Ishpeming Tower

Ishpeming Tower is a low steel fire lookout at the junction of Greenstone Ridge Trail and Ishpeming Trail. It is a brief stop if you are hiking through: the tower is no longer staffed, and visitors cannot climb it. NPS describes it as shelter from rain, but trees now block much of the former panorama. Come for the history and a break, not a climb or a dependable lake view.

After the 1936 fire, the Civilian Conservation Corps built Isle Royale's first fire towers in 1939. The tower at Ishpeming Point followed in 1961 as the island's first modern steel fire tower with living quarters. By 1980, fire lookouts no longer occupied the island's towers; this one was later used for park communications, including a radio repeater. All three towers were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.

Former lookout Russell Tabbert recalled views north over Lake Superior to the Canadian shore, south toward the ridges along Ishpeming Trail, and along Greenstone Ridge. Those were working-era views: trees have grown around the structure, so do not expect the old panorama today. For a photo, get close enough to frame the steel cab, catwalk, and upper platform with the forest around it; the tower can be easy to miss until you are nearly there.