Wild & dispersed Michigan

Lake Michigan beach and high wooded dunes with no numbered sites and no reservation, walk in and find your own spot above the water.

~1.5 hr from Grand Rapids; ~30 min south of Manistee.

A 23-mile river-bluff loop with overlooks high above the Manistee and free riverside sites, the Lower Peninsula's best backpacking weekend.

~1 hr SW of Cadillac; ~1.75 hr from Grand Rapids.

105,000 acres of deliberately undeveloped 'Big Wild' with one of the largest elk herds east of the Mississippi; drive in or backpack.

~30 min N of Gaylord.

Nearly 10,000 acres of pine and hardwood with 19 miles of looped trail and no reservation system to fight.

~3.5 hr from Grand Rapids; near Oscoda.

Thirteen miles of rolling trail around Reid and Little Trout Lakes with nine walk-in sites and nothing else.

~3.5 hr from Grand Rapids; off M-72 near Harrisville.

Camp almost anywhere off the developed sites, just keep 200 feet back from the water and pack out what you pack in.

~1.5 hr north of Grand Rapids.

Six walk-in sites about two miles in on the Platte Plains trail, an easy first taste of backcountry near a quiet Lake Michigan beach.

~2.5 hr northwest of Grand Rapids; near Empire.

Five dry meadow sites on the edge of the Port Oneida historic district, seldom used because they sit nowhere near water.

~2.5 hr northwest of Grand Rapids; near Glen Arbor.

A short hump from the lot drops you at fifteen rustic sites on Michigan's first designated wild-scenic river.

~3.5 hr from Grand Rapids.

No engines, no crowds, just a six-mile loop of kettle lakes you walk into and camp beside.

~3 hr from Grand Rapids; near Traverse City.

A horse-and-hiker line clean across the peninsula, with state forest camps strung along it.

West end (Empire) ~2.5 hr from Grand Rapids.

The closest real backpack night to Detroit, ten rustic sites a few miles in, glacial lakes and oak woods with the city an hour behind you.

~1 hr west of Detroit; ~45 min north of Ann Arbor.

Five quiet backpack sites in the oak and pine of Waterloo, a half-mile walk or a long trail day, no campfires so bring a stove.

~1 hr west of Detroit; ~25 min west of Ann Arbor, near Chelsea.

Roadless 17,000 acres of old-growth, waterfalls and beaver country with no marked sites and almost nobody around.

~50 min west of Marquette.

A 300-foot-deep river gorge with waterfalls and almost no trails, you go for the canyon and the fact that hardly anyone else does.

~1.25 hr west of Marquette.

Twenty-odd small lakes linked by portages, a quiet canoe-camping maze where you rarely see another tent.

~45 min SW of Munising.

Two deep sandstone canyons with waterfalls and the Eben Ice Caves nearby, rugged and lightly visited once the day crowd goes home.

~30 min SW of Munising.

No trails, no signs, no sites, just swamp, forest, and silence, you go here to disappear.

~45 min NW of Sault Ste. Marie.

The Wild and Scenic Carp River winding through unmarked forest, a quiet trout-water trip for people who like their trails faint.

~1 hr NW of the Mackinac Bridge.

Clear glacial lakes and old-growth you paddle or walk into, strict on motors, the closest thing Michigan has to the Boundary Waters.

~1.5 hr from Ironwood; far from any city.

Michigan's most remote state park, hike-in lakes with a real shot at a moose and nobody on the next site over.

~40 min west of Marquette, then a rough drive in.

Old-growth hardwoods, the Lake of the Clouds, and Big Carp waterfalls, the closest the Midwest gets to mountain backpacking.

~1 hr west of Houghton; ~45 min from Ironwood.

Cliffs, waterfalls and beaches above Lake Superior on a 42-mile trail; the permit keeps it from being a zoo.

Trailheads at Munising and Grand Marais.

Wolves, moose, and zero road noise on an island you can only reach by boat or floatplane.

No drive. Ferry or seaplane from Houghton or Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw.

The Hiawatha's least-developed wilderness, no marked sites, just a wet trail out to an empty Lake Huron beach.

~5 miles north of St. Ignace; ~1 hr from the Mackinac Bridge.

Three hike-in sites strung along the North Country Trail, far enough from the falls crowds to hear nothing but the river.

~1 hr northwest of the Mackinac Bridge; ~1.5 hr east of Munising.

A Lake Superior island of cliffs and beaches where you reserve a numbered site and ferry over from town.

Ferry from Grand Island Landing on M-28, ~2.5 miles west of Munising.

Roadside pull-offs along the forest roads off the Black River Scenic Byway let you drive up and disappear into hardwoods, no office, no fee, no neighbors.

~15 miles north of Bessemer up the Black River corridor; far western UP.

Lake-dotted pine and hardwood country off Forest Highway 13 where forest roads give drive-up spots well away from the developed campgrounds.

~20 to 25 min south of Munising down Forest Highway 13.

Flat sandy jack-pine and flooding country near the Blind Sucker where the NCT runs through, post your card and stay a mile off the campgrounds.

~45 min to 1 hr northwest of Newberry via M-123 and CR-407.