The park's northern boundary lies adjacent to the Canadian Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area along the international border.

[7] Isle Royale is within about 15 mi (24 km) of the shore of the Canadian province of Ontario (near the city of Thunder Bay) and adjacently, the state of Minnesota (near Grand Portage in Cook County), and is 56 mi (90 km) from the Michigan shore, on the Keweenaw Peninsula, itself part of Upper Peninsula.

Also, the National Park Service employs tractors and utility terrain vehicles to move items around the developed areas at Ozaagaateng, Rock Harbor, and Mott Island.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the Plant Hardiness zone is 4b at 1178 ft (359 m) elevation with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -24.2 °F (-31.2 °C).

Large quantities of copper artifacts found in indian mounds and settlements, some dating back to 3000 B.C., were most likely mined on Isle Royale and the nearby Keweenaw Peninsula.

The Ojibwas ceded the island to the U.S. in the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe, with the Grand Portage Band unaware that neither they nor Isle Royale were in British territory.

The area's notoriously harsh weather, dramatic underwater topography, the island's central location on historic shipping routes, and the cold, fresh water have resulted in largely intact, well preserved wrecks throughout the park.

'[21] In 1845, an Ojibwe woman named Angelique and her voyageur husband Charles Mott were left on Isle Royale, as hires for Cyrus Mendenhall[22] and the Lake Superior Copper Company.

Angelique found a large mass of copper ore. She and her husband were hired to stay and guard it until a barge could come to retrieve it, promised in no more than 3 months' time.

Upland areas along some of the ridges are effectively "balds" with exposed bedrock and a few scrubby trees, blueberry bushes, and hardy grasses.

[27] Isle Royale National Park is known for its timber wolf and moose populations, which are studied by scientists investigating predator-prey relationships in a closed environment.

Some foxes are accustomed to human contact and can be seen prowling the campgrounds at dawn, looking for stray scraps left by unwary campers.

Just prior to becoming a national park the large mammals on Isle Royale were Canada lynx and the boreal woodland caribou.

Though lynx were removed by the 1930s, some have periodically crossed the ice bridge from neighboring Ontario, Canada, the most recent being an individual sighting in 1980.

Although no thorough scientific investigation to determine how moose arrived on Isle Royale has been carried out to date, both cultural and genetic evidence indicates they were likely introduced by humans to create a private hunting preserve in the early 1900s.

[40] In December 2016, the National Park Service put forward an initial plan to bring additional wolves to the island in order to prevent the pack from disappearing completely.

The two main rock assemblages found on the island include the Portage Lake Volcanics and the Copper Harbor Conglomerate, both Precambrian in age.

[15]: 8, 14–15, 21, 25, 42, 45 Recent analyses by the USGS of both unmineralized basalt and copper-mineralized rock show that a small amount of naturally occurring mercury is associated with mineralization.

Native copper and chlorastrolite, the official state gem of Michigan, are secondary minerals filling pore spaces formed by vesicles and fractures within the volcanic rocks.

[15]: 55, 58–61 Recreational activity on Isle Royale includes hiking, backpacking, fishing, boating, canoeing, kayaking, and observing nature.

The trail leads to the peak of Mount Desor, at 1,394 ft (425 m), the highest point on the island, and passes through northwoods wilderness, and by inland glacial lakes, swamps, bogs and scenic shorelines.

The campsites vary in capacity but typically include a few three-sided wood shelters (the fourth wall is screened) with floors and roofs, and several individual sites suitable for pitching a small tent.

The park is accessible by ferries, floatplanes, and passenger ships during the summer months—from Houghton and Copper Harbor in Michigan and Grand Portage in Minnesota.

Isle Royale is quite popular with day-trippers in private boats, and day-trip ferry service is provided from Copper Harbor and Grand Portage to and from the park.

Isle Royale is the only American national park to entirely close in the winter months, from November 1 through April 15, due to extreme weather conditions and for the safety and protection of visitors.

The Isle Royale Queen serves park visitors out of Copper Harbor, on the northern Upper Peninsula coast of Michigan.

Because of the relatively short boat ride, day visitors are able to get four hours on the island, and get back to the mainland earlier in the afternoon.

The ship stays overnight at Rock Harbor before returning the next day, making two round trips each week from June to mid-September.

[49] The Voyageur II, out of Grand Portage, crosses up to three times a week, overnighting at Rock Harbor and providing transportation between popular lakeside campgrounds.

The Voyageur II and other boat taxi services ferry hikers to points along the island, allowing a one-way hike back to Rock Harbor or Ozaagaateng.