice bathrooms located near the dock that had toilet paper, hot running water, soap, and electric hand driers. So we used them in preference to the pit toilets when practical. The bath house also had pay showers and laundry facilities, but we did not use them so can't comment on their quality.
Kiosk with WiFi near boat dock
Technology. We had been warned that there was no cell service on the island, although it may be possible at some high places on the island to pick up Canadian cell towers (possibly resulting in large international charges depending on your plan). We were therefore very surprised to discover that there was free public WiFi at the kiosk near the boat dock. So it is possible to send emails and iMessages, and to do limited Internet audio calls from that location. The bandwidth is pretty narrow, so video calling would be sketchy.
There are electrical outlets by the sinks in the bathrooms, so it's possible to recharge mobile phones and portable power supplies there.
Trash. You should be prepared to pack out the trash that you generate when camping. There were trash cans in the main bathroom, but they are intended for bathroom trash only. There was a trash can outside of the store, so it is possible to discard small items there (e.g. waste from prepared food purchased in the store), but don't plan to discard your camping waste there.
Food locker for tent campers
Backpack cage at kiosk near boat dock
As I mentioned earlier, it is required to store your food in bear canisters. The campground has metal lockers into which you can place the canisters if you are sleeping in a tent. If you are able to get a shelter, we were told that it was OK to keep the canister in the shelter. When arriving and departing, there is a cage by the kiosk where you can put backpacks while using the bathrooms and visitors center.
Bear canisters rented from U of M rec center
Since anything with food scent needs to be secured inside the bear canisters, we ended up primarily eating the type of backpacking meals that you prepared by pouring hot water into the pouch containing the dehydrated food. That avoided the need to clean cooking utensils and dispose of gray water from dishwashing. The used pouches can then be rolled up, closed, and returned to the canister. Scented substances like toothpaste also need to be kept in the canisters, so careful planning is necessary to keep the food volume below the capacity of the canisters. We were (barely) able to fit food and snacks for three people on a 3 night trip (two full days and two half days) into two canisters.
Visitor Center. The National Park visitor center is the place to go for information about trails, wildlife. There is also a part of the center that sells postcards, books, and maps.
Activities
Paddling a canoe in Washington Bay
Paddling up Washington Creek from the bay
View of Lake Superior from Grace Creek overlook
Using Windigo as a base, we were able to enjoy three days of activities with no problem. One day we rented a canoe at the camp store and paddled around the relatively sheltered Washington Bay and up Washington Creek. We also did a nice, easy day hike to the Grace Creek overlook, which gave us our only look at Lake Superior proper from the island and a panoramic view of the pond and wetlands associated with Grace Creek. We also did the short nature trail loop near the visitors' center and took the Feldmann Lake trail as far as Washington Creek. If we had been more ambitious, it would have been feasible to hike to the Minong Ridge overlook as a day hike.
Moose in Washington Creek from our campsite
We were relatively lucky with animal sightings. From our campsite we twice saw a moose wade along Washington Creek, and we also saw a moose (possibly the same one) in the bay in the shallow water near the mouth of Washington Creek. We spotted a red fox and saw two river otters playing in the bay. At the Grace Creek overlook, we saw a family of kestrels doing aerobatics below. We did not see or hear any wolves, but did find a fresh wolf footprint on a trail. We met some people who did not see a moose during their entire visit, so what you see may just depend on your luck.
Conclusions
With some careful planning, we were able to execute a three night camping trip on the island at a reasonable cost. Although much of the scenery and vegetation were similar to what you might see in Michigan's upper peninsula or northern Minnesota, the isolated location and wilderness character of the island made it a nice place to visit if you enjoy nature.
