Hiawatha National Forest, Upper Peninsula, Michagan

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Hiawatha National Forest spreads across roughly 900,000 acres of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, divided into two units: an eastern section near Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace, and a western section around Munising, Manistique, and Rapid River. It is unusual among national forests for touching three of the Great Lakes, with shoreline along Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. The forest takes its name from the hero of Longfellow's poem "The Song of Hiawatha," which drew on Ojibwe stories set along the southern shore of Lake Superior. The landscape is a mix of northern hardwoods, pine and spruce stands, cedar swamps, bogs, and countless inland lakes and streams. Visitors come to paddle, fish, hike, camp, and watch wildlife such as white-tailed deer, black bears, loons, and bald eagles. Brilliant autumn color draws crowds in fall. In winter, deep lake-effect snow makes it a destination for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling. Sections of the North Country National Scenic Trail pass through it, and its quiet back roads and waterways feel remote and unhurried. The forest was established in 1931 on land heavily cut over during the logging era, and much of today's woodland is regrowth from that period. It holds several historic lighthouses, including Point Iroquois and Peninsula Point, as well as the Grand Island National Recreation Area off Munising. It also includes designated wilderness areas and stretches of wild and scenic rivers, which preserve a sense of the northwoods as they once were.