North Manitou Island: July 24-27, 2009

North Manitou Island is an island in Lake Michigan about 12 miles off the shore from Leland, MI.  It is part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and is accessible by a ferry. The ferry only runs certain times, so some planning is necessary. This is a great remote location for a for a short weekend backpacking trip.  The island has lots of variety including historical buildings, forests, an inland lake, sand dunes, and pristine beaches.  There are also shipwrecks for those interested in diving.

For planning resources go here: http://www.northmanitou.com

Four of us were able to go: my dad, brother (Andrews), and cousin (Garrett). It was a great time with family in some of the wildest country in lower Michigan.

We began our journey with a pleasant ferry ride aboard the Manitou Isle.

After arriving on the island, everyone had to go through an orientation with the ranger and get permits.  We hiked over to the Big Red Barn along the east-west trail (don't remember the specific name) that goes through the middle of the island.

 Near the barn we found an old car.

We headed south a short distance off-trail with some bush whacking to find a nice campsite on the edge of The Big Field.

Our campsite was on a bluff right above the shores of Lake Michigan so we had easy access to water.

We had nice views of South Manitou Island from our campsite.

On day two we day-hiked north. We found the remains of an old dock as seen below.

There were also some big dunes that we had the opportunity to run down.

 The water was perfect for swimming!

 We returned to our campsite and had a relaxing evening including eating some delicious food.

The Sunset from the west side of the island was very scenic.

On day three we packed up our belongings and hiked south down the beach.  We even found a TV!

We decided to leave the  beach and joined headed east on the trail on the south end of the island past Fat Annie's.

We set up camp on the east side of the island.

Camping isn't allowed close to the water so we found this campsite.  There were several mosquitoes but it worked well overall.

The next morning we resumed our hike on the beach and headed north back to the visitor center.

Beach walking is some of the best hiking on the island.  Most of it is on fairly solid sand.  The north end of the island may be more difficult, however, as it is very steep.

 Waiting on the dock for the ferry to arrive.

Overall, this was a great backpacking adventure.  North Manitou Island was the first place I ever went backpacking so the memories from experiences here are special.  This journey was my first with my own backpack after borrowing from either church or family on previous trips.