While every state has at least one National Park property (National Monuments, National Historical Sites, National Lakeshores, etc.; 20 property categories in all), only 30 states have a National Park. Michigan, where we live, has only one National Park (California has nine), but it is a great one: Isle Royale National Park. This is one of the least visited of the 61 National Parks, but it is among the most revisited parks. The reason it is among the least visited parks is because it is high up in Lake Superior, closer to Thunder Bay Canada than Michigan. You can get there by taking the Ranger III (the National Park’s largest piece of equipment in the system) from Houghton, MI, in the upper Peninsula. It takes 6 hours one way on the ferry. A seaplane from Houghton takes approximately 40 minutes to get to Rock Harbor on the island. So, yes, it is a remote National Park (but not as remote as Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic NP!). the reason it is most revisited is the stunning beauty of the park, and great hiking trails and kayaking. We were vacationing there around July 4 in 2014. When we checked into our room in the Lodge I asked when was the last time they still had ice in the lake and they said “last week”. I took this photo in Rock Harbor the last night we were there, having previously searched for a great sunset location. Scores of photos were taken by two different cameras as I stood at the edge of the water swatting mosquitos for 90 minutes. This was the last photo I took.
