One of North America's Biggest Old-Growth Forests Is Hiding in the U.P.

Ask people to picture wild, untouched forest and they’ll usually point west — to the Rockies or the Pacific Northwest. They’d be surprised to learn that one of the largest stands of old-growth forest left in North America is right here, in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula.

It’s in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, fondly called “the Porkies.” At about 60,000 acres, it’s Michigan’s largest state park, sprawling along the Lake Superior shore in Ontonagon and Gogebic counties. Roughly 35,000 of those acres are virgin old-growth — towering hemlock, maple, and birch that were never logged. It’s often described as the largest tract of untouched northern hardwood forest between the Adirondacks of New York and the Rocky Mountains.

The park’s signature view is Lake of the Clouds. You drive to the end of M-107, walk a short paved boardwalk to an overlook, and the world opens up: a slender lake cradled far below in an unbroken sea of forest, framed by a long rocky ridge. On a clear day you can see more than 25 miles to the west. People call it the most-photographed view in the U.P., and every photo undersells it.

The Porkies were nearly lost. In the late 1930s the area was even proposed as a national park, but those plans faded during World War II. Worried about logging, citizens and the state stepped in, and the park was established in 1945. In 1984 the federal government named the Porcupine Mountains a National Natural Landmark.

There are more than 90 miles of trails here, dozens of waterfalls, backcountry cabins, and in winter, deep lake-effect snow and a small ski hill. But you don’t have to hike far. A few steps onto that boardwalk, and you’ll understand why people drive all day to stand there.