Paddlers find missing hiker Craig Berg, 70, alive on Isle Royale

Craig Berg, 70, of Royal Oak, Michigan, was hoisted off Isle Royale National Park by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter on Saturday, a week after he failed to catch the ferry home from a solo hike on the remote Lake Superior island. Two paddlers found him well off the trail network, the National Park Service said.

We're thankful that missing hiker, Craig Berg, was found alive and alert on Isle Royale.

Michigan State Police troopers and K-9 units reached Berg on foot after backpackers spotted him, the Coast Guard said. An MH-60 Jayhawk crew from Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City hoisted him from the island and flew him to Marquette Regional Airport in Gwinn, Michigan, where emergency medical personnel took him to a hospital. Authorities announced the rescue on Saturday.

Found more than a mile off-trail

The National Park Service said Berg was found at Intermediate Lake, more than a mile from established hiking trails on the island, according to MPR News. Two paddlers came across him and relayed his position to park officials, who coordinated with the Coast Guard to get him out. The Coast Guard described the people who found him as good Samaritan backpackers, and his son said kayakers reached him.

He got lost, and then he fell into a marsh, and he lost his cell phone and his wallet in the marsh.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said Berg was found in good condition. The Coast Guard, in its account, described him as injured and suffering from hypothermia. Michigan State Police said he was alive and alert. Officials have not disclosed what happened to him during the days he was missing or given details of his injuries.

Berg arrived at the park on Aug. 27 for an extended solo hike, the Detroit Free Press reported. He was scheduled to ride the Ranger III ferry back to Michigan's Upper Peninsula on Sept. 5. Family members reported the following day that he had not arrived home.

The report of an overdue hiker set off a large-scale search on an island with no road system and patchy communications. Isle Royale National Park officials said in a news release that the search covered "dense forests, rocky shorelines, wetlands and inland lakes, where limited cellular coverage can also make communication challenging." Teams came from agencies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Isle Royale is about 45 miles long and 9 miles wide, off the northeast tip of Minnesota, according to MPR News. Apart from two hubs of visitor services at either end, the wilderness island has no roads and no motor vehicles. Its trail network is rugged, and the Greenstone Ridge Trail runs nearly its entire length. Canoe routes cross inland lakes, among them the lake where Berg was found.

How searchers narrowed the ground

Michigan DNR conservation officers moved emergency personnel more than 50 miles by boat across Lake Superior on Thursday, Sept. 10, to the incident command post the National Park Service had established, the department said in a Facebook post Monday afternoon. First responders drew a narrowed search area around Berg's last confirmed location.

Reaching that area took a 30-mile boat ride and a hike of almost five miles, the DNR said. Crews then worked the ground on foot and brought in air units until Berg was located Saturday morning.

A 45-foot Coast Guard response boat and a helicopter crew from Air Station Traverse City carried state police troopers and K-9 teams to Isle Royale on Friday, Sept. 11, the Coast Guard said. The service later released video of the hoist and an image of K-9 officers aboard a helicopter over Lake Superior.

Ground teams with search dogs worked alongside boats, drones and aircraft over the course of the operation, MPR News reported, including aircraft from the Minnesota State Patrol. Isle Royale Seaplanes also took part.

This is a 44-mile island with extreme habitat. You have to narrow down where you're searching.

Pomroy, who took part in the search, said the agencies working as partners made it possible for the Coast Guard to airlift Berg back to Marquette. He said Berg was walking in the hospital before the last searchers returned from the field, and called that a remarkable timeline given the island's location and extreme habitat.

From Pictured Rocks to Isle Royale

Craig Berg is a retired quality engineer and a grandfather of two, WDIV reported. He had long wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail, decided that might be too much, and hiked Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore for a week in 2025. Isle Royale was this year's goal.

Debbie Berg, his wife, told the Detroit Free Press that only two rangers are stationed on the island, which has two camp stores and a lodge. Isle Royale's remoteness makes it one of the least-visited national parks.

Evan Berg, one of Craig Berg's two children, spent Saturday driving from metro Detroit toward Marquette to collect his father from the hospital. He told WDIV that the first word came in a text message from his stepmother, that he yelled the news out loud, and that the previous 11 days had been stressful for the family.

Agencies from three states joined the search

Berg, of Royal Oak, Michigan, went missing in Isle Royale National Park on Sept. 5 and was rescued a week later, when good Samaritan backpackers spotted him and Michigan State Police foot patrols and K-9 units reached him, the Coast Guard said. A helicopter crew hoisted him off the island and flew him to the mainland for treatment.

Eckola, the public information officer for the Michigan State Police Eighth District, thanked the state police personnel who took part and credited the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Park Service, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Keweenaw County Sheriff's Office, the Wisconsin State Patrol and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, along with fellow hikers, Isle Royale Seaplanes and No One Left Behind K9 Search and Rescue.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Wendy Janson, command duty officer at the Coast Guard's Sector Northern Great Lakes command center, said the rescue showed what first responders and community members can accomplish together, and that the service was grateful to get Berg off the island and deliver him to the medical care he needed.

Park officials said in a news release that the outcome reflected the combined efforts of search teams, partner agencies and members of the public. The sequence of the search, as described by the agencies involved:

1. Aug. 27: Berg arrives at Isle Royale for an extended solo hike.
2. Sept. 5: He is due on the Ranger III ferry to the Upper Peninsula.
3. Sept. 6: Family members report he did not arrive home.
4. Sept. 10: DNR officers move personnel more than 50 miles by boat to incident command.
5. Sept. 11: A Coast Guard boat and helicopter deliver troopers and K-9 teams to the island.
6. Sept. 12: Paddlers find Berg at Intermediate Lake; a Jayhawk crew hoists him out.

Craig Berg told family members he had gotten lost several days before he was reported missing, and that he had spent 11 days looking for help, his son said. Evan Berg described the trails on Isle Royale as difficult to follow and not well marked, and said his father sounded shaken when they spoke by phone.

Cell service unreliable and help days away

The National Park Service warns in its visitor safety guidance that cellphone service on Isle Royale is unreliable and that help can be hours or days away, even when visitors manage to reach rangers. The park's website says many types of equipment are generally prohibited on the island, including bicycles, motorized vehicles and drones.

Berg was still recovering in a Marquette hospital on Monday, WDIV reported. Evan Berg told WDIV that he and his father had agreed to go through the full story in person, and that he suggested his father write the book.