(for more information on Isle Royale, see parts 1, 2, and 3)

Sunday morning, my parents, sister, daughter and I set out in the Universal Special from Mott Island to Raspberry Island.

The old boat was taking on a lot of water, and the bilge wasn’t really working, so my dad and I took turns using a hand pump to bail out the water, then racing up to the front of the boat (where I took this pic) so the back wouldn’t sink. The boat could only go about 7 MPH with all of us in it. All of this made for a bit of an exciting trip to Raspberry Island, which my sister had said was her favorite place in Isle Royale.

We pulled up to the dock, and it was apparent we had the entire place to ourselves. We set out at a very leisurely pace, thoroughly enjoying and appreciating the diversity of the island.

After checking out the rocky shoreline, Lynette led us up the trail and into the Boreal forest.

My dad went missing for a short time, but we soon learned what he had discovered. The name of the island doesn’t lie.

After wandering around the perimeter of the island, we took an inner loop trail through the bog.

We completed our 1.5 mile hike on Raspberry Island and headed to the big island to look for moose (see Isle Royale, Part 5 – Three Mile hike).