> I may also take a week and go to Isle Royale in early
> September. I'm looking for others to join me. I'll arrange
> the transportation, itinerary, and
> accommodations and act as "tour
> guide/planner/executioner"....
Just so you know what I'm thinking here:
There are a couple places that have "shelters". As the primary
interest is photography and not sufferage, we focus on dayhiking
from these locations. This way you will need to be prepared for
up to five-to-ten miles of hiking per day, but this would be
restricted to day-pack stuff. Munchies, water, raingear, basic
survival kit would need to be accomodated for, but the rest of
the hiking kit would be photographic equipment. You would be
responsible for providing your own sleeping bag, sleeping pad,
clothes, etc. I can see to the food provision (ya'll like boil
in a bag, don't you?). The advantage of the shelters should be
obvious to anybody who has experienced the potential non-stop
rain events that can occur there. Or the bugs.
Speaking of bugs...
September is the best possible time to actually go to the island
as the bugs are minimal or even non-existant and the colors are
starting to change. The skies are clearer but you do run the
risk of catching the stormtrack where it rains nonstop for three
weeks or you luck out and it doesn't rain at all. Also, once
you get past Labour Day weekend, you are past the peak visitor
load. 30,000 people go to Isle Royale every year with nearly
all of those being in July and August. If it wasn't for the
human visitors, the bugs would all starve to death.
Isle Royale is located in north-western Lake Superior between
Michigan and Canada. It's a "wilderness area" populated mostly
by moose. There are defined tent camping areas (obviously no
40' diesel powered motor homes), a couple shelter areas,
world-class canoeing/kayaking lakes and streams and scenery
dominated by water, shorelines, hills and forests. If you can't
figure out what to point your camera at there, you're probably
blind.
http://www.image66media.com/page13.html
I'd be interested in coordinating this and putting together a
photographic adventure for the masses on this list. Tentatively
we'd be looking at September 4-8, 2006. We arrive on the island
Monday afternoon (Labour Day) and return on Friday. This gives
everybody the ability to travel without taking any more days off
than necessary. By arriving when we do, we will avoid any
conflict with masses of people, yet enjoy the fact that all of
the infrastructure is still operational. This is a one-week
window of opportunity. By mid-September the island is
essentially vacant.
Effectively, we can run 10-15 people in the group. Get too many
and it's like herding cats. Too few and we're going our own
ways. If we have enough people, we can split the costs of hiring
a NPS guide to take us to the special places nobody knows about
or are in restricted locations.
For those planning on flying from distant parts of the country,
Duluth MN, Thunder Bay Ontario, and Marquette Michigan are in
the region. We can shuttle people from whichever airport we get
the best deals from. It does appear that airservice is available
to Hancock Michigan (CMX) which is right where one of the
ferries departs from. That may be the best choice--except for
the extra cost. I just ran an expedia flight search and for me,
the cost difference is $533 vs $233 for a round trip flight.
Anybody coming in from Thunder Bay would take the ferry from
Minnosota over to the island. Toronto-Thunder Bay is running
around $412. Ferries are available from Grand Portage Minnisota,
Houghton/Hancock Michigan and Copper Harbor Michigan. There is
also a ferry than circles around the island making stops at
several specific points. We can be in one place for a couple
days and then take the ferry to the opposite end of the island
(it's a big island) for a couple of days. Plan on around $200
for round trip and a shuttling to another area of the island.
There is also a nominal per day visitor fee on the island. At
this point the 2006 fees and schedules are still yet to be
nailed down.
Shoot what you bring. Digital and film is welcome. I'll
probably be 100% digital, but that's because of a major midlife
crisis (yup, tomorrow I'm officially kicking off the MLC). I'm
studying up on the electrical issues.
I will put this one requirement in. You are to bring your own
FRS radio, flashlight and compass. Cellphones DO NOT work on the
island--period. This is a safety and coordination requirement.
You will need a fresh set of batteries every day, so budget
accordingly. I'll have emergency spare radios, but failure to
have a radio means you will always have to buddy with somebody
who does. If you wander off into a thicket and break your leg
we'll never find you. Course, if you're a hard person to get
along with, even the radio is no guarantee. ;)
If I get enough interest in this adventure, I'll proceed with
the plans. If not, well, I'll pull the plug on it and go onto
something else. This is, however, a very special place and an
experience of a lifetime.
Contact me offlist at ken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx if you are interested
in this.
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