News Release
NPS Photo
News Release Date: June 12, 2018
Contact: Tracy Simmons
The National Park Service (NPS) anticipates releasing a prospectus for lodging, food & beverage, retail, and marina services within Isle Royale National Park in the near future. The NPS scheduled a two-day site visit for September 12 and 13, 2018 to allow interested parties to tour the facilities. The site visit will begin both days at 7:30 a.m. in front of the Rock Harbor grill/restaurant. Interested parties will spend one site visit day touring the facilities in Rock Harbor and one site visit day traveling to and touring the facilities at Windigo. NPS will provide travel between Rock Harbor and Windigo aboard a NPS-owned vessel on the day that provides the best weather conditions. Please be prepared for varying weather and for walking long distances between buildings. Interested parties must arrange and pay for their own travel to and from Isle Royale National Park. Travel options include:
1. Ranger III ferry (Six hours)
- Traveling from Houghton, MI to Rock Harbor on Tuesday, September 11, 2018.
- Traveling from Rock Harbor to Houghton, MI on Saturday, September 15, 2018.
- Contact Isle Royale National Park for reservations.
2. Isle Royale Seaplanes
- 45 minutes from Houghton, MI to Rock Harbor on Tuesday, September 11, 2018.
- 45 minutes from Grand Marais, MN to Rock Harbor on Tuesday, September 11, 2018.
- Traveling from Rock Harbor to Houghton or Grand Marais on Friday, September 14, 2018.
- Schedule varies throughout the operating season.
- Contact Isle Royale Seaplanes for reservations.
3. Isle Royale Queen IV ferry (Three hours, 45 minutes)
- Traveling from Copper Harbor, MI to Rock Harbor on Monday, September 12, 2018.
- Traveling from Rock Harbor to Copper Harbor, MI on Friday, September 14, 2018.
- Contact The Isle Royale Line for reservations.
4. Grand Portage Transportation Line/Voyageur II (Six hours from Grand Portage, MN (CT)
- Traveling from Grand Portage, MN, to Windigo/Rock Harbor.
- Contact Grand Portage Isle Royale Transportation Lines for schedule and reservations.
Please be aware some of the concession operation administrative and supply functions take place in Houghton, MI. The NPS will provide participants an opportunity to learn more about those functions on Monday, September 10, 2018. Site visit participants interested in seeing the Houghton functions may wish to use the Ranger III or Isle Royale Seaplane modes of travel based out of Houghton.
Site visit participants are responsible for their lodging, meals, and incidentals. NPS will set aside a block of six lodging units (double occupancy) at the Rock Harbor Lodge for interested parties. NPS will allocate one lodging unit for each organization on a first come-first served basis. Interested parties must contact the Rock Harbor Lodge for additional accommodations if they wish to send more than two people to the site visit or need more than one lodging unit.
Attendance at the site visit is not required in order to submit a proposal for the prospectus; however, attendance is encouraged. If you are attending, you must RSVP to Julie Gregg-Bubac via email at by June 28, 2018. Please include in your email the number of people who will be attending.
Last updated: June 12, 2018