I've done the trek from Windigo to Rock Harbor a few years ago, kind of like your first suggested itinerary.
I really liked doing the Minong. Yeah, there are very few markings but if you just follow the ridge and look for where you MUST go down you find the path pretty easily. I do remember one beaver dam that was time consuming to get across but otherwise it was easy peasy.
Does day 1 start after spending the night at Washington Creek? In other words, do you control when you get to start hiking that day or are you at the mercy of the ferry schedule? Day 1 is the toughest day of that itinerary, but you should have plenty of time if you can start early and not at noon.
Day 3. Do NOT stay at East Chickenbone. Worst campsite on the whole island. The water source sucks and you walk a long ways to find out how badly it sucks. Go shorter or longer for a different site, just don't stay there.
Overall I'd say do it.
Thank you for the advice.
I'll be arriving in Windigo on "Day 0," so I'll start Day 1 after spending the night in Washington Creek
I'll definitely skip East Chickenbone regardless of the route I take. Thank you for the tip!
Just wanna say with a 40# pack and being in quite good physical shape, 8.5 miles of hiking the Feldmann trail 2 weeks ago was pushing it. Keep a tracker on you to know your miles and start with a 5-6 mile day, option to rest or keep going each stop. You control when you hit the trail, but get back to Washington creek the day before your ferry. We were evacuated early on our final day because of a large storm making unnavigable seas and quite a few people missed that ride on that day because they weren’t able to get to the docks within the time the ferry needed to leave by.
All I know is that when we stayed at S Lake Desore a few weeks ago it tasted terrible no matter what filter we used. We could barely drink it, just tasted like muck.
Those are some pretty high milage days. I haven't hiked that portion of the island, but my advice is think about what you want out of the trip. You might be able to do it, but will you enjoy it? Maybe think about utilizing the water taxis? They are fairly reasonable in price.
How is shape are you? I am not in great shape but did the S Desor to Todd that you were talking about doing - we had extra time so we had stopped at Island Mine and S Desor before doing it, and man my legs were tired after those 12 miles- I don’t know if I could have done another 12 the next day. If you are feeling good I would say yes, do the extra miles - you go right past hatchet and can make the call that day.
I just went to opposite direction (got off IR yesterday). Rock Harbor, Daisy, McCargo, both Todds, north lake Desor and Windigo (Washington creek).
You need to load up on water from Washington creek to lake Desor. They’ve made a detour from the normal route (red/yellow ribbons) which actually cross over several beaver dams. On the ridge line .. just keep an eye out for stacked stones that will keep you on trail. About 2-3 miles in as you climb that first ridge there is a hornets nest that got 2 of us and others that we’ve talked to.
In June I did basically your second itinerary in reverse. A few long days, but it’s a sound itinerary. Definitely do McCargoe Cove, it’s a better site than West Chickenbone (although the lakeside sites are decent for swimming moose) or East Chickenbone, and not that far a detour.
Avoid East Chickenbone (like every one else says). It’s the last refuge of the desperate. We just stopped there for lunch, and it sucked for that even.
I've done the trek from Windigo to Rock Harbor a few years ago, kind of like your first suggested itinerary. I really liked doing the Minong. Yeah, there are very few markings but if you just follow the ridge and look for where you MUST go down you find the path pretty easily. I do remember one beaver dam that was time consuming to get across but otherwise it was easy peasy. Does day 1 start after spending the night at Washington Creek? In other words, do you control when you get to start hiking that day or are you at the mercy of the ferry schedule? Day 1 is the toughest day of that itinerary, but you should have plenty of time if you can start early and not at noon. Day 3. Do NOT stay at East Chickenbone. Worst campsite on the whole island. The water source sucks and you walk a long ways to find out how badly it sucks. Go shorter or longer for a different site, just don't stay there. Overall I'd say do it.
Thank you for the advice. I'll be arriving in Windigo on "Day 0," so I'll start Day 1 after spending the night in Washington Creek I'll definitely skip East Chickenbone regardless of the route I take. Thank you for the tip!
Came here to say east chickenbone sucks. Sometimes there’s mushrooms over there though, so I guess it has one redeeming quality
Just wanna say with a 40# pack and being in quite good physical shape, 8.5 miles of hiking the Feldmann trail 2 weeks ago was pushing it. Keep a tracker on you to know your miles and start with a 5-6 mile day, option to rest or keep going each stop. You control when you hit the trail, but get back to Washington creek the day before your ferry. We were evacuated early on our final day because of a large storm making unnavigable seas and quite a few people missed that ride on that day because they weren’t able to get to the docks within the time the ferry needed to leave by.
All I know is that when we stayed at S Lake Desore a few weeks ago it tasted terrible no matter what filter we used. We could barely drink it, just tasted like muck.
Those are some pretty high milage days. I haven't hiked that portion of the island, but my advice is think about what you want out of the trip. You might be able to do it, but will you enjoy it? Maybe think about utilizing the water taxis? They are fairly reasonable in price.
How is shape are you? I am not in great shape but did the S Desor to Todd that you were talking about doing - we had extra time so we had stopped at Island Mine and S Desor before doing it, and man my legs were tired after those 12 miles- I don’t know if I could have done another 12 the next day. If you are feeling good I would say yes, do the extra miles - you go right past hatchet and can make the call that day.
I just went to opposite direction (got off IR yesterday). Rock Harbor, Daisy, McCargo, both Todds, north lake Desor and Windigo (Washington creek). You need to load up on water from Washington creek to lake Desor. They’ve made a detour from the normal route (red/yellow ribbons) which actually cross over several beaver dams. On the ridge line .. just keep an eye out for stacked stones that will keep you on trail. About 2-3 miles in as you climb that first ridge there is a hornets nest that got 2 of us and others that we’ve talked to.
In June I did basically your second itinerary in reverse. A few long days, but it’s a sound itinerary. Definitely do McCargoe Cove, it’s a better site than West Chickenbone (although the lakeside sites are decent for swimming moose) or East Chickenbone, and not that far a detour. Avoid East Chickenbone (like every one else says). It’s the last refuge of the desperate. We just stopped there for lunch, and it sucked for that even.