Near the center of Grand Island lies picturesque Echo Lake.

In search of the past
Backpacking the U.P.'s Grand Island

By the shore of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him, through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey maker,
Burning, singing in the sunshine.
Bright above him shone the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leaped the sturgeon,
Sparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every treetop had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.

– From "The Song of Hiawatha"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

by Jim Joque

Longfellow based his epic poem on legends of American Indians living among the Great Lakes during the 1800s. I sensed the presence of Hiawatha, at least as Longfellow imagined him, in a great forest reflected in the water. Our craft slowly approached Williams Landing along the southern tip of those woods covering a magnificent island.

Located about a half mile off the Lake Superior shoreline in Munising and near the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, sits Grand Island (click for map). Historian Loren Graham says the Ojibwa called this place "Kitchi-Miniss" or "Great Island."

Grand Island National Recreation Area is about eight miles long and three miles wide and includes approximately 13,500 acres of a mixed hardwood and coniferous forest. The island offers about 35 miles of picturesque shoreline, including sand beaches and majestic 200- to 300-foot-high sandstone cliffs.

Some visitors go to the island for a day of hiking or biking the trails and rugged roads. Some kayak to the island's scenic sea caves or moor their boats near sandy shores and then go ashore to picnic and swim. And some, including Silent Sports editor Joel Patenaude, go there to run the annual Grand Island Trail Marathon, which started in 2005.

A cliff along northwest shore of Grand Island overlooks some curious striations on the bottom of Lake Superior. According to Loren R. Graham (whose 1995 book on the island's history is reviewed in the September issue), the lines were caused by the meeting of three rock formations of varrying hardness. "This convergence prouced remarkably parallel rows of red and white rock, extending from the shore of the island into the lake," he writes. The Chippewa (Ojibwa) were convinced that these lines were of supernatural origin. Photos by Jim Joque

I chose to explore the island by backpacking.

What draws me to many new locations is more than the average thirst for adventure. It is an opportunity to search for connections to the past. Eighteenth-century German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, "The best thing which we derive from history is the enthusiasm that it raises in us."

I find it exciting to stand where past explorers set up trading posts – such as on the Grand Island's southern shore – or to walk in the footsteps of my Ojibwa ancestors.

Before venturing onto the island, I did some research and found the website of Dr. James Skibo, a professor of anthropology at Illinois State University. Skibo is the founder and director of the Grand Island Archeological Research Project, a joint venture initiated in 2001 between Illinois and the U.S. Forest Service.

Skibo's project revealed that the island has been continuously occupied from about 2,000 B.C. to present, with the Anishnabeg (meaning original people) or Ojibwa being the first occupants taking advantage of the "protective harbor and productive fishing grounds." Artifacts were found from that time and when Europeans first settled there in the 1700s.

This summer, I joined forces with a good friend, Dennis Palmini, who shares a common interest in this unique island. We packed for a three-day visit, drove up to Munising and caught the Grand Island Ferry over to Williams Landing.

The island is not a wilderness area as some may expect, but rather it is designated as a recreation area and has since become a part of the Hiawatha National Forest. Some 30 privately owned cottages that stood before the U.S. government purchased the land in 1990 are still allowed on the island. Presently, Grand Island is considered a township in mainland Alger County.

According to the 2000 census, 10 families consisting of 45 people living in 18 households make up the residency of the island. Only the property owners can use motorized vehicles on the island from June through October.

Fauna, flora and terrain

Carrying our fully loaded packs, we hiked eight miles up the most western trail. From Williams Landing, the trail eventually reaches the northernmost part of the island before connecting to a trail that runs down the eastern side. The perimeter trails total 23 miles.

The western trail offers wonderful views of Lake Superior, the mainland and two smaller islands nearby. At the southern end of the island are sandy beaches that transform into rock ledges and escalate into monumental cliffs.

The terrain rolled along until we were challenged with about a mile-long continuous climb. Just before reaching Mather Beach, we ventured onto a short singletack trail called Thunder Cove Trail, and had lunch on a bluff overlooking the lake and islands.

There is a wonderful mix of hardwoods including maple, ash, aspen and beech. Pine, hemlock and other conifers become more dominant elsewhere on the island.

Dennis and I set up camp in the backcountry at the northwestern corner of the island, just off an eastbound trail. That trail leads inland and runs south all the way back to the landing.

Grand Island is graced with two inland lakes, Echo Lake and Duck Lake. We first arrived at the centrally located Echo Lake, surrounded by pine trees, on our second day. I filtered water from the lake to have with my lunch there.

Duck Lake is located on the lower eastern part of the island close to Murray's Bay. It is a very small lake with a boardwalk from the trail leading to a small observation deck.

On our way back to the trail from the lake, Dennis spotted a black bear about 75 to 100 feet away. We watched it as it watched us for about a minute and then we went on our way.

Other animals that inhabit the island include deer, beaver, otter, mink, rabbit and red squirrels. We saw lots of the latter as well as some voles.

Trout Bay on the east side was everything I envisioned it to be – a paradise of a sandy beach on a bay filled with brilliant blue Lake Superior water flanked on both ends by majestic bluffs.

The beach is part on what is called a "tombolo," which is a land-covered sandbar connecting the main island with a once smaller island in the southeast, now referred to as Grand Island's thumb. The tombolo has become land as the water receded over thousands of years. Presently, only four designated campsites exist on the Trout Bay beach and all four were taken upon our arrival. So we hiked onto the thumb and again set up camp in the bush.

Although we did not have time to hike the northeastern lakeside trail, it is said to offer some spectacular views of Trout Bay and the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

The hike from the tombolo back down to Williams Landing was pleasant even as we passed an occasional biker and hiker. On the western trail the first day, we saw only four people south of Mather Beach. We did not see a soul beyond that point until the next day. While we walked the inland and southeastern trails, Forest Service pickup trucks and sightseeing vans did pass us.

Almost all of the trails on the island are dirt roads. Some areas to the north of the island include two-track and some rustic singletrack.

Early settlers

Many of the early artifacts found on the island were tools fashioned by the Ojibwa. American Indians first came to island to get quartzite used to make cutting tools. They hunted, trapped, traded furs, fished and produced maple sugar. The Ojibwa Nation established settlements on the island, and about 50 to 60 inhabitants stayed on the island until the 1870s.

However, I was surprised to not find Ojibwa artifacts on display on the island. The ranger station at the landing displayed a series of interpretive plaques with historical facts and photos, but there is no museum. In checking further, I found the Alger County Heritage Center in Munising has some Grand Island Ojibwa artifacts and photos of maple sugar camps. For visiting information, call 906/387-4308.

In the early 1800s, American Fur Co. traders set up small log cabins close to native settlements on the island and on the mainland. They primarily harvested beaver. Europeans who visited the island from 1822 to 1845 established trading posts, the last of which was relocated to the Alger County Heritage Center.

On the island I peered into the window of a recently restored cabin along Murray Bay, circa 1845. Closer to Williams Landing on the eastern shore, there are eight homes, either currently occupied or occasionally visited. These homes appear to have been built in the early to mid-1900s.

Following the fur trade, the Abraham and Anna Williams family resided on the island from 1840 to 1900. They moved into the company's log buildings and Abraham worked as a blacksmith and traded with the American Indians. The Williams were considered the first permanent Euro-American settlers. Abraham Williams died in 1871 and is buried in the island cemetery south of Murray Bay beach.

Changing hands

Grand Island was purchased by Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. at the turn of the 20th century. Company president William Mather was conservation-minded and used the island as a hunting resort and retreat. He protected the old growth trees from logging until he died in 1951. But from 1953 to 1990, the company downed many of the forest trees, which accounts for the network of logging roads throughout the island today.

Evidence of logging was all around us as we saw many a decaying large tree stumps, some 3 feet in diameter, and a fairly young forest across much of the island. There were some locations with larger and older trees, such as on the tombolo and hemlock stands along the southeastern trail.

Grand Island went up for sale in 1984. The Trust for Public Land, a private nonprofit group, bought it for $3.5 million and held on to it until the federal government could buy the land. In 1990, Congress finally authorized the Forest Service to buy it as an extension of the Hiawatha National Forest and as a designated National Recreation Area. The Forest Service does a nice job of keeping up the island and maintaining its natural appearance.

Island lighthouses

The East Channel Lighthouse, built in 1870, sits at the southeast point of the thumb. Though no longer functional, the wood structure is still standing. The lighthouse is privately owned and can be viewed only from the lake. A lighthouse was also built in 1868 at North Point. It was partly demolished and removed, but an historic light tower that ran until deactivation in 1969.

Visiting Grand Island

From July 1 through Labor Day, the Grand Island Ferry Service departs almost hourly during daytime hours from the mainland landing just west of Munising. The cost this year is $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 6-12 and free for children under age 6.

Bicycles are an added $5. The cost includes the national park $2 entrance fee for visiting the island. For individuals, couples and small groups, it is first-come, first-served. If you are with a large group, call in for reservations at 906/387-3503.

Those who wish to take a two-hour Grand Island tour by van should call the Altran Transportation Company at 906/387-4845. Tour buses are wheelchair accessible.

For campers who prefer setting up camp at designated sites, there are about 17 campsites equipped to handle a maximum of six campers with two tents per site. They are first-come, first-served, and at this time there are no fees or permits needed to camp there.

Campfires are allowed only in the designated fire rings and poles are provided for hanging food. Two of the sites, at Murray Bay and Juniper Flats, are group campsites that can accommodate from seven to 25 campers. These sites must be reserved.

For more information about designated campsites and to secure a topographical map of Grand Island, contact the Hiawatha National Forest Visitor Center at 906/387-2512.

If you are adventurous and like backcountry camping, you are free to set up a leave-no-trace (contact www.lnt.org) campsite anywhere on the island, as long as it is 100 feet from private property, trails, roads, Lake Superior and its cliff edges, inland lakes, creeks, the island's research area and the tombolo. There are no fires allowed at primitive campsites and food bags must be hung in trees.

Drinking water is available at Williams Landing, Juniper Flats and on Murray Bay Road. Otherwise, carry ample water or filter your water. Public toilets are located at Williams Landing, Juniper Flats, Trout Bay and Murray Bay. When doing your thing in the backcountry, dig a cathole and bury your waste 6 to 8 inches deep and cover it. Do so at least 200 feet from any water source or trail.

If planning a trip to Grand Island, read up on its history before heading out. It can be an exciting trip knowing something about the island's past. It can indeed be an even more exciting adventure should you decide to strap on a backpack and spend a few days exploring the inner sanctums of the island. Pack wisely, put safety first and practice leave-no-trace principles as you take your first step onto Grand Island.

Jim Joque is coordinator of disability services for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He is also an adventure education instructor and a trip leader for the university's wilderness orientation program.

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