Isle Royale remains a hidden gem in parks system

Matt Jaworowski
·2 min read
Isle Royale remains a hidden gem in parks system

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — 2023 was another banner year for the National Park Service.

The federal agency recorded more than 325.5 million visits last year — up 4% from 2022. Twenty parks set their record for most visits in a year, including Keweenaw National Historical Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

But one Michigan park is still proving to be a hidden gem among parkgoers: Isle Royale National Park.

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Data from NPS shows only 28,965 recorded visits to the faraway island in 2023, the fifth-lowest number of the NPS’ 63 national parks.

Isle Royale has actually seen more visitors in recent years. The park recorded 25,844 visits in 2021 and 25,454 in 2022.

There are a few pretty obvious reasons why Isle Royale would lag behind other parks. One is that regardless of where you are coming from, it is a trek. The giant island sits in Lake Superior, approximately 55 miles northwest of Copper Harbor at the northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

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And the island is only accessible by ferry or seaplane. According to Visit Keweenaw, a seaplane trip out of Houghton takes a little less than an hour. Ferry visits, however, take much longer. The average trip from Copper Harbor takes 3.5 hours one way. The trip takes about 6 hours from Houghton.

That’s why most visitors try to get their money’s worth. The average visit at NPS national parks is 4 hours. The average visit at Isle Royale National Park is 3.5 days.

generic isle royale national park rock harbor_1544993290069.jpg.jpg
Rock Harbor at Isle Royale. (Paul Brown/National Park Service)
The Rock of Ages Lighthouse sits a little over 2 miles off the southwest coast of Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Measuring in at 130 feet tall, it is the tallest historic lighthouse in Michigan. (Courtesy National Park Service)
The Rock of Ages Lighthouse sits a little over 2 miles off the southwest coast of Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Measuring in at 130 feet tall, it is the tallest historic lighthouse in Michigan. (Courtesy National Park Service)
Picture of plane landing at Isle Royale National Park, from their facebook page NPS photo.
Picture of plane landing at Isle Royale National Park, from their facebook page NPS photo.

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Also, the park is closed nearly half of the year. Given the frigid conditions of the region, the park shuts down from Nov. 1 through April 15.

The park with the lowest number of visitors was the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in northern Alaska. NPS recorded only 11,045 visits last year — 0.01% of all NPS visits. The park includes stunning mountain views but is also as remote as it gets. The city of Fairbanks, which is north of Denali National Park and Preserve, is more than 250 miles southeast of the park.

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The National Park of American Samoa was the second-least visited (12,135), followed by two more Alaskan parks: Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (16,728) and Kobuk Valley National Park (17,616).

While the NPS boasts 63 national parks, the agency also oversees 429 total “units” — everything from parks and preserves to battlefields and national monuments.

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