When you camp on Isle Royale, you don't necessarily have to sleep in tents.
You can sleep in a "camping shelter," which is basically an elevated, screened-in, wooden structure.
It can protect you from the elements and the bugs.
And based on our experience, it seems people have had some time on their hands waiting out storms in these shelters.
Park visitors have left messages on the walls - something we humans love to do - even long before we had Facebook walls to write on.
We were expecting profane, but we found inspiring, humorous, artistic, and messages describing their experiences while on Isle Royale. (O.k., there was a little profanity here and there. It is graffiti, after all.)
To see the messages, take a look at the slideshow above.
Some of our favorites:
"45 miles 8 days all w/diabetes! 2010"
A diagram showing you where to "BANG HEAD." It was surprisingly accurate. I hit my head on that low beam 5 or 6 times.
"Flight over for 3 - $625.00 - Gear and food - $300.00 - Spending my 50th birthday hiking with my daughter and son - priceless (50 miles) - JMR 8/2007"
"...My girlfriend says everything is my fault (it is)..."
"...Lots of rain, no bugs, probably going to have tapeworm. LIVING THE DREAM!"
"we came, we saw, we got eaten by giant, rabid, mutant squirrels! Help..."
Write on our walls! Tell us about your camping experiences around Michigan. The good. The bad. The unforgettable.
Wolf biologist Rolf Peterson taking us to the site of a moose carcass on Caribou Island. He and other researchers collect bones from dead moose as part of their research.
The wolf-moose research project on Michigan's Isle Royale National Park is in its 54th year.
A big chunk of their research goes into tracking down dead moose - bones and carcasses - around the island.
From these remains the researchers can pick apart the status and overall health of the moose population. And understanding moose is important to wolf research, since the wolves eat the moose.
It's like understanding the overall quality and quantity of food available at the grocery store. If there's good, abundant food available, you'd expect things to be good. If not, well - you get the picture.
When Rebecca Williams and I arrived at the Daisy Farm campground on Isle Royale, we were met by Rolf Peterson in his boat.
He said he'd just heard of a dead moose on Caribou Island and asked whether we would like to go see it with him.
A stroke of luck. We'd traveled by plane, car, and boat to get here, and here was our chance to see Peterson in action.
Here's a video of our trip with him. Is ripping the skull off a dead moose gross? I didn't think so, but you can be the judge.
So, what did you think? Vote by typing "gross" or "not gross" in the comment section below.
Rolf Peterson on Caribou Island, one of more than 450 smaller islands in the national park's archipelago.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Peterson shows the way to a calf moose skeleton.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Peterson estimates this calf was about 9 months old when it died.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Mourning cloak butterflies get sodium from moose bones.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Rolf Peterson says this moose probably died after falling from the rocky ledge. There wasn't any fat in its marrow cavities, so it was probably weaker than normal.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
The research team collects the skull and leg bone of moose for a variety of studies.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
The leg bone of the calf moose after Peterson removed it from the skeleton.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Mourning cloak butterfly
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Peterson takes notes about the skeleton.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Rolf Peterson on Caribou Island in Isle Royale National Park.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Caribou Island
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Boats are the most efficient way to get around the island.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Tools of the trade (for labeling moose bones).
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
The world's largest collection of moose bones at Bangsund Cabin on Isle Royale.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Bangsund Cabin is an old fisherman's cabin. It's where Candy and Rolf Peterson spend their months on Isle Royale.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
By studying moose bones, the researchers learn about the moose's lives and the way they died.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
A tarp protects the bones from sun damage.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Candy and Rolf Peterson chat with a kayaker who dropped by. Candy says they get a lot of visitors.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
People are encouraged to sign the guestbook.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
There's no indoor plumbing in Bangsund Cabin, but we can tell you from personal experience that this wood stove is beneficial after you've been caught in a cold rain.
All this week, we’re visiting an island archipelago in Lake Superior. Isle Royale National Park is so remote you can only get here by ferry or seaplane. It's mostly wilderness. Cell phones don’t work here.
Wolves and moose have the run of the island. It’s an ideal place for people who study the big mammals.
"A nine month old calf. It looks like it might’ve just fallen down the rocky edge and never got up."
Rolf Peterson has come across a moose skeleton. Mourning cloak butterflies are lapping up sodium from the bones. With a yank and a twist, Peterson rips off the skull.
"I think it’s least disruptive if we just saw off the back leg."
Every bone tells a story. Peterson can tell how the moose lived and how it died. He can tell whether it fell and broke its ribs, whether it starved or was killed by wolves.
"We look for any abnormalities in any of the bones. And particularly, how big it was, what its early developmental history and nutritional history was, which is key to its adult health."
Over the past 54 years, researchers have collected more than 4,ooo moose skeletons on the island. The bones offer clues about the moose population – and about the wolves. Wolves got here by crossing an ice bridge from Ontario in the late 1940’s.
This study of wolves and moose is the longest running study in the world of a predator and its prey. Rolf Peterson has been involved for 42 years of the study. He’s been here through the brutal black fly summers and the harshest winters. He and his wife Candy live in an old fishing cabin on the island for much of the year.
Much of what the world knows about wolves and their behavior comes from the long term research taking place on Isle Royale.
For 54 straight years, humans have been closely watching the top predator here, wolves - and their favorite prey, moose.
Durward Allen from Purdue first started the study in 1958. It was originally designed as a ten-year project.
Rolf O. Peterson joined the project after it had been running for 12 years. And under Peterson's leadership at Michigan Tech, the project continued from there.
The film Fortunate Wildernessby George Desort takes a close look at the wolf-moose study on Isle Royale.
In it, Yellowstone wolf project leader Doug Smith said he can't imagine the science of ecology without the Isle Royale wolf-moose project.
"I think Isle Royale is the best example of how you need that long term work, because we're at a point now scientifically where everything is subtle. Everything is in the details," said Smith. "Things are changing rapidly too with threats like global warming and what not. And we need baselines."
Protected wolves of Isle Royale hanging by a thread
Rolf Peterson is now retired (Michigan Tech's John Vucitech now leads the project), but he's still an active "volunteer" as he describes it.
The research on Isle Royale has led to a better understanding of wolves, and how their presence helps put nature back in balance.
It has also helped to shift the public's attitude toward the predators.
Once hunted to near extinction, wolves are making a comeback in the West, Southwest, and the Upper Midwest.
But here on Isle Royale, the population has gone from a high of 50 animals in 1980, to just nine today.
Six wolves in the "Chippewa Harbor Pack,"
Two wolves in the "West-end Duo,"
and one lone wolf.
Here's Rolf Peterson describing the current state of the wolf population on Isle Royale. (In the video, Peterson mentions of the nine wolves left, there is only one female that is in a breeding situation. There is one other female wolf they know about, but she's not of breeding age yet.)
The Isle Royale Queen IV docked at Rock Harbor on Isle Royale.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Rock Harbor on Isle Royale.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
The Isle Royale Queen IV at Rock Harbor. Isle Royale is the least visited National Park, but the most re-visited.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
The Isle Royale Queen IV at Rock Harbor.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Relaxing on the deck of the Isle Royale Queen IV.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Retired Captain Don Kilpela at the helm of the Isle Royale Queen IV. Kilpela first came to the island in 1945. He started the ferry service from Copper Harbor in 1971.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Don Kilpela, Jr. handling the lines on the Isle Royale Queen IV.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Isle Royale from the bow of the Isle Royale Queen IV.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Much of the main island is surrounded by smaller outer islands.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Aboard the Isle Royale Queen IV.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
The stern of the Isle Royale Queen IV.
Credit Mark Brush / Michigan Radio
Inside the Isle Royale Queen IV. The boat was put in service as the ferry from Copper Harbor, MI in 2005.
For some, the magic of Isle Royale doesn't necessarily reside in the boat trip to the island.
Two days before Rebecca Williams and I left on our reporting trip, a friend and I were having lunch together.
"You're not riding on the 'Barf Barge' are you?!"
"The boat from Copper Harbor?"
"Yeah, I took that trip. We were on Isle Royale for a week. The first half of the week, all we could talk about was the boat trip over. And the second half of the week, all we could talk about was the boat trip back!"
On her trip, as the ship pulled out of Copper Harbor, the captain came on the loudspeaker.
"O.k., folks," the captain started. "We have the forecast for our crossing. And I just want to say... we're all in this together. We can get through this."
The snack bar was not open on that crossing.
But the snack bar was open for our trip.
The seas got a little rough (I saw a few eight footers roll by). And a trip to the restroom wasn't a straight walk to the door. You had to ping-pong yourself from table, to wall, to other passenger (excuse me), to the door.
Emergency cups and plastic grocery bags were deployed by some, but their "green-around-the-gills" condition didn't spread throughout the cabin.
The owners of the Isle Royale Line from Copper Harbor tell me the round-bottomed "Barf Barge" was retired in 2004. Their new boat, the Isle Royale Queen IV, rolls a lot less in heavy seas, and the new boat cut an hour off the trip.
What once took around four hours, now takes around three.
To get a sense of the crossing, I mounted a time lapse camera near the bridge. So here's the 54 mile crossing in less than two minutes.
Cell phones don't work on the island. Senses that can be overwhelmed by a connected, electric lifestyle are freed to look up, and take in the wind, waves, rock, and soil.
What makes the Isle Royale so special? We asked the Isle Royale Line's retired Captain Donald Kilpela that question:
Kilpela first made the trip to Isle Royale in 1945. And he and his family have been running the ferry service in Copper Harbor since 1971. His sons Ben and Don Jr. now run the boat. The family has been crossing Lake Superior to Isle Royale every summer since they started the business.
Two other people who know the island well have spent a good part of their lives here.
Rolf Peterson has been studying the interactions of wolves and moose on Isle Royale for more than 40 years. He and his wife Candy spend around eight months of each year on the island, and they raised their two kids on Isle Royale while living in the tiny Bangsund Cabin.
Isle Royale became a National Park in 1940, and was designated as a wilderness area in 1976. Humans are not in control here. It's an ideal laboratory for Peterson and the other researchers studying wolves and moose here.
Much of what scientists around the globe know about wolves and their behavior comes from Michigan's Isle Royale. The research project here is the longest running continuous study of any predator-prey system in the world.
All this week, we'll bring you stories about this research and about the people who make it happen - online and on-air.
Isle Royale is the least visited National Park, but as Captain Kilpela pointed out, it's the most re-visited one.
Many of you have had your own personal experiences with the island. We invite you to share your experiences about Isle Royale in the comment section below. In six words or less - tell us - what's so special about Isle Royale?
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