Boondocking Michigan

The drive from Harrington State Park up to Pictured Rocks National Seashore was about five or six hours, more than we wanted to do in a day, so we decided to stop roughly half way. The half way point was sort of in the middle of nowhere and listed mostly as a horse camp, but hey, it’s only for one night.

Unfortunately we chose to rely on Google Maps, which, inevitably, sent us to the wrong side of the river. No big deal though, it’s all state forest land, we can boondock. And the road in was the kind I like, it kept getting narrower and rougher until it was graded dirt, then ungrated dirt with some nice sandy spots for added adventure. That was right around the time we realized we were on the wrong side of the river and gave up on the campground. We found a little pullout and made it ours for the afternoon. Only one other car came down the road in the 18 hours we were there.

That sounds all well and good right? Except that to boondock in Michigan state forests you first need to print out a form, fill it out, put it “in a plastic baggie or similar”, nail it to a tree and leave it there. Let’s break that down by phrase. Print out a form. Nope, haven’t got a printer. Nearest state forest headquarters is about 50 miles from where we are. Put in a plastic baggie. Nope, haven’t got one of those (we try to avoid stuff made of plastic). Nail it to a tree. Nail? Like with nails? Nope, haven’t got those either. And leave it there, all my personally identifying information, including driver’s license and home address, nailed to a tree somewhere in the Michigan forest? Um, yeah… No.