Our Michigan adventures almost always start with an idea from a good book- To help plan our trips we have an entire shelf in our bookcase dedicated to outdoor guidebooks. Today there is a lot of good information available online, but we still think there is nothing better than sitting by a campfire at the end of the day and paging through a good guide book. It is also a good way to help pass the long winter nights.
As our collection has grown we are finding some overlap between some of our books. However, I always have thought that even if I only find 1 or 2 interesting new places to visit, that would be worth the $10 or $15 that I paid for the new book.
Michigan Camping and General Travel Information:
Michigan State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide – This is one of the first guidebooks that we purchased and is still a favorite. Michigan has an excellent State Park System and this guide has accurate descriptions of the facilities and outdoor recreation opportunities available at all of the 94 Michigan State Parks.
Michigan’s Best Campgrounds: A Guide to the Best 150 Public Campgrounds in the Great Lakes State – This is our go to book when ever we are looking for a new place to camp. It has all the information you will to plan your next camping trip and descriptions of the outdoor activities available in the area.
Michigan Off the Beaten Path: A Guide to Unique Places – Whether it is taking a horse drawn carriage to dine at a fine restaurant up in the woods on Mackinac Island or visiting the general store where Ernest Hemingway spent summers as a young boy, you will find it all in this book.
Best Tent Camping: Michigan – This nice little book highlights some of the best rustic campgrounds in Michigan. The author uses a unique five-star rating system for qualities like privacy, security, noise, beauty, and cleanliness. Site recommendations and detailed campground maps are also included.
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Michigan Hiking and Backpacking Guides:
Best Hikes With Children in Michigan – With 3 small children this has become one of our favorite hiking guides. This is really a good book for anyone looking to get out and find short, but interesting hikes all over the state. Like all of the books written by Mr. DuFresne there are well written trail descriptions and nice maps of each outing.
Backpacking in Michigan – If you are looking to spend a night in the beautiful Michigan back country this book is all you will need to plan your next adventure. It has everything from easy 2 mile overnight trips to multi-day treks in the Porcupine Mountains or Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Hiking Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: A Guide to the Greatest Hiking Adventures in the U.P. – This guide is an excellent resource that covers the top hiking trails and even a few secluded beach walks in the Upper Peninsula. 50 total trips are reviewed in this book. It has a good layout with easy to read maps and directions that I have come to expect for Falcon Guides.
50 Hikes in Michigan: The Best Walks, Hikes and Backpacks in the Lower Peninsula – In this second edition you get an additional 10 hikes for 60 total trips reviewed. We a have done several hikes from this book and have always found the information to accurate and helpful.
Hiking Michigan: 2nd Edition – Another good hiking resource featuring 146 Michigan day hikes. This is a full size 300 page book so do not plan on carrying it in your pack. We have made copies of pages that we need for different trips. The hike descriptions are very detailed. My only complaint is that the individual trail maps are not very good. They are really just dotted lines with numbers that match sections in the written guide.
Explorer’s Guide 50 Hikes in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: Walks, Hikes & Backpacks from Ironwood to St. Ignace. – The Upper Peninsula has the best hikes in the State and this book covers most of them with detailed topographic maps, directions to the trailhead, hike difficulty and elevation gain.
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park 3rd: A Backcountry Guide for Hikers, Backpackers, Campers and Winter Visitors -If your are planning a trip to the Porkies you need this book.
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Michigan Kayak and Canoe Trip Guides
Guide to Sea Kayaking on Lakes Superior and Michigan: The Best Day Trips and Tours – If you are interested in paddling the big water on the two largest lake this book is a must have . It has everything from day trips in Sleeping Bear Dunes to a 110 mile trip around Isle Royale. Each route has good mile by mile descriptions and nice maps.
Paddling Michigan – This is another excellent guide with a good variety of paddling options. There are 70 trips total reviewed in this book. With 43 river floats and 27 other trips along some of Michigan’s most scenic lakeshores this book has something for everyone.
Canoeing Michigan Rivers: A Comprehensive Guide to 45 Rivers – For river canoeist and kayakers this is the best guide for planning trips on the most popular waterways in Michigan. The rivers are broken down by mileage and time between the popular access points. This book also has good maps and directions to each river.
Michigan Rivers Less Paddled: The Rivers, The Towns, The Taverns – This is an interesting book that not only helps you find some of the less popular rivers, but also gives information on a nearby town and it’s best tavern. The only complaint about this book is that it assumes that you are using a local livery and does not have maps or directions to the access points for self supported paddlers..
The Paddler’s Guide to Michigan – I was so excited to see a new paddling guide coming out that I preordered it on Amazon 2 months in advanced. However, I must say that when it came I was a little disappointed. My biggest complaint is the lack of useful maps and launch site directions. The book has a good overview of paddling designations, but is lacking some details compared to other guide.
Guide to Sea Kayaking in Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario: The Best Day Trips and Tours – This is another excellent paddling resource with mile by mile descriptions and good maps. We have used it find a few nice secluded trips on Lake Huron along the sunrise side of the State. We are also hoping to try 1 of the 10 trips that it covers in Georgian Bay.
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Michigan Biking
Mountain Biking Michigan – This book covers 67 of the most popular bike trails spread over the entire state. For being published back in 2002 most of the information has still been relatively accurate.
Rail-Trails Midwest Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin – Written by members of the The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy this book covers several trails in Michigan that make for easy family riding.
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Recommended Michigan Outdoor Adventure Writing
Wild Shore: Exploring Lake Superior By Kayak
Naked in the Stream: Isle Royale Stories
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas
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