The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is covered with protected national forests and lakeshores. I grew up on the edge of the Ottawa and Chequamanon-Nicolet national forests. The Ottawa National Forest is where I call home. I love the over 1.5 million acres of lakes, rivers, and streams, the 200 inches of yearly snow, and the solitude (the largest “cities” on the fringes of the forest are Ironwood with a population of 9,000 and Iron River with a population of 5,000) and the designated wilderness areas within the forest, including the nearby Sylvania Wilderness. The Ottawa National Forest covers a big chunk of the western Upper Peninsula. There are three large national forest areas in the UP and one national lakeshore. This provides me kilometers of hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing trails and roads.
The national forest system has 157 total forests. The most extensive forests are located out west, with Alaska having the most national forest land and Idaho having the highest percentage of its land under national forest protection (38%). The Upper Peninsula if it was a state, actually has a higher percentage than Idaho with 58% of its land designated as national forest. 42 of the 50 states have designated national forests or grasslands.
One of my favorite activities, while I am in Iron County, is cycling. There are a lot of roads (paved and gravel), former railways turned into trails, and lots of logging two-track trails to bike. There are very few cars and up here, cars give me a wide berth, unlike in Uzbekistan. Today I cycled a combination of trails and roads for about 50 kilometers. I only encountered a few cars, with the exception of light traffic on M73. I road to Bass Lake to look at the Eagle’s Nest and then by Stanley Lake to home. A red fox ran out about 10 meters in front of me.
Yesterday we rented kayaks through Sylvania Outfitters. They supported our 6-mile trip on the Ontonagon River from Burned Dam Falls to the ghost town of Interior. We were on the middle branch of the river which eventually empties into Lake Superior. It was a cold, overcast day but we all were swept away by the beauty of the flowing river.
Bill's Blog 