Isle Royale

The words

1. Edisen Fishery

   Edisen Fishery preserves a family fishing camp at the south end of Rock Harbor. Its residence, fish house, dock and outbuildings show how commercial fishing shaped life along the island’s shoreline.

   Did you know?

   Pete and Laura Edisen continued fishing while demonstrating camp life to visitors, supplying fresh fish to the Rock Harbor Lodge.

   Park Service: Edisen fishing families (opens a new tab)

2. Gray Wolf

   Gray wolves hunt moose on Isle Royale, often taking calves and older or weakened animals. They also eat smaller prey, including beavers and snowshoe hares, linking several parts of the island’s food web.

   Did you know?

   Wolf pups are born in spring and remain in their den for the first six to eight weeks.

   Park Service: Wolf ecology (opens a new tab)

3. Greenstone

   Greenstone Ridge forms the island’s central backbone, built from an ancient lava flow. The Greenstone Ridge Trail follows this landscape between the island’s southwestern and northeastern ends, crossing forests and exposed rock.

   Park Service: Lava and glacial landforms (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Greenstone Ridge Trail (opens a new tab)

4. Ice Bridge

   Seasonal lake ice that links an island to the mainland.

   New wolves arriving from the mainland can increase genetic diversity on Isle Royale. Less frequent winter ice bridges limit those natural arrivals, contributing to problems of inbreeding in small populations.

   Park Service: Ice bridges and wolf genetics (opens a new tab)

5. Isle Royale

   Isle Royale is the main island in a Lake Superior archipelago, a group of islands. Forested shores, inland lakes, ponds and bogs form a landscape shaped by ancient rock and glacial ice.

   Park Service: Forested island archipelago (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Lava and glacial landforms (opens a new tab)

6. Lake Superior

   Lake Superior’s cold water chills the air around Isle Royale, helping support species beyond the southern edges of their usual ranges. The surrounding lake influences the island’s forests, wildlife and shoreline.

   Park Service: Lake Superior’s cooling role (opens a new tab)

7. Lookout Louise

   Lookout Louise stands above Duncan Bay on the island’s eastern end. Its outlook crosses Lake Superior toward Ontario, with Pie Island, the Sibley Peninsula and Edward Island visible in clear weather.

   Did you know?

   The overlook is named for Louise Savage, whose family owned a nearby Tobin Harbor island before Isle Royale became a national park.

   Park Service: Lookout Louise (opens a new tab)

8. Minong

   Minong is the Ojibwe name for Isle Royale. The Grand Portage Band’s ancestral relationship with the island includes fishing, plant gathering and spiritual practices, continuing connections that extend beyond the park’s creation.

   Park Service: Minong name and mining (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Living Anishinaabe heritage (opens a new tab)

9. Moose

   Moose feed in Isle Royale’s inland lakes and beaver ponds during summer, finding aquatic plants while cooling their bodies. They also seek shade in forests and bogs when temperatures rise.

   Park Service: Moose ecology (opens a new tab)

10. Rock Harbor

    Rock Harbor occupies the island’s northeastern end, where visitor facilities meet boreal forest. Spruce and fir line this lakeside landscape, and Lake Superior’s wind and waves shape the rugged shore.

    Park Service: Rock Harbor’s forest setting (opens a new tab)

11. Rock of Ages

    Rock of Ages Lighthouse stands on a narrow reef outside Washington Harbor. Its steel framework, brick walls and concrete foundation carried a beacon above rocks that threatened vessels using Lake Superior’s shipping lanes.

    Did you know?

    The lighthouse’s large glass lens was made to order in Paris, using hundreds of prisms fitted into brass frames.

    Park Service: Rock of Ages history (opens a new tab)

12. Scoville Point

    The Stoll Memorial Trail reaches Scoville Point through two contrasting shorelines. Woodland faces Tobin Harbor, while the Rock Harbor side is exposed and rocky; the paths meet before the final ascent.

    Park Service: Scoville Point’s shoreline (opens a new tab)

13. Siskiwit Lake

    Siskiwit Lake is the largest of Isle Royale’s inland lakes. Its fish habitat belongs to the island’s interior-water system, which supports a different mix of species from the surrounding Lake Superior.

    Park Service: Island landscape and lakes (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Inland and lake fish habitats (opens a new tab)

14. Thimbleberry

    Thimbleberry is an abundant Isle Royale shrub with broad, maple-like leaves, large white flowers and soft red fruit. It adds a recognizable layer to the island’s varied shrub vegetation.

    Did you know?

    Thimbleberry belongs to a group of island plants whose local populations are separated from their main range in the western United States.

    Park Service: Thimbleberry and island shrubs (opens a new tab)

15. Windigo

    Windigo sits at the island’s southwestern end beside Washington Harbor. Maple and birch woodland surrounds this visitor portal, where the harbor links the island’s shores with trails into its interior.

    Park Service: Windigo and Washington Harbor (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Island landscape and lakes (opens a new tab)