Outside Magazine this month tells outdoor travelers to ignore the obvious big name national parks and seek out the lesser used state parks, national lakeshores and recreation areas.
Only one of the nine public lands the magazine profiles is in the Great Lakes region – Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Here at Echo we find that a particularly unimaginative choice. Not that we don’t like Pictured Rocks – by all means get there if you haven’t been already. But it’s hardly an unknown destination, at least among regional outdoor lovers.
And it’s the only Great Lakes place Outside finds worthy of highlighting.
Not to get overly sensitive, but Outside also unveiled a National Park finder that slights the region. Although billed as a National Park guide, it also highlights select state parks. The total contributions from the eight Great Lakes states and Ontario is a scant 13, less than half of which are non-federal lands. There is nothing (at least yet) representing Illinois, Indiana, Ohio.
So here’s the Echo challenge: In the comments below, make your case for the Great Lakes region’s best state, provincial or local parks. The only rule is that it cannot be a federal entity. Help spotlight the region’s best outdoor secrets.
Echo Editor David Poulson is the associate director of Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.
One more I forgot earlier:
Chimney Bluffs State Park (on Lake Ontario): dramatic, impossibly steep spires of sand carved by erosion.
I’ll second Barb’s mention of Porcupine Mountain State Park on Lake Superior.
I’d also recommend:
Presque Isle State Park (on Lake Erie, in Pennsylvania): large park with lots of activities.
Long Point Provincial Park (on Lake Erie): has one of the best beaches on the Great Lakes, with very fine sand and few rocks, making it a joy to walk on.
Lake Superior Provincial Park (guess): a gigantic park with many beaches, and known for the pictographs by First Nations peoples at Agawa Rock.
Fayette Historic State Park (on Lake Michigan, in the UP): see the remains of and exhibits about the “company town” that stood at the site, run by the Jackson Iron Company, in the late 19th century.
Outside magazine used to have great writers with a little bit of an edge. Now there’s a cleft-chinned celeb on the cover of each issue and their bread-and-butter issue seems to be how to get better abs. I’m kind of glad they glossed over the region so the X-games set doesn’t venture east of Boulder.
As far as parks, Susan is right – Wilderness State Park in the NW LP is pretty rad (rent one of the rustic cabins if they’re available). The main campground, like at most state parks, is like an outdoor tenement where you get all the noise and stress and miserable hordes of the city with all the mosquitoes and inconvenience of the backwoods. But head inland and there are lots of great trails, spooky swamps and wild critters, and plenty of quiet. Also, Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin seems very rugged and awesome, but I’ve only driven through. Wisconsin folks – is the park as great as it seems?
Muskellunge State Park is one of my favorite places on the planet. The park is on a gorgeous U.P. inland lake, Lake Superior is just across the road from the campsites (great in the fall when campers are few and far between), and without a town anywhere nearby, the night sky is just lit up with stars. It’s also a beautiful morning drive through the woods to the Two Hearted River, the little town of Grand Marais, Taquamenon Falls, and on and on.
Porcupine Mtn state park – because it has a real wilderness feel to it – and beautiful all around.
Susan, what about Wilderness prompts you to give it the thumbs up?
Wilderness State Park, Lake Michigan