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Some people express worries or concerns about hiking solo. Isle Royale is a great place to do solo hiking (in my never humble opinion). Most of my many Isle Royale trips have been solo hikes.
What is nice about hiking solo on Isle Royale, is the fact that it is a remote island. That means that the people who are on Isle Royale REALLY want to be on Isle Royale--and they spent considerable time, planning, and money to get there. You don't typically encounter the "random idiot" with a truck, SUV, or ATV who is going to harass or pose a danger (or an annoyance) to hikers. In the majority of instances, the people on Isle Royale form a friendly community--even if they have never met each other before. In most places on Isle Royale (especially between Memorial Day and Labor Day) you will rarely be totally alone overnight in a campground (although, that can occasionally happen). You will occasionally encounter other people on most trails. So, there is often the possibility of eventually encountering potential help in camp and on the trail. The exceptions would possibly be the Minong Ridge Trail, the Ishpeming Trail to Malone Bay, and EAST Chickenbone Campground. The Isle Royale wolves don't bother humans. So, no need to be terrified about the wolves. You can buy or rent satellite phones and/or satellite emergency devices if you want to have an even greater sense of security if you become sick or injured. Hiking solo isn't really all that different than hiking with a hiking partner--other than there is no one to split gear with. Thus, you must make sure that you personally have (and carry) everything that you will need. (On the flip side--you don't need as big of a tent for one person and a solo hiker also doesn't need as much food as two people). Another difference: If you do something like hike the Minong Ridge trail--you will have one less set of eyes to look for rock cairns --or to help find a (sometimes) hard-to-find Minong Ridge Trail. That is not so much a "problem" as it is a slightly added degree of "difficulty" Again, I think Isle Royale is a great (and relatively safe) place to do a solo hike--especially if you have some prior hiking and camping experience of any kind.
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People have been debating about the "best" way to acquire drinking water (i.e. do you just filter the water or--do you follow the one, true and correct answer-- --ALWAYS filter AND treat the water ).
HOWEVER, what is being missed in the entire discussion are the two biggest causes of many illnesses and infections in the wilderness-- POOR OUTDOOR HYGIENE and POOR WATER HANDLING PRACTICES. How often do you wash and/or sanitize your hands on a hiking and camping trip? Think of all of the (potentially contaminated) surfaces that your hands come into contact with throughout the course of a typical day on Isle Royale. Then, with those dirty hands, we cook food, handle our cooking and eating utensils, handle our water containers and filters. We reach into a bag of trail mix with a dirty hand and bring that dirty hand right to our mouth. We touch many surfaces in the outhouses. We all touch the shared door handle on the outhouse (after wiping our body areas that contain fecal matter). We are touching the ground often. (Who knows what lurks in the soil and what the animals may have done in that exact spot). So, wash and/or sanitize your hands often. Then, when it comes to filtering, treating, and handling water--I have seen so many people make "mistakes" that could potentially put them and their drinking water at risk for contamination. 1) They touch their filters, water containers, container lids/caps, with their very dirty hands. 2) They make very little effort to keep their "clean" and "dirty" water items separate. Examples: With a pump-type of filter--people will often stuff the intake and outflow hoses right next to each other in the same carrying bag--with no effort to keep the two separated. The intake hose (that had been submerged in the "dirty" water source just moments ago)--is now stuffed in the bag with the clean hose--getting that dirty water (and bacteria, viruses etc.) all over the "clean" water hoses. 3) People mix and match their clean and dirty water containers. A container that held dirty (unfiltered and untreated) water earlier today--might now be holding the "clean" water. 4) With Sawyer filters and gravity filters--people sometimes let the dirty water (often found on the outside of a container or filter) drip into the "clean" water during the filtering process. 5) When filtering water alongside a lake or stream--they will let their "clean" stuff sit in potentially wet and contaminated areas on the shore. 6) I have seen people "rinse out" their clean water containers with unfiltered lake or stream water. 7) They rarely--if ever--clean things like their water bottles or the lids or caps to their water containers Imagine what sort of "stuff" might be growing on (or in) a water bottle by the end of a typical Isle Royale trip. Again--poor outdoor hygiene and poor water handling practices will probably put you at greater risk of illness than having the "wrong" micron size on your water filter. On certain days--and on certain Isle Royale trails--there are two types of people: 1) Those who ADMIT that their footwear was NOT fully waterproof and their feet and legs got soaked. 2) Those who lie and say that their gear kept their feet and legs dry. (Face it, in stuff like you see in these photos, you ARE going to get both you and your footwear soaked and maybe very muddy--NO MATTER WHAT FOOTWEAR THAT YOU ARE USING AND NO MATTER HOW "WATERPROOF" IT IS.) |
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Jon Prain ("The Isle Royale Guy") has made 18 trips to Isle Royale. He shares his insights and opinions in this blog. Archives
March 2024
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