Backpacking Michigan Wildernesses

My first backpacking was as a Boy Scout in the 1950s and '60s when my troop made its annual pilgrimage to Michigan's Manistee National Forest to the Owasippe Scout Reservation run by the Chicago Area Council since 1911.

Over the last 20 years, Michigan has provided me 6 marvelous backpacking venues, presented here in alphabetical order. If pressed to decree one the best, I'd have to say Isle Royale National Park, which is not only my favorite Midwest destination, but also one of America's premier backpacking locales. Each page below gives info on the location and a few photos I took while backpacking there.


Bay de Noc - Grand Island Trail in the Hiawatha National Forest (2001)

Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior (1993 and 1996)

North Manitou Island/Sleeping Bear Dunes Natl Lakeshore (2009)

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (including neighboring Grand Island) (1996)

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park (1992)

Sylvania Wilderness in the Ottawa National Forest (1992)

(To see all 52 locales where I've backpacked, go here.)