Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Michigan / Northern Lower Peninsula

Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness

Manistee National Forest, Huron-Manistee National Forests (between Manistee and Ludington)

The Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness, on Lake Michigan between Manistee and Ludington, is the only federally designated wilderness in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, according to Michigan Trail Maps. The Forest Service describes about 3,500 acres of open dunes, freshwater interdunal ponds, and woods, with roughly 10 miles of trail from two trailheads.

There are no designated sites. Backpackers pick their own camp in the wooded hollows between dunes, following the wilderness setbacks.

The hike

Michigan Trail Maps lays out a 6.5-mile main loop from the Lake Michigan Recreation Area at the wilderness’s northern edge, with spurs that shorten it to 2.4 or 5.5 miles. At about 0.35 miles, the Arrowhead Trail junction marks the wilderness boundary. For much of the first mile, the trail follows a high dune ridge with Lake Michigan in view and a log stairway down to the sand. A stand of paper birch comes at about mile 1.0, and the guide marks a “popular backpacker campsite” junction at 1.8 miles; continuing southwest leads to an open sand blowout.

The loop crosses an old two-track and a road near miles 2.4 and 2.6, reaches the Nurnberg Road trailhead at 3.6, and passes a bluff overlooking Nordhouse Lake at about 4.3, along with a marsh and pond and the high point of a former water tower site at about 713 feet. Michigan Trail Maps warns that some descents are steep.

Many backpackers leave the trail for the beach. Seeking Lost’s 2014 trip, from the Nurnberg trailhead, was mostly off-trail: north along the shore, then back south, across the interior dunes to Hamlin Lake, and on to Big Sable Point Lighthouse in neighboring Ludington State Park. Michigan Trail Maps says the lighthouse is about 2 miles south of the federal tract along the beach, through the state park’s Wilderness Natural Area. Seeking Lost noted that camping in the state park is limited to its developed campgrounds.

The dunes rise to about 140 feet, according to Islands. The Forest Service says the area is home to the federally endangered Pitcher’s thistle and the piping plover, and Seeking Lost passed fenced-off plover nesting areas. Hunting is allowed in season.

Michigan Trail Maps and Seeking Lost both warn about crowds in summer, especially on July and August weekends near the campground. Seeking Lost’s advice: “There are just too many people here on the weekend.” Sand is the other hazard; the same writer suffered swollen feet and tendon pain from hiking in flip-flops and recommends boots and long pants.

Tips

Camping

Camping is free and dispersed; no permit is required, though a Huron-Manistee vehicle pass or day-use fee applies at the trailheads. The Forest Service’s wilderness order (R904-14-09) prohibits camping within 400 feet of the wilderness boundary, which it defines to include the Lake Michigan waterline and the Nurnberg, Green, and Forest Trail roads; within 200 feet of Nordhouse Lake; and within 100 feet of established trails. Campfires are prohibited within 400 feet of the Lake Michigan waterline and 200 feet of Nordhouse Lake, and burning dune wood, driftwood, pine knots, or shipwreck timbers is banned. Groups are limited to 10 people, glass containers and soaps in lakes or streams are prohibited, and bikes, carts, and pack animals are not allowed. Lake Michigan Recreation Area, the 102-site campground at the north trailhead, is gated in the off season.

Inside Intel: Michigan Trail Maps marks a “popular backpacker campsite” junction about 1.8 miles from the Lake Michigan Recreation Area trailhead. Seeking Lost’s 2014 trip writer liked a site set back from the beach and hidden so well that the writer had walked past it the first time.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Sand stakes and dune hollows:

Wilderness rules push Nordhouse camps back into the trees between dunes, where soft sand and lake wind test a shelter. See the tents reviewers trust.

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Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.