We welcome
your feedback &
experiences.
E-mail
us
|
|
Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA
|
|
|
|
JUST OUT!
A new edition of Hunts' Mapguide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Over 300 entries, all conveniently located on maps and chosen because we think they are the coolest things to do in the U.P. (No ad tie-ins!) Great choices for restaurants, hikes, shops, adventures, museums, boat trips, waterfalls, vistas, road trips, and much more!
To learn more click UP MAP GUIDE
|
|
|
|
RAPID RIVER
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Bay de Noc-Grand Island Trail. A 40-mile-long non-motorized trail parallels the Whitefish River in the Hiawatha National Forest. It beckons hikers, horseback riders, and, in winter, mushers. Once it was an important portage between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, used by Indians and for the fur trade. ...
more
Haymeadow Falls and trail; Whitefish River trout fishing and canoeing. A short, delightful trail through a hardwood forest takes you to a little waterfall on a high-quality trout stream, Haymeadow Creek, and to a nearby campground ...
more
Hiawatha National Forest Interpretive Center & district office. Interpretive displays, a nature store, and excellent maps are a great introduction to this 900,000-acre forest ...
more
Rapid River Cross-Country Ski Trail. 19 miles of loops through pine and maple forests, from easy to advanced ...
more
Rapid River Falls. An easy walk from U.S. 41 takes you to a beautiful park and falls ...
more
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bay de Noc-Grand Island Trail
|
Horses, hikers, backpackers, and mushers (on part of the U.P. 200 sled dog race) all make use of this pleasant, varied trail, 40 miles long. It goes north through the west part of the Hiawatha National Forest, paralleling the Whitefish River. Usually the trail is up on a bluff, a half to two miles east of the river. The south half is more aspen and even meadows, the north mostly birch, maples, and beech. Small glacial hills are in the north, too. There's a sprinkling of conifers throughout. Occasionally there's a view across the valley but not of the river. In fall color season the trail is especially nice. A 2-mile spur trail leads to pretty Haymeadow Falls.
The shortest distance from Lake Michigan to Lake Superior is this corridor. It goes north from the head of Little Bay de Noc by Rapid River to Au Train Bay on Lake Superior, close to the 19th century trading post on Grand Island. A state map clearly reveals that. For Indians and for trappers, this was an important canoe and portage route. Today's trail, however, stops short of reaching either lake.
For details and photos from a 2001 hike, Google "Chuck's Backpacking Bonanza: Backcountry Backpacking." (Be sure it has an orange background.) Scroll to "annotated list of my favorite backpacking trips" (in pink, hard to read). then "Michigan." For a helpful printable map, search www.uptrails.org , then "Delta County." The site is a Hannahville Indian Community Learn and Serve Project.
Hikers and equestrians should plan on carrying water or be prepared to treat it for drinking. Pumps for potable water are at both trailheads and at midway, the Haymeadow Creek Campground, 1 1/2 miles west of the trail. (See "campgrounds.") Wells and vault toilets are at the assembly areas at the trailheads and at the midpoint, 16 miles north of U.S. 2 east of Rapid River. (It's 16 miles from the northern trailhead.)
Primitive camping is permitted most places on National Forest land; no permit needed. Stay 100' from trail or water. Horse droppings should be scattered. See our introduction for "Riding trails and campgrounds." Whitefish Lodge (906-343-6762) in Deerton near Au Train is not far from the northern trailhead. It's well suited to trail users with and without horses. Motorized vehicles are not allowed. No ATVs, no snowmobiles.
Annotated maps and trail descriptions are at Forest Service offices in Rapid River, Munising, and Manistique.
Here's the Forest Service's trail description: "Following the river bluff for a considerable distance, [the trail] offers the hiker many extended views to the west across the Whitefish River valley. The southern 1/4 of the trail winds through jack pine, red pine, and aspen timber, interspersed with grassy openings. The terrain is fairly level, broken only by an occasional stream crossing. As the trail stretches northward through the maple, paper birch, and beech forest, the hiker encounters the typical glacial terrain characterized by short rounded hills scattered in random fashion. These hilly stretches are occasionally separated by one- to five-mile stretches of flat land supporting pine and aspen."
The southern trailhead is on CR 509, 1 1/2 miles north of U.S. 2 and 2 miles east of Rapid River. Midway gathering and access point : CR 509, 16 miles north of U.S. 2. (In Alger County to the north, CR 509 becomes H-05 — the Rapid River Truck Trail. The northern trailhead is on M-94, 10 miles southwest of Munising, on the north side of the road opposite Ackerman Lake. (906) 474-6442. No fee.
Return to Rapid River
|
|