Drummond Island Day 1: Trailhead by Post 27 to Dry Lake

September 18, 2017
5 miles

I arrived at Drummond Island in the late afternoon. The ferry ride was quick and once I reached the other side I wasn't sure where to go.  There wasn't much near the dock so I started driving on the main road. Eventually I reached an intersection with a grocery store and also a visitor's information station. I went into the visitor's center and bought a cheap trail map that had trails and state land boundaries. I drove down Bass Lake Road and parked at the trailhead by Number 27 on the map as someone had mentioned started a hike from there on a Facebook group. From there I quickly plotted a loop route with Gaia GPS on my phone.

Within a few minutes I had established a tentative plan to hike a loop including a section to some of the inland lakes up to the north end of the island and back mainly along the beach. The loop would be about forty miles.  I decided to hike clockwise to save the best beach scenery for last and I wasn't sure how hard the inland hiking would be as much of it would be off-trail.

I started on a trail.


I left the trail and went to find Beaver Pond.


It was a scenic pond.


There was a curving path through the pond.

The bush whacking wasn't too bad, but the forest was still thick in places.


After continuing off-trail, I reached Dickenson Lake, which was larger than Beaver Pond.

Dickenson Lake

I found an animal trail beside the lake, but it was wet. As I walked I noticed that the surface was floating, and bounced up and down as I walked on it.

Dickenson Lake

After leaving the lake, I joined a trail for a short distance.


There were some scenic flowers beside the trail.


The trail went beside some open plains.








I had read that it was supposed to be near peak fall colors, but most of the leaves were still green on Drummond Island.


I went off trail again to find Dry Lake, where I hoped to find a campsite for the night.


I arrived at Dry Lake just as the sun was setting.

Dry Lake

It took some effort to find an adequate campsite as much of the terrain around the lake wasn't level and was overgrown. I found a small level spot back in the forest a little ways from the lake. As I prepared to take a time-lapse movie I noticed the forest mush have stolen my mini tripod and groundsheet out of my backpack's mesh back pocket.

Continue to Day 2