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WATERSMEET
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Sylvania Wilderness Area. This lake-studded 30-square-mile tract is a rare treasure: an old-growth forest that escaped the logger's ax, and lakes where motors are banned. ...
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Ottawa Visitor Center. The Ottawa National Forest info center also has an excellent nature bookstore, interesting exhibits, and anature trail ...
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Clark Lake and Clark Lake Trail. Convenient auto access up to the motor-free Sylvania Wilderness Area's Clark Lake with a long, sandy beach, good birding, and an 8-mile trail around the lake through the old-growth forest. ...
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Imp Lake Interpretive Trail. This memorable 1.5-mile path leads from an inviting swimming area into an old-growth hemlock forest ...
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Sylvania Outfitters. Veteran outdoorsman Bob Zelinski shares a wealth of information about the area, rents canoes, kayaks, skis, and snowshoes, and refers customers to fishing guides ...
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Mex-I-Min-E Falls & Campground. A short, powerful cascade in a quiet, pretty woodland spot with primitive camping. ...
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Ontonagon River Middle Branch. This pretty, underdeveloped brook trout stream can be paddled year-round. Rent a canoe. It's a fine first whitewater trip ...
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Sylvania Outfitters Cross-Country Ski Trails. 20 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails in the Sylvania Wildeerness Area, much of it over hilly terrain ...
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Watersmeet Rails to Trails. This old railroad grade leads through many habitats to downtown Land O'Lakes ...
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Ajibikoka Falls. Difficult to get to, this falls is one of the finest in the Watersmeet region ...
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Clark Lake and Clark Lake Trail
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Adjacent to the motor-free Sylvania Wilderness Area, at the north end of motor-free Clark Lake, the Ottawa National Forest provides two boat launches, a campground and a delightful day use area with convenient auto access to Sylvania's quiet and its natural beauty. Most of Clark Lake is in the wilderness area. A shady lawn with picnic tables leads down from the parking areaa and bathhouse to a long, sandy beach, a picnic area, changing house with showers, and a parking lot.
 | | Mark Hobbs | | Clark and Loon lakes have long sand beaches, reached by canoe or the Clark Lake foot trail. The Hobbs kids from Wisconsin love to hang out on the beach, listen to loons, and see the occasional eagle and mersanger — all birds that thrive with no power boats. | The 8-mile trail around the Clark Lake, Sylvania's largest, gives an easy introduction to the Sylvania Wilderness Area without camping or using a canoe or compass. For a shortened hike, start at the swimming beach and go west (counter-clockwise). Soon you'll be in a shady ares of huge hemlocks and maples, then you'll pass beautiful wetlands. Watch out for roots that make it easy to trip. You're likely to hear the haunting cry and yodel of a loon. A pair of loons nests on every Sylvania lake. You may see or hear pileated woodpeckers at work on old trees looking for insects, and hear summer woodland songbirds like warblers and red-eyed vireos. Bald eagles and ospreys perch over the lake, scanning for fish to swoop down on and catch. Barred owls are often heard at night: "Who-cooks for you, who-cooks-for-you."
The trail is one of 36 U.P. natural areas featured in Michigan Watchable Wildlife, in book form or online at www.michigan.gov/dnr/; go to "wildlife and habitat," then "viewing wildlife" for photos and details.
Other access parking is at Crooked Lake and other places on Sylvania's periphery. (See map.) Of course, these more accessible areas are close to roads and not as quiet as the less accessible interior lakes and trails. But they're much, much quieter than comparable facilities elsewhere.
Day-use registration is required year-round. $5/day/vehicle use fee, or $20/season. A self-registration pipe is at every entrance.
The main entrance is off County Road 535, which intersects with U.S. 2 about 3 miles west of Watersmeet. The contact station by the entrance station is staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays, Central Time between May 15 and September 30. Contact station: (906) 358-4724. www.fs.fed.us/r9/ottawa/ Call about handicap accessibility. Dogs are permitted on a 6-foot leash.
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