Digital Maps & The Big Wild

We’ve begun digitalizing all our maps to make them easily available as PDF files downloaded straight to your mobile device or computer. In celebration of finishing our entire collection of Pigeon River Country State Forest maps, we asked Jim DuFresne to pen a piece on his five favorite trails in the Big Wild, a rugged 105,049-acre playground for hikers, backpackers, mountain bikers, and, in the winter, backcountry Nordic skiers and snowshoers. Five great trails in Pigeon River Country State Forest: Click Here.

The Best of Sleeping Bear Dunes

Sleeping Bear Dunes was authorized on October 21, 1970, by the U.S. Congress, which believed the Great Lakes were the “third coast” and had to be preserved much like Cape Hatteras or Big Sur, which are National Seashores. From a controversial beginning – the park’s creation involved the transfer of private property to public ownership – Sleeping Bear Dunes has become Michigan’s most distinguishable and best-known area. To celebrate our new trail map guidebook to the park, Jim DuFresne to provide an insider’s guide to the best trails in this special park. To find out his favorites Click Here.

Pierce Stocking: One Tough Bike Ride

Although less than eight miles long, Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive has more stunning, edge-of-the-bluff panoramas than most roads of any length in Michigan. It also has some of the steepest climbs, and that’s the paradox facing cyclists. For more on this short but tough ride in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Click Here.

Five Michigan “Mountaintop Peaks” to Camp On

Following the ridges to Red Hill.

Mountaintop camping — even in Michigan it’s possible.

Surprisingly not all of Michigan’s high points are in the Upper Peninsula. But to pitch a tent in a top-of-the-peak campsite does require two things: a desire to watch a valley turn from green to orange to deep red with each phrase of a dying sun — and a “Michigan mountain.”

Here are five of our favorites: Click Here