Customer Reviews

Isle Royale National Park: Foot Trails & Water Routes (3rd edition)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An excellent guide to the park. Indispensable for planning a backpacking, canoeing, or kayaking trip. "Foot Trails" section of the book includes descriptions of all the trails, including difficulty, mileage information, and scenic views along the way. "Water Routes" section of the book includes information needed for a canoeing or kayaking trip, including routes, portages, & campsites. The book also includes some information concerning island history, geology, and biology. If you buy only one book about Isle Royale National Park, this is the one! Small and light enough to carry on your trip. Combine this book with a Trails Illustrated topographical map of the park, & you'll have the basic information necessary to plan your trip.

This seems to be the only guide dedicated to Isle Royale, so we are all lucky that it's a good one. He describes the hikes in some detail and describes the features of each hike well enough so that you can plan what you want to do.

Dufresne divides the book into long hikes, short hikes, and canoe trips and portages. The long hikes are multi-day backpacking trips, while the short hikes are day trips out of the two ranger stations (Rock Harbor and Windigo). The book also has some helpful background information about the park and NPS rules.

My only complaint is that the mileages listed for some long hikes don't capture the whole distance. For example, Dufresne counts the Feldtmann loop as 24 miles, starting at Windigo and ending at the junction of the Island Mine trail and the Greenstone Ridge trail. Sorry, but you have to get back to the boat, and it's another 7 miles to Windigo from that junction. This means that the loop is 31 miles long, not 24 miles.

To avoid surprises like that, pick up the Trails Illustrated map of Isle Royale, which has mileages on it, to supplement this book.

This book was our bible on our 10 day excursion to Isle Royale (royal like a king, not like royale with cheese). Coupled with a good topo map, we were able to get around the island with ease. Was also great for planning our route before the trip. This book tells you everything you need to know for a backpacking/fishing trip to this beautiful place.

This book is great for before and during your trip to Isle Royale. My group had a trip all planned before we went. When we got there we completely changed what our plans were and luckily we had this book to help us with those changes. Descriptions of the trails and campgrounds are good. Overall, this is the best book I think anyone can find on the subject. Good Hiking!

If you're considering a backcountry trip to Isle Royale, this is the book to have. It covers everything you need to know to plan a trip to IR: how to get there, campgrounds, trails, lakes, portages. Plan your trip with this book, and carry it along in your pack!

Visit the largest island in the largest lake in the largest island in the largest lake in the world. Isle Royale National Park: Foot Trails & Water Routes will tell you how to get there. See if it, too, has a lake with an island with ...

Isle Royale National Park has nice hand drawn maps. It rates the difficulty of hikes and it gives trail distances, elevations and hiking times.

I am planning a trip to Isle Royale and couldn't find much information searching the web. My friend and I are debating whether to make the trip a hiking trip, a canoe trip, or a packraft trip. Whatever we choose, this book provides enough information to make any of these trips will be successful. One thing is for sure, the book inspires you to plan multiple trips.

While backpacking on Isle Royale this summer we spoke with a seasoned canoeist about the possibilities of our doing a canoe trip next summer. He recommended the book but it was unavailable at the Ranger's station. The natural place to look for it was at Amazon.com and the price was SO reasonable!

We're now planning our next summer's vacation on the Isle using the book for good suggestions and guidelines. You just can't beat Jim Dufresne's books and Amazon.com as a source for difficult to find books.

If you are planning a trip to Isle Royale and need a place to start, this book is what you want. I bought this book based on the high reviews by others, and they are absolutely correct. This book is the first one to buy.
Included are descriptions of the hiking trails in good detail giving the distance, hiking time, high points, and severity rating of the trail. Also included is information for canoe and kayak paddlers with portage information- distance and severity. There are maps to cover each topic and lots of good general information about the history of the island, what to see, how to get there, when to go, and contact information.
The Isle Royale map #240 by Trails Illustrated is an excellant compliment to this book.
Even if you never go to Isle Royale, you'll find this to be a great read. Enjoy!

If anyone is planning a trip to Isle Royale, this book is a must. It is very detailed on all aspects of going to this remote park.