Most experienced backcountry canoeists will tell you that the best near-wilderness canoeing, camping, and fishing in the Midwest is found in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. There is little argument about that. On a map the BMCA looks like a cartographer spilled an ink bottle on the page. Those countless lakes sprawling and overlapping across hundreds of square miles of uncivilized country are a wilderness tripper's dream come true.
But sometimes we have to take our pleasures in small doses. Sometimes we have only a few days to get away, or want to take the kids along and don't dare risk a too-rigorous trip, or are simply looking for someplace different and closer to home. At times like that I begin thinking about Sylvania.
Located just north of the Wisconsin border, in the western corner of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Sylvania Recreation Area is in the heart of the massive Ottawa National Forest. A 21,000-acre preserve (roughly 33 square miles), it encompasses a tract of essentially virgin forest dotted with 15 major lakes and 60 or 70 small lakes and ponds. On all but two of those lakes motorized watercraft are prohibited, making the area a haven for canoes and kayaks. Likewise, on the 26 miles of hiking trails, the only modes of transport you'll see are the silent ones.
Sylvania owes its existence--and its name--to a group of Chicago and Detroit businessmen who wanted a place to get away from the world. Their private hunting club became a virtual island during the logging era, while most of the pine and hemlock forests of northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula were being cut. When the tract became available and was purchased in 1966 under the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the National Forest Service found itself in possession of one of the largest stands of untouched forest in the Midwest. Preserving the wild flavor of the place--while opening it to the public--became the Forest Service's big challenge.
Today Sylvania offers a strange mix of the civilized and the wild. On one hand, it is set in the middle of some of the least civilized country in the Great Lakes region. The primary access is off US-2 in the Upper Peninsula, near the town of Watersmeet, a village containing a grocery store, a restaurant, a bar, and a gas station or two. Turn off the highway into Sylvania and you find yourself winding down a country lane beneath pines and hemlocks large enough to convince you that you're entering a true wilderness.
Yet, near the park headquarters, along the shores of the two largest lakes in the area, are an assortment of public beaches, day-use picnic areas, campgrounds (including a 48-unit camp fully equipped for RV use), and public-access sites. And though it isn't necessary to go far to leave those signs of civilization behind, there remain a large number of rules and regulations to obey.
FISHING IS STRICTLY REGULATED. Camping and cooking are allowed only on developed sites, and no more than five people can occupy any one site. Digging and trenching are not allowed. Fires are permitted only in fire rings and grills. Tents must be pitched on tent pads.
While those kinds of regulations are enough to make wilderness aficionados scream and run, they don't have to diminish your enjoyment of the area. They are, after all, the kinds of rules that make Sylvania what it is: accessible but relatively remote, popular without seeming crowded or spoiled.
And make no mistake, Sylvania can be popular. If you're planning a trip during traditional vacation periods like summer weekends, the Fourth of July, or Labor Day, it is probably a good idea to plan to be at the ranger station as early as possible before the weekend or holiday to register for campsites. Weekdays and periods early and late in the season will seldom present those kinds of problems.
A total of 84 "wilderness-type" campsites are located throughout Sylvania, each with a picnic table, tent pad, fire grill, and toilet. The campsites are all located near the shore of the eight largest lakes. They are widely scattered, however, and placed far enough back in the woods so that they are seldom visible from the water. A small wooden marker is usually all that can be seen along shore.
Keep in mind that there is no potable water available; plan on carrying your own or boiling lake water. Campsites are available first-come, first-serve, and are distributed by a permit system that requires you to post an itinerary at headquarters. It works like this: Say you want to make the "loop" from Clark Lake to Crooked Lake. You reserve a campsite at the south end of Clark Lake (for instance) for the first night, another on Loon Lake for the second night, another on Deer Island Lake for the third night, and so on. Total length of stay is limited to 14 days, which is probably not enough time to portage into all the accessible lakes and make side excursions off on the more remote hiking trails.
ACCESS TO THE LAKES IS RELATIVELY EASY. All portage trails are clear and well marked and seldom exceed a half-mile in length. The loop from Crooked Lake to Mountain, East Bear, West Bear, Kerr, and High lakes, is accomplished with six portages that probably add up to a total of less than half a mile. The other major loop--from Clark to Loon, Fisher, Florence, Big Bateau, Cub, and Deer Island--requires several slightly longer portages, but none that are difficult for anyone in reasonably good physical condition.
Two of Sylvania's features are immediately apparent. The first is the trees. Hemlocks and red and white pines 150 feet high and five feet across at the base dominate the woods, and offer a rare glimpse of what much of northern Wisconsin and the western U.P. were like in the centuries before the logging era. Most of the woods in Sylvania are typical of the surrounding region, covered with a dense growth of medium-sized conifers and hardwoods. The difference is that scattered clearings are lorded over by truly massive pines and hemlocks. Occasionally you'll have the unusual experience of seeing enormous trees that have died of old age. Where they have fallen to the ground entire ecosystems grow along the lengths of the decomposing trunks.
Sylvania's other outstanding feature is the quality of its water. It is not unusual to drift in a lake watching the minutely etched tracings of a maple leaf on the bottom in 20 feet of water, or to fish over bass you can watch cruising slowly on the bottom 30 feet down. That remarkable water clarity is the result of being located on the peak of the Mississippi/Lake Superior divide. Water on the south side of Sylvania drains toward the Mississippi Valley, while water on the north drains to Lake Superior. The lakes are spring-fed, which means that very little nutrient matter finds its way into the water, resulting in a water supply that is chemically similar to rainwater.
The high-quality water supports some high-quality fishing. The previous owners of Sylvania were apparently unable to find the time to fish the lakes consistently. When it became public land it was obvious that many of the lakes supported populations of trophy-sized game fish.
SMALLMOUTH BASS, especially, were present in extraordinary numbers. Biologists discovered that in the cold, infertile, oligotrophic waters of Sylvania the bass grew at extremely slow rates, so it was quickly decided that some radical fishing regulations were required to keep the lakes' fish populations from being decimated.
As a result, bass caught in any Sylvania waters except Crooked and Long lakes must be released unharmed. Lake trout, walleye, and northern pike are found in several lakes. Only one of each of those species can be kept in a day, and only if the lake trout are at least 30 inches long, the walleyes 20 inches long, and the pike 30 inches. Fishing with bait is prohibited; only artificial lures can be used. Not surprisingly, such stringent regulations have protected the game fish, making Sylvania's lakes some of the region's most likely places to find trophy fish.
That isn't to say the fishing is easy. The smallmouth bass, especially, tend to get finicky in midsummer, the same way trout will when they've seen too many lures and artificial flies. I once spent three days in August fishing over deep-ranging bass in Sylvania's lakes--bass I could see clearly 15 or 20 feet below my canoe--and caught only two 12-inchers. If you're after good fishing, plan on going early in the season, usually within the first two weeks of June when the fish tend to feed in shallow water.
Wildlife isn't limited to the water, of course. The black bear population is healthy, judging from the tracks and scat I saw on many of the trails. The usual precautions to keep a clean camp are strongly urged. Bald eagles are present in good numbers and can often be seen scavenging for fish along the shorelines.
SYLVANIA IS ALSO HOME to one of the largest populations of nesting loons in Michigan. Wildlife biologists have conducted a great deal of loon research there. Canoeists and campers will be glad to note that the weird, warbling cries of the birds can be heard nearly every evening and morning.
True wilderness fanatics will probably not find Sylvania as remote and untrammeled as they would like. Those campsites with their picnic tables and outhouses are just too civilized. And, of course, the place can't really be compared to the Boundary Waters, at least in magnitude.
But Sylvania is certainly worth a visit, if only for a glimpse of upland forests that have never been touched by the ax and lakes that have never been churned by outboard motor propellers. As a wilderness experience it comes slightly diluted. But as a place to get away for a few days of sanity and serenity it serves just fine.
If You Go:
For further information, contact District Forest Ranger, Ottawa National Forest, Watersmeet, MI 49969.
For information, topographical maps, supplies, and canoe rentals, contact Sylvania Outfitters, West US-2, Watersmeet, MI, phone: 906-358-4766.
Copyright (c) 1996 Jerry Dennis. All rights reserved.