‘Nothing like it’: What makes Isle Royale National Park so extraordinary

Isle Royale National Park is very demanding.

“It is remote. It takes time to get there, and it demands your attention when you do that,” said park ranger Christopher Amidon.

Relatively few travelers journey to the park, encompassing the island of Isle Royale on Lake Superior. It's never gotten more than 32,000 visits in a year, according to National Park Service statistics.

“You compare that to other big parks – Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc. – and it's nothing,” Amidon said. But travelers who give Isle Royale a try keep coming back. “We see a lot of the same visitors come back year after year.”

The Michigan gem is sometimes called one of America’s least visited but most revisited national parks. Here’s why and what to know about the latest park in USA TODAY’s yearlong series:

What is so special about Isle Royale?

“There is nothing like it,” Amidon said. “When you're there in this landscape – the waves crashing along the shoreline, hiking up a ridge line to an overlook of Lake Superior – you are more immersed in the environment than anywhere else in the Lower 48.”

Its rugged scenery is unique, even compared to the rest of Michigan.

“Because Lake Superior is such a big body of water, it's so cold, it keeps the temperature much cooler than the mainland,” he explained. “And so we see species on Isle Royale that are hundreds of miles south of their native range in the Arctic tundra, especially on the northeast side of the island in the Rock Harbor area, due to its geology and shoreline topography.”

What is Isle Royale best known for?

The park is known for both its unique ecology and wildlife.

“Ecology (was) wind-driven,” Amidon said. “When it comes to wildlife. It's a little bit different because they had to get to the island somehow. They had to swim. They had to cross the ice, float over on a log.”

Two animal species in particular are widely associated with the park. 

“There's been a wolf-moose predator-prey research study going on for over 60 years on Isle Royale, the longest predator-prey relationship study in existence,” Amidon said. “You have a really high likelihood of seeing moose while visiting Isle Royale, as opposed to wolves, which are incredibly secretive.”

When is Isle Royale open?

The park is only open from April 16 through Oct. 31.

Most people visit during the summer. 

“We don't get a lot of people en masse, (but) they're all coming on the same transportation at the same time,” Amidon said. “You're all accessing the same parts of the island with everyone else, so you still see people. It's kind of a shared wilderness experience.”

Where is Isle Royale located?

Isle Royale is located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“Even though it's much closer than Minnesota, much closer to Canada, I would say Michigan has Isle Royale as part of its heart,” Amidon said. 

The closest domestic airports are in Minnesota: Duluth International Airport and Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. But the park itself is only accessible by ferry, seaplane or boat.

“We do not recommend folks (take) smaller watercraft because Lake Superior is an unforgiving lake. It's very cold, very unpredictable,” Amidon said. 

How long is the ferry ride to Isle Royale?

“Ferries from Minnesota take an hour and a half to two hours to get to the island. Ferries from Michigan take between four to six hours to get to Isle Royale,” Amidon said. “Then there's a seaplane that can get you there between 45 minutes and 60 minutes, depending on where exactly you're flying.”

He added, “It takes time and expense, and so when folks come to visit, they stay. It's got one of the longest stay lengths of any park.”

How much does it cost to go to Isle Royale? 

Park entry costs $7 per person, per day for visitors 15 and over. Younger kids may enter the park for free.

Getting to the park itself costs much more. A one-way trip on the National Park Service’s Ranger III ferry from Houghton, Michigan, to Isle Royale costs $80 for visitors over the age of 15 and $40 for visitors ages 1 through 15.

Third-party concessionaires offer ferry service from other ports in Michigan and Minnesota at varying prices.

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Does anyone live in Isle Royale?

“There's no permanent residence on the island,” Amidon said.

Actually, there are no records of any peoples living there year-round, but he said Native Americans seasonally hunted, fished, sugarbushed and mined copper on the land, going back thousands of years.

“There is long-term documentation and archaeological evidence of use of the Anishinaabe people, now generally referenced as Ojibwe, and primarily this would be the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which today has a reservation in northeastern Minnesota,” he said. 

Can you stay at Isle Royale National Park?

Yes. Visitors can camp or stay at the full-service Rock Harbor Lodge.

“Reservations are needed typically, at this point, up to I would say six months to a year in advance for that. So folks considering it, plan ahead,” Amidon said. “When you're thinking about Isle Royale, think long term, not just 2024 but 2025, especially if you want to have the amenities of the lodge.”

Can you drive a car on Isle Royale?

No. 

“It is 99% federally designated wilderness, which means no wheeled vehicles on the land,” Amidon said. That includes bikes, which are only allowed in immediate harbor areas.

He notes that most people travel across the island on foot or around it by boat.