Boondocking in the Midwest

[skyl4rk]

There is a significant amount of land available for boondocking in Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Dispersed camping is permitted for free in National Forests, no permit needed. As an example, here is a webpage from the Huron-Manistee National Forest on dispersed camping:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/hmnf/recreation/camping-cabins/?recid=18536&actid=34

You are allowed 16 days and then you must move a minimum of 5 miles.

If you go to this map, you can zoom in and find the boundaries of the National Forest:

http://apps.fs.usda.gov/TravelAccess/

Last summer we camped near Manistee, Michigan, it is an extremely beautiful area, heavily forested, not many people, pristine natural rivers, and you are not very far from the beaches and fancy tourist towns on Lake Michigan. Or you can head to the rural small towns in the interior of northern Michigan, very remote places with a frontier character.  As in most northern forests, you will need bug screens!  Weather will generally be pleasant for camping from mid-May to October, although August can exceed 80F.

We stayed in the campground shown here (not boondocking) and we saw a number of boondockers on the roads approaching the campground.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/M...2!3m1!1s0x881c29133d992cd9:0x1beb1266db9c5b36

I highly recommend this area, the whole Michigan coast on Lake Michigan is a great place to be in the Summer.

 

[ttpadilla]

Thank you, what a great idea! Having lived on the west coast for more than 35 years, I rarely even consider going to fabulous places east of Colorado. That is definitely going on my list for future travels.

 

[sisterearth]

I am very familiar with the area as I am about 2 miles from the Manistee national forest, done a lot of camping and hanging out there and you are right, lots of great spots secluded no one bothers you. right near lake Michigan and Sauble and Pere Marquette and Big and Little Manistee, and Pine Rivers.... and yes...bring the bug spray

 

[skyl4rk]

On some days, you can have your own mile of Lake Michigan beach with nobody else around.  Plus there are a lot of sand dunes to climb.  Lake Michigan sand beaches have some of the nicest sand anywhere.

The State of Michigan has even more land that the federal government has (in Michigan).  Dispersed camping is permitted on some state land in Michigan.

The State of Michigan allows dispersed camping in state forests and state game areas if you post a camp registration card and follow all the park ranger anti-fun rules here:

http://www.midnr.com/publications/pdfs/RecreationCamping/IC3003-1_Park Rules_Poster.pdf

Note item (s) in the above wall of prohibitions.  I find this set of rules extremely difficult to understand, and I expect that they may be interpreted differently by different officials, so it might be worthwhile calling to the management area office where you would like to camp.  

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/PR4134_CampRegCard_383467_7.pdf?20140624

Sometimes when rules are complicated, you just follow them the best you can and if you are wrong, just show the camping registration card that you filled out and point out your copy of the anti-fun rules and say you were just trying to dispersed camp as permitted in R 299.922(s).  

You have to look for State Forests and State Game Areas. You are NOT allowed to dispersed camp on state recreation areas, state parks, designated campgrounds or state boat launch sites.  You have to stay a mile away from state forest campgrounds (to dispersed camp).  After 15 nights you have to move at least one mile.

Here is some information on State Forests:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Michigan_state_forests

There are no State Forests in Southern Michigan.  If you want to dispersed camp in Southern Michigan your only opportunity is in State Game Areas.  

The State Game Areas are listed here, with links to pdf maps by county.  However, note that Wildlife areas are also listed, but those are Wildlife Refuges which are closed to humans and are not available for camping.

If you really want to go remote, you could take the ferry to Beaver Island and dispersed camp on the State Game Area there.  The ferry is expensive, though, I would probably recommend the camping on the mainland instead.  But it might be fun to spend some time on Beaver Island in the middle of Lake Michigan.

http://www.michigandnr.com/publicat...ver_Islands_SWRA_Beaver_Islands_group_map.pdf

From my travels in Michigan, my favorite area is the Ludington-Manistee-Frankfort area along the Lake Michigan coast, and then inland all the way across the penisula.  The interior is quite different than the coast and if you get tired of tourists, go inland.

 

[sisterearth]

Beaver Island is a neat place, I went years ago. Peaceful today!

 

[skyl4rk]

I think it would be pretty cool to camp on Beaver Island for a month or two. It might get boring though. But it would be quiet, no interstate, few vehicles, just the sound of the wind and waves.

Before I started researching this, I did not know you could boondock on state game areas. No one that I know was aware of this, although I work with one guy who is a top level DNR official in Lansing, and when I asked if you can do dispersed camping in MI, he told me that you can. Now I am getting some ideas for long term camping in the summer.

 

[sisterearth]

Yea there are so many places here for sure. If you get back to this neck of the woods and I am still here, love to say HI! My friends from Truth or Consequences NM have come and stay all summer that way. With no problems.... except mosquitoes!!

 

[skyl4rk]

I may be up that way after it warms up a bit. I have to think up a quest, like drive from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron on gravel roads or some such nonsense.

 

[skyl4rk]

It appears that Michigan State Game Areas are closed to dispersed camping from May 15 to September 10.  See R299.926.

This does not apply to State Forests or National Forests.

 

[sisterearth]

O that would be a great drive! Well there are plenty of state and national forests as you know....hope to meet you along the shoreline one of these days! peace!