August/September 2026 Canlife Correspondence: Cozy Recipes, Consultation Services, California Travelin' Tips & Celebratory Centennial Trips!
It’s somewhere between 2 or 3am when I wake to the sounds of waves crashing into the small cove where we’ve camped for the last two nights. Like a steady blow through trees, the waves crash so rapidly upon the small reef guarding the entrance to our safe haven, the sound transforms into an unbroken roar.
Lake Superior surrounds Isle Royale National Park, and though her waters are free from salt, she remains an inland sea capable of great power when her winds kick up. While our boats are sturdy seafaring vessels, with dry storage compartments for our camping gear, clothing, and food, they feel awfully small in the face of “The Boss” when she gets fussy. The Anishinaabe who call this island Minong (“a good place,” or “a good berry place") tell of an underwater panther creature/spirit called “Mishupeshu” lurking in the depths. She is responsible for protecting the waters of the big lake, also bringing storms and squalls to upset or destroy offending canoes and human hopes. Offerings of tobacco, and thoughtful respect help ensure safe passage over water. I haven’t brought any tobacco, but as I lay in our shelter listening to the waves, I pray that things will calm down and we can continue safely upon our way. I definitely respect and revere this place.
As our first trip to Isle Royale National Park, we embarked upon a 10-day kayaking and camping adventure to the eastern side of the island to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary and 14th nomadiversary. For us, this is park #58 of the 63 N.P. designations; only 5 more to go, and they’re going to be difficult AND expensive! It comes as a surprise (even to us) that during our deliberate 14 year journey of national park missions, we'd only now get to the one national park in Hutch’s home state. Lying as it does within sight of the shores of Minnesota and Ontario, Minong (Isle Royale) feels as far away from the central Michigan small town as another country overseas.
Nerd Alert! Now before all you Michiganders write in, Sleeping Bear Dunes is a National Lakeshore, managed by the NPS, a different designation…and we’ve been there many times.
Many ferry options will get you to Isle Royale during the summer season (May - September), but that’s been just the problem…summer. The warmer months (and after the black flies & mosquitos die down) are really the only time to visit this park, which closes fully during the winter. It’s only been the last few years that we’ve been able to travel during the summer, as seasonal employment kept us committed to specific, albeit beautiful, regions. While we could get to many other national parks during the shoulder or off-season (just like we tell our audiences) Isle Royale remained elusive.
Any visit to this park feels like a mission, whether bringing your own powerboat on the Ranger III, completing a backpack through-hike, canoe portage paddle, or staying in the lodge (which closed for this season on September 12th). It’s remote at best, involving long drives, and long ferry trips across turbulent waters from the mainland. Flying involves complicated connections just to reach Houghton, MI where you can then hop a sea plane to the island, but only on fair weather days. So, getting there has to be considered part of the journey. Preparing for a 10 day self-supported sea kayaking camping trip is hard enough, but needing to transport those kayaks on the ferry along with everything else, not to mention where we’d leave Hamlet, took many days of planning. (Cover Story continues below...)
Fall Road Trip Ideas for a Cornucopia of Harvest Fun
Whether you prefer ghosts and goblins, wandering through a corn maze, or simply gorging on cider donuts, fall festivals highlight the best of the season. And driving to them enables you to take full advantage of the most stunning scenery of the year! We can’t tell you how many times have we heard locals say in the summer: “Well if you think it’s pretty now, come on back in October, and that’s when it really shines!” No matter where you are in the country, the likelihood is that you’re driving distance from one of these amazing locations. So, we’ve culled out a list of the most-worthy fall road trip ideas by region. Read more in RV Trader Magazine.
It’s a fact...everyone goes #2 (and RVers everywhere love to talk about it). But, if you ask RVers who goes #2 in their RV toilet versus who uses the campground bathroom to do their business, you likely stir up the …well, black tank.
It’s always good to have a few key resources in your back pocket, especially if you’re looking for somewhere to dump your black tanks in California. While California’s dump station infrastructure is extensive, it is somewhat unevenly distributed. We’ve actually seen rigs lined up 30 deep waiting to dump tanks and refill water at popular parks! Planning a trip that includes California? Read more in RV Trader Magazine.
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After a few more hours of tossing and turning in the sleeping bag with the waves still pounding, I fall back into a fitful sleep. We wake to a thick fog blanketing everything; we ain't going anywhere. Lucky for us, we have another night available in the lovely backcountry shelter within Chippewa Harbor, which feels like our own little chalet perched upon a rock above the cove. Sitting out Mishupeshu’s latest thrashing is a welcome option. She settles down throughout the day, but the leftovers from her fit still challenge us the very next morning as we paddle out into the unprotected shore of the Big lake. This gives us a brief dose of what folks in the outdoor industry call “Type 2 Fun” – it’s only fun after you’ve reached your destination unscathed, or when regaling your friends over a beer.
As full-time RVer’s, we get a lot of time in nature, but multi-night backcountry adventures away from developed campgrounds have a way of resetting us, putting things into perspective like nothing else can – and we try to have a good one at least once a year. Living an RV lifestyle means that we’ve been able to dedicate the time to these trips offering surprising outcomes. Instead of worrying about the existential threat of adulting in modern society, our days, our thoughts, and even our middle of the night concerns hyper-focus on the more immediate situation of weather and wind forecast, treating lake water for drinking, or cooking up some fabulous meals to compensate for all the extra calories we burn.
Nature helps keep things simple, whether it be sublime or mean forces confronting us, as Thoreau’s explored in Walden. Unfortunately, another park visitor across the island was not having quite as good of an experience as we – lost, cold, and alone he ended up being found by 2 kayakers after 9 days off trail, and rescued by the Park Service.
For as long as humans have walked upright in organized groups, we’ve embraced this risk as a normal part of our everyday lives. The need to cross open water in wooden canoes to collect berries, fish and hunt, or even mine copper (as first nations people did on Isle Royale for over 6,500 years), drove those intentional risks.
On the right day, of course, Mishupeshu lies asleep in her deep watery bed and we could cross between mainland Minnesota and the island (15 miles) without a break – indeed, we crossed paths with another paddler doing just that as a part of an Isle Royale 4-5 day circumnavigation. To be fair, that kind of mission is above our paygrade or desires. But the concern is always there that winds will pick up, and the waves will turn the calm surface into a dangerous experience, best said by Gordon Lightfoot, “when the waves turn the minutes to hours.”
And despite our brief fears, we experienced more days of calm paddling and rugged hiking than we deserved, and chose our route based upon the prevailing wind. Paddling in your own boat might be the best way to see this rocky place, scraped and shaped by the last ice age. Away from the thick foliage of the boreal forest, we wandered among the small islands as if we were the only people in the world. Even our ferry crossings were unbelievably calm with scarcely a wave across her vast waters – “lucky” doesn’t even fully describe it. We enjoyed cool enchanting nights where the Milky Way streaked across our view and we woke not to the callings of our inner worry machine, but the nocturnal howls of the resident wolves. #58 was fantastic, well worth the wait, and we’re already dreaming about our next visit!
Isle Royale National Park (by the numbers):
🗓️ Trip Days: 10
🥂Wedding Anniversary: 26
🧭 Nomadiversary: 14
🏕️Campsites/Shelters: 5
🛳️ Ferry Miles: 112
🚣 Kayaking Miles: 58
🥾 Hiking Miles: 17
🌄 Spectacular Sunsets & Sunrises: 6
🍒Wild Thimbleberries Consumed: 209 (some w/ chocolate chip pancakes)
🧆 Gourmet Camping Meals: 22
💨 Days w/ Crazy Wind: 2.5
☀️ Gorgeous Weather Days: 7
🫎 Moose: 0, but lots of scat.
🐺 Wolves: 0, lots of scat and heard them at night.
🦅 Birds: Hundreds
🦦 River Otters: 8
🌌 Stars: Billions!
👍 Great Conversations w/ Friendly Travelers: More than we can count!
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