North Manitou Island trip 2002

North Manitou Island is a few miles off the shore of the Leelanau Penninsula, West of Traverse City Michigan. Added to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in the 1980's, the island is managed as a wilderness -- you pack out what you pack in. Access to the island is usually by ferry, specifically the Manitou Island Transit company, owned by the Grosvenor family, who used to live on the island. The ferry runs daily in the summer, departing Leland at 10am and returning in the afternoon. If the weather is too rough, the ferry does not run, which may leave you stranded on the island!

N Manitou is one of the most easily accessed wildnernesses in the Midwestern US. From the ferry to a campsite may only be a walk of 2 miles, and yet you might not see or hear any other humans for days, depending on where you camp. If you prefer, you can cross to the West side of the island in 5 miles. Though the island is made up of dunes, the trails, which used to be sand roads, are mostly flat and very easy to walk. No wheeled vehicles are allowed (other than the rangers' cart and whatever heavy equipment might be in use as the park service shores up some buildings they've decided to maintain).

Satellite view of North Manitou

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