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Michigan Backpacking - Three Unknown Places
Michigan backpacking usually means hiking
the trails of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, the Sleeping
Bear Dunes National Park, or Porcupine Mountains State Park.
These are all well worth doing, by the way. However, if you want
to really get away from the crowds, here are three places to
try where you'll likely be backpacking alone for days.
Backpacking Lake Michigan Islands
Bring a canoe for this first destination.
Just south of the Garden Peninsula in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
(take Highway 2 to 183), there are several islands. They are
all uninhabited. Little Summer Island is just a mile or so offshore
from the tiny community of Fairport, and makes a nice rest stop.
Note: we paid $10 to leave our car parked behind the barn of
a fisherman who lived there. There is no public parking, but
just ask around - the people are friendly here.
Next in the chain are Summer Island and
Poverty Island. They are wooded islands, and have some old foundations
of houses remaining from long ago. There is also a lighthouse
still standing on Summer Island. The land is primarily part of
the Lake Superior State Forest (despite the fact that they are
in Lake Michigan), and although there aren't really any trails
for backpacking, hiking the shore and exploring the interior
of Summer Island could fill an afternoon or more.
Be careful past Poverty Island, where you
have to cross a shipping channel to get to Saint Martin Island.
St. Martin is privately owned, but open to the public as far
as I know. The caretaker told us that camping there was no problem.
He even left the lighthouse open for us to explore, with our
promise to lock it up when we were done checking it out. He took
a boat home to Wisconsin (less than 10 miles south), and we were
the only ones on the island for the night. There are a few miles
of trails here, and though it was quiet when we were there (2005),
there may be a few rental cabins on the south side of the island
by now.
Backpacking Along The Manistee
River
The little-known trail along the Manistee
River in Northern Michigan is never crowded. A part of it is
the North Country Trail, a long trail from New York to North
Dakota (which may never be done). Although I haven't hiked it
in four years or so, when we used to hike here or float homemade
rafts down the river, we almost never saw another person.
The trail I'm referring to runs from Highway
131, North of Cadillac, to Highway 37 near Mesick. It follows
the river on the north side, and passes mostly through the Manistee
National Forest. After one road (and a bridge) that you'll pass
the first day, there are no more houses or cabins for many miles.
You'll be hiking in rolling maple and beech woods, with some
big sandy bluffs overlooking the river. The river is deep in
places, but great for swimming.
Note: For the story of a rafting trip on this same stretch,
see the page: An
Ultralight River Rafting Adventure
Drummond Island
When a friend and I took the ferry to Drummond
Island, we brought a canoe on the roof of the car. There was
a string of lakes on the map and we put the canoe in a canal
leading to the first one. Soon we had to haul the canoe over
a beaver dam, and then we were in a big open area, where the
seemingly floating islands of plant life made navigating interesting,
to say the least.
Our plan was to camp somewhere on the shore
of one of the lakes, but maps don't show all the details. The
lakes were surrounded by marsh, full of cattails, reeds, and
chest-deep muck that didn't want to give back our probing paddles.
It was not actually possible to get to shore, we realized. Dry
land was clearly visible in the distance, but we couldn't
paddle through the thick brush, nor move well enough in the thick
muck to get out and pull the canoe in to shore.
We ended the day back where we started,
and drove to an isolated part of the island - easy to do, since
it all seems fairly isolated. With night coming, we parked the
car right in the road to set up a tent in the field next to it.
No cars passed us that evening. In fact, not a single car passed
before we left at 11 the next morning. So if you want isolated
backpacking - or canoeing or even parking - this is a part of
Michigan you might want to visit. Watch out for the bears.
Visit EverythingAboutTravel.com for information
on Vacation
Spots in Michigan.
The Ultralight Backpacking
Site | Michigan Backpacking |