The Amazon Outdoor Storeby Richard Mallery
I was a little amazed when I read a news article before my trip to Isle Royale about familiar wolves visiting campground areas on Isle Royale. I have backpacked the island many times and have never even heard a wolf howl. The predator/prey equation that researcher Peterson talks about in the article probably explains it all. We all get a little bolder when we’re hungry. I took a quick trip up to the island in August and did hear all the stories about wolves frequenting the Rock Harbor area, but again I never heard a wolf. As close as I came was the first night at McCargo Cove. I hiked in after dark and there were two guys on the dock. There was a full moon illuminating the bay and the mournful cries of the loon as I set up my tent and started cooking a late dinner on my cook stove (ZipZtove). As the two walked past my camp they said, “Do you hear the wolves?”I am s
ure that many Isle Royale visitors that say they saw or heard wolves actually saw fox and heard loons.
ure that many Isle Royale visitors that say they saw or heard wolves actually saw fox and heard loons.When there is a potential problem such as wolves coming into camping areas, National Park policy, I am sure, forces them to play it up more than they would like.
You should have no concern visiting Isle Royale National Park. In fact, it is one of the least visited in the Park system and still has that old-time park feeling. Let me explain what I mean.
I have been visiting National Parks for over 50 years. That is where we store all the natural beauty of America. But the parks are under constant pressure from increased visitation and decreased funding. You would think that just the opposite would be true, but that is not how government works—everything is bass-ackward in government. The fact that the parks are attracting more taxpayers should signal a need for more tax dollars to flow to that department, yet every year the Park Service budget is whittled away. Both state and national parks are relying more and more on volunteer workers, contracted services, and delivering less protection to the resource.
These changes also create a subtle change in attitude. I have backpacked in parks this year in which the Ranger in charge of backcountry permits has never been in the backcountry. I notice in many parks that the enthusiasm that always seemed to be a part of the Park Ra
nger personality is beginning to go missing. It might be my age. I am beginning to know too much from a historic perspective. Maybe I’m longing for the good ol’days.You will find Isle Royale staff still have that fire. Maybe it is because they have less visitation and that their remoteness attracts a more serious level of camper. The whole Isle Royale adventure is memorable.
I always take the National Park ship from Houghton, Michigan. It is a 165-footer and when I’m on Lake Superior I want the biggest bathtub I can float in. On rough days these ships can turn into Barf Barges so in my estimation, the bigger, the better. This boat runs out one day and back the next. So when scheduling a trip, figuring transportation is an important factor.
I had less than a week and wanted to hike a loop that was just over a hundred miles. With two days of sailing, that only left me 3 1/2 days of actual hiking time. The island has excellent hiking trails and my biggest obstacle was making it to McCargo Cove the first night. The boat arrives at three in the afternoon, which means just over 15 miles before dark. It is very doable if you pack light and leave Rock Harbor as soon as you can get your hands on your gear.
My second day would be 30 miles along the Minong Ridge. It was an extremely hot day and the trail is mostly a rocky ridge along the north side of the island that extends all the way to Windigo a
t the west end of Isle Royale. Water along this ridge trail is scarce so I left with over a gallon of McCargo Bay’s best. I did find a couple of suspect creeks todrink from along the way but by late afternoon I was out of water and sweating profusely. My next guaranteed water would be Lake Desor just off the ridge yet still several miles from my day’s destination. You don’t appreciate water until you run out of it. Then the craving starts. Then you begin to understand how the wolf feels. I arrived at the lake about five in the afternoon and dove in, clothes and all, and started drinking. The sun had been baking me all day and my body needed the cooling comfort of this wilderness lake. I took a couple quarts of water and went back to the ridge to cook dinner, then continued on to Windigo.
On this trip I took out a Zone Permit. It allowed me to camp in certain areas that were not designated campgrounds. Isle Royale has many shelters but actually taking possession of one is rare. In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen one that was not occupied. With my permit I could camp just outside Windigo and hike in first thing in the morning.
The next morning I was up with the sun and I thought I could smell coffee at the Windigo store. I am sure coffee aroma does not waft over a mile but I like to think I have a nose for it. Sure enough, when I arrived a fresh pot was brewing. It was a beautiful morning and I sat on the deck with a Boy Scout group enjoying the Harbor View.
Although the weather was favorable, the shuttle boat to Rock Harbor was not running that day because of high winds and heavy seas. I thought the Boy Scouts would buck-up and just hike the 45-miles back to Rock Harbor with me, but they were playing hand-held Nintendo Computer Games and waiting on a squadron of float-planes to whisk them back to civilization.
I waited until 11 o’clock to get a picture of one of their float planes landing in the harbor but it didn’t arrive on time. Knowing I wanted to be back to Rock Harbor the following evening I left and started hiking along the backbone of Isle Royale, the Greenstone Ridge.
When I arrived at Rock Harbor I found the campgrounds full to capacity. I walked back to the Ranger Station and asked what I should do if they over-booked and I couldn’t find a site. They said I should go sleep with someone that already had a site. Can you imagine going to the Holiday Inn and finding that they were over-booked, and having the desk clerk suggest you knock on some doors and see if anyone would let you sleep with them?
I did take another swing through the campground. No, I didn’t want to sleep with the young guys drinking heavy and talking loud. No, I didn’t want to sleep with another group of Nintendo punching Boy Scouts. No, the two good looking, young women didn’t want to sleep with me. I decided to go to plan B.
I still had my zone permit. That made me legal to camp outside the Rock Harbor area in some secluded spot if I, 1.) Was in the proper zone, or 2.) Was not seen by a law enforcement Ranger. Trying to follow regulations I hiked west until I felt I was in a proper zone and found a secluded waterfront lot, hidden way off the trail, to enjoy my last evening.
I wasn’t thinking about wolves. But as often happens while backpacking in remote areas, things go bump in the night. My first night at McCargo I heard heavy movement and finally investigated. It was a cow moose so close to my tent she bent one of my tent stakes. Just the sight of me scared her away. This last night I was tired and didn’t want to go out and see what kept pawing at my tent wall. I just yelled, "beat it." I must have sounded more irritable than I really was because I heard the annoying pawpetrator make a hasty retreat through the brush. The rest of the night was as quiet as a twinkling star.
Isle Royale Wolves Becoming Less Fearful
For campers at Isle Royale National Park, sighting a gray wolf is a rare and thrilling experience. At least, it has been. But some wolves have gotten a bit too familiar this summer, wandering into camping areas and showing little of their customary fear of people.
No attacks or threatening behavior have been reported. But the close encounters prompted warnings to visitors not to feed the wolves.
"Wolves are wild animals and potentially dangerous like any wild animals," said Michigan Tech University biologist Rolf Peterson, who has studied wolves and moose on the Lake Superior island chain for more than 30 years.
Wolves seldom target humans, although it’s not unheard of, Peterson said. In fact, a wolf attacked several people at Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario this fall and the superintendent killed it.
Such incidents could happen more often if wolves begin to identify people as a food source, Peterson said.
"The best thing is that they never associate us with a speck of food," said Phyllis Green, the Isle Royale superintendent.
Scientists believe wolves migrated to Isle Royale from Minnesota in the mid-1900s when the lake’s surface was frozen. They found prey in the moose that had arrived a half-century earlier and smaller mammals such as beaver.
But beaver have mostly disappeared because of habitat loss resulting from changes in forest cover, Peterson said. So the wolves now have little to feed on except moose, whose numbers also have nose-dived recently.
A census earlier this year counted about 450 moose—fewest in the 48 years biologists have monitored the relationship between the two species in Isle Royale’s closed environment.
Meanwhile, the wolf population was a healthy 30. Peterson predicts it will decline because of the food shortage, which likely is what’s making them less fearful of humans.
"They’re very hungry this year," Peterson said.
Most of the sightings were early in the season, when people were beginning to occupy camping areas that had been vacant through the winter, Green said. The park is closed from November through mid-April.
The boldest wolves belonged to what’s known as the eastern pack, which has nine members. Some turned up near Rock Harbor, one of the most developed sections of the park and a docking site for ferryboats from the mainland.
"They were hunting (moose) calves in one of our campgrounds," Green said. "They were in there during broad daylight. One of them one time was chasing a fox."
In bygone days, "maybe one visitor in a thousand" would spot a wolf, Peterson said. "Now, when I give a talk to 50 people, there will be two or three in the audience that saw wolves."
Visitors are given a fact sheet advising them to properly stow food and garbage and to dump fish offal in deep water.
Other words of wisdom: If you see a wolf, get away as quickly as possible but don’t run. Don’t follow or howl at them. If you come upon a moose carcass, don’t hang around; wolves may be nearby even if you don’t see them.
"People need to respect the dinner table," Green said. "If you’re not invited, don’t attend."
No attacks or threatening behavior have been reported. But the close encounters prompted warnings to visitors not to feed the wolves.
"Wolves are wild animals and potentially dangerous like any wild animals," said Michigan Tech University biologist Rolf Peterson, who has studied wolves and moose on the Lake Superior island chain for more than 30 years.
Wolves seldom target humans, although it’s not unheard of, Peterson said. In fact, a wolf attacked several people at Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario this fall and the superintendent killed it.
Such incidents could happen more often if wolves begin to identify people as a food source, Peterson said.
"The best thing is that they never associate us with a speck of food," said Phyllis Green, the Isle Royale superintendent.
Scientists believe wolves migrated to Isle Royale from Minnesota in the mid-1900s when the lake’s surface was frozen. They found prey in the moose that had arrived a half-century earlier and smaller mammals such as beaver.
But beaver have mostly disappeared because of habitat loss resulting from changes in forest cover, Peterson said. So the wolves now have little to feed on except moose, whose numbers also have nose-dived recently.
A census earlier this year counted about 450 moose—fewest in the 48 years biologists have monitored the relationship between the two species in Isle Royale’s closed environment.
Meanwhile, the wolf population was a healthy 30. Peterson predicts it will decline because of the food shortage, which likely is what’s making them less fearful of humans.
"They’re very hungry this year," Peterson said.
Most of the sightings were early in the season, when people were beginning to occupy camping areas that had been vacant through the winter, Green said. The park is closed from November through mid-April.
The boldest wolves belonged to what’s known as the eastern pack, which has nine members. Some turned up near Rock Harbor, one of the most developed sections of the park and a docking site for ferryboats from the mainland.
"They were hunting (moose) calves in one of our campgrounds," Green said. "They were in there during broad daylight. One of them one time was chasing a fox."
In bygone days, "maybe one visitor in a thousand" would spot a wolf, Peterson said. "Now, when I give a talk to 50 people, there will be two or three in the audience that saw wolves."
Visitors are given a fact sheet advising them to properly stow food and garbage and to dump fish offal in deep water.
Other words of wisdom: If you see a wolf, get away as quickly as possible but don’t run. Don’t follow or howl at them. If you come upon a moose carcass, don’t hang around; wolves may be nearby even if you don’t see them.
"People need to respect the dinner table," Green said. "If you’re not invited, don’t attend."
