The United States Forest Service oversees the National Wilderness Preservation System. The program protects 803 designated Wilderness Areas that cover 111.7 million acres of land (larger than the state of California). American President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Wilderness Act to preserve “an enduring resource of wilderness” for future generations. Americans have greatly altered nature and I am heartened that at least a small portion of the land is preserved.
On Sunday I took my son Oliver and my two nephews, Beau and Tony, to visit one of the 803 wilderness areas, the Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness Area. It is only an hour’s drive from my home and I can’t believe I’ve never been there. It is stunningly beautiful! The interior of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is rarely visited by tourists. It is not the easiest place to get to with two-track ATV trails and narrow gravel roads being the only access. We had the place to ourselves on a sunny Sunday June afternoon! It is located almost directly north of my village of Caspian in southern Houghton C0unty. In looking at the map, I could easily ride my bicycle to the campground, taking all forest roads.
We started at the Sturgeon River Falls trail head. The 1-mile trail is well-marked and runs along the top of the gorge for a short distance before a series of switchback trails leads hikers to the river bank. The wide gorge is approximately 300 feet deep and covered with beautiful trees. It had rained the day before the river was roaring. It looked like a wild version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate River. The rivers of the Upper Peninsula are brown-colored from the tannins (plant chemicals) from the surrounding forests, especially cedar marshland. The water was not muddy or silty and looked like chocolate in the UP sunshine. The power of rapids exploding through the narrow bedrock was breathtaking. I don’t think one could kayak through it.
On the way back home we stopped at the Bears Den Overlook, another short trail. With so many trees in the UP it is rare to get long views over the forests. The view over the gorge was awesome and worth the stop. We worked our way about halfway down along a narrow ridge to the right of the overlook before returning to the car. You can see the chocolate ribbon of the river at the bottom of the gorge from the top. I will definitely come back and explore more of the area. The next time I come I will set up a camp at the Sturgeon River Campground, hike the Sidnaw Trail, and ride bicycles up to the falls and overlook and explore a bit more of the area.
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