Lane Cove Trail

The Lane Cove Trail strikes east from the Mount Franklin junction into one of Isle Royale's quietest corners, descending from the Greenstone Ridge spine through boreal forest to the remote Lane Cove campground on the island's north shore. The 800-foot elevation change involves several rocky scrambles over ancient Precambrian basalt flows that form Isle Royale's characteristic parallel ridges. The cove itself is a sheltered inlet off Lake Superior's Amygdaloid Channel where common loons breed and call through the summer nights. Dawn at Lane Cove is exceptional: the rising sun illuminates the Canadian shore of Lake Superior across the channel while loons perform their tremolo calls in the mist. Woodland caribou inhabited this area until the early 20th century; today moose are the dominant large mammal, and wolf tracks are sometimes found in muddy trail sections. The trail's relative difficulty and distance from Rock Harbor ensure that Lane Cove sees far fewer visitors than more central destinations, rewarding hikers with genuine solitude on one of the most isolated islands in the contiguous United States.