Best trails in Isle Royale National Park
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Visitor info
$7 per person per day to enter or remain in Isle Royale National Park. Children 15 and younger are exempt.
Visiting Park Headquarters in Houghton, MI does not require a fee.
Isle Royale Season Pass: $60 valid from April 16 through October 31 of the year indicated. Pass covers fees for the pass holder and up to three adults traveling with the pass holder (four total).
Join millions of people who enjoy our National Parks with the "America the Beautiful" National Park & Federal Recreational Lands Pass, otherwise known as the Interagency Annual Pass. The pass is valid for a year's worth of visits from the month of purchase at more than 2,000 federal recreation sites across the country.
No entrance pass required on these days:
Monday, January 20 — Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Saturday, April 19 — First day of National Park Week
Thursday, June 19 — Juneteenth National Independence Day
Monday, August 4 — Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
Saturday, September 27 — National Public Lands Day
Tuesday, November 11 — Veterans Day
The Interagency Access Pass is accepted here.
The Houghton Visitor Center and Rock Harbor Visitor Center are accessible to visitors using mobility equipment or strollers and have wheelchair accessible restrooms. Assistance is available by staff on a golf cart to access Windigo Visitor Center, as there is a very steep grade. Orientation films include closed captioning.
Audio, text, and Braille materials are available.
Many ranger-led programs at the Portage Lake District Library, Rock Harbor Auditorium, and Windigo Visitor Center are wheelchair accessible. Please contact the park in advance to make a reservation for accessibility needs.
Additional information about accessibility at Isle Royale National Park can be found on their website: https://www.nps.gov/isro/planyourvisit/accessibility.htm.
The crew on the Ranger III boat can assist with loading and unloading on the gangplanks, but please alert staff to any accessibility needs when making your reservation. The Ranger III has a wheelchair accessible grill and restrooms. The MV Sandy boat is also wheelchair accessible.
Commercial and private seaplanes and boats are also used to access the park. Please contact those services directly to ask about accessibility.
The Houghton Visitor Center and Rock Harbor Visitor Center are accessible to visitors using mobility equipment or strollers and have wheelchair accessible restrooms. Assistance is available by staff on a golf cart to access Windigo Visitor Center, as there is a very steep grade. Orientation films include closed captioning.
The Daisy Farm and Rock Harbor Campgrounds have 1 individual wheelchair accessible camping site, but the paths in these areas are not accessible and will likely require assistance.
Service animals must be on-leash throughout the park. Service dogs must have a veterinary health certificate that must be received by the park at least 2 days prior to your visit.
Trail reviews for Isle Royale National Park
Beautiful nature trail at Isle Royale. It was a 1 1/2 hour boat ride to get here. Enjoying nature.
Isle Royale is a beautiful place…we don’t see all of the island, but this hike was my favorite. Amazing views!
Worth paddling over from Isle Royale. Cool big as well as coast views and forest
Best hike to do on a day trip to the Isle Royale Windigo area! Very buggy when we did it in July 2024 - luckily we had face nets which helped! Beautiful hike by the shore then climbing up to the overlook - filled with beautiful greenery and flowers!
It rained all day on Isle Royale so this trail was muddy/waterlogged but still fantastic! We took the Tobin Harbor Trail out, turned left to Suzy’s Cave, and then came back the Rock Harbor Trail. Both trails were so unique and it was fun to do this as a loop versus as an out and back!
Day 1: We left on 9/2 via Voyageur II, Grand Portage to Windigo. The ferry was on time and we arrived on the island/orientation/permitting and hit the trail at 11am EST. We did Windigo to Hatchet Lake on this first day, it was about 19 miles, it was quite easy trail, uphill almost the entire way, but very doable. Our pace was 2.5mph and we made one lunch stop for 30 min. We had 4.5L and 4L of water that we filled up in Windigo. Sunset was 8:30ish EST on this day. We got to Hatchet at 7:30pm and we got the last single site (#3 and it was quite small for our 3 person Nemo, but totally fine). Day 2: 9/3 we did Hatchet Lake to Daisy Farm, about 16 miles, this day was much harder starting with the 0.8 miles straight up out of Hatchet Lake to the Greenstone Trail. Backpacking west to east, the trail gets harder. There were 2 great overlooks this day, so it was a better day of hiking, but it was harder than the first day. There is Chickenbone Lake access about halfway between W and E Chickenbone, this is where we had lunch and made water. We left about 9am EST and arrived Daisy Farm about 6:30pm (with about 40 min lunch stop), we got the last single tent site (#17 was great and close to wolf box for our food). Plenty of daylight to swim in the lake, make water, and have dinner. Day 3: 9/4 was Daisy Farm to Rock Harbor via Rock Harbor Trail, about 7 miles. This was certainly the most beautiful part of the hike and it was also the most technical (but by no means anything like the hardest stuff we have backpacked in Washington State). Use extreme caution if you do this Rock Harbor Trail in the rain, it is very rocky and right next to the lake, so the views are spectacular, but the risk is much higher than the rest of the trail, but no scrambling or anything like that, no bouldering, a clear path, quite stress free in good weather conditions. If there is bad weather, I would suggest taking the Toban Trail instead. We got to Rock Harbor about 12:15 and got the last shelter (#6) which was cool because it was supposed to rain that night and it did. We left Daisy Farms about 9am, no stops, straight 7 miles. If getting shelters is important to you, do not follow this Itinerary. If you are in good shape and have a strong mind, doing this in 3 days is a "piece of cake" and very achievable. Really enjoyed doing it this direction, because the trail got much more beautiful and stimulating as we approached the finish in Rock Harbor. Day 3 we also did the Stoll Trail after a beer and lunch at the grill - very nice and easy and highly recommend, again be careful if raining and with high winds. Day 4 was 9/5 and we took the Voyageur II at 8am CENTRAL time back to Grand Portage, arriving 3pm CENTRAL time (Voyageur II leaves from Minnesota and is in Central time and always follows central despite Isle Royalebeing in Michigan and on EST). Great trip, the island is super cool and isolated. The weather was overall perfect the 3 days we hiked. We say a snake, 2 x foxes and a moose. Random comments: told walk to Lake Desor is longer than the one down to Hatchet but not as steep; many people were doing 5 day itineraries, but 3 days is totally achievable if you can start day 1 by 11am; no issues with algae blooms at inland lakes this year for water refill; if getting on Voyageur II - they throw all your gear up top and you aren't getting it until you arrive at your destination, so make a day pack (water, snacks, meals, something to do/cellphones and chargers) for the ride over; free Wi-Fi near The Grill in Rock Harbor - highly suggest an SOS device so you can contact loved ones if you need to get ferry reservations to be moved around the island because you won't have the cell services to make the reservations yourself (and for emergencies); A guy ran this trail in 8 hours two days before we came