Where to plan for next year? 500 mile radius from my home...looking for suggestions!

Andy G

Adventurist
Made this map showing a 500 mile radius from my home in SW Michigan. I figure I can get to most places inside the circle in one day's driving time.

Would like to know what places would be good to check out for overlanding, canoeing, fly-fishing, camping, and basic adventuring within that circle.

I've got the U.P. of Michigan covered (8 day trip up there this fall). What other suggestions (both in state and out of state) do you have?

Thanks!
Andy
500 Mile Radius.JPG
 
Gatlinberg/Smoky Mountains in northeastern TN is all that comes to mind in your radius...and it's at the edge of your radius at that!
 
My very first thought was the BWCA as well. But there are so many outstanding areas for everything you mention in that 500 mile radius. I cannot vouch for the BWCA, though it is a paddlers dream and is in my bucket list to do someday. I can however vouch for the Gatlinburg area. There is plenty of tourist crap to do (Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, & Sevierville) but it doesn't take long and you are in one of the most beautiful areas in the US. There is also George Washington and Jefferson Nat'l Forest in Va & W. Va. There are a lot of choices for sure.
 
BWCA (Superior National Forest/Quietico Provincial Park) is pretty awesome... went there 2 years in a row during the summer on a trip our football coach "Gentle Ben" organized for about a dozen of us when I was in high school. Little did I know it was a PT session since we rented canoe's through an outfitter in Ely, MN then made our way up north paddling and portaging our way up north into Canada. plotting our destinations daily. We'd fish a little for meals, paddle, camp on an island, repeat. Incredible experience. Small Mouth Bass and Northern Pike were plentiful and tasty, and especially challenging with my ultra-light tackle.

The pristine, clear waters enabled viewing the bottom of the lakes to great depths... I know as I watched my knife slip from my lap over the gunnel into the water as I followed it's long twisting descent into the depths, the sunlight flashing from the spinning blade mocking me the whole time. This is why we have "dummy" cords. Although the weather was hot and humid during the day in June, it was more comfortable on the water, of course, despite the paddling, and night was very comfortable if not chilly.

Equally memorable, and comical, were the trips to, uh, move our bowels. This was a 2-person operation... there was the "defecator" and the protector. The "defecators" mission we are all familiar with... the protectors though had the onerous task of spraying "OFF" and swinging the paddle. Why? The flippin' mosquitoes... they were about the size of a small helicopter and persistent as hell; you do not want to have mosquito bites all over your ass, I gar-un-tee. I think you can imagine the scene... 1 guy popping a squat and the other furiously waving a paddle with one hand and spraying bug juice with other. Oddly enough, we did have one guy that refused to take "a dump" for the entire 2 weeks, though. Modesty? Reluctance to use public restrooms? Malignant encopresis? I can't figure that one out but he did die in his forties, but he always was full of shit, if that means anything.

Gentle Ben ultimately retired from being a high school teacher and moved up to Minnesota. He loved to fish and hunt and shared his outdoor enthusiasm with us; pretty quality guy.

Oh, to be young again... sigh :tango
 
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Apostle Islands, WI
Isle Royale NP
Great Smoky Mtns NP
Vicinity of Copper Harbor, MI UP
Vicinity of Dolly Sods, WV
There's a TON of stuff to explore in ON, Canada
 
I've been a bit frustrated lately at NOT being in Alaska anymore (lived there for 14 years and explored all over Alaska, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories...and not being out west (LOVE Death Valley)...but by drawing this simple circle I'm realizing that true adventure is still close at hand. I sure got spoiled in Alaska, where everything was literally outside my back door.

Thanks for all the suggestions - keep them coming!

I think next year we'll be doing Isle Royale for a full week, as it's always been a bucket list item. For this year, we're sticking with our Central and Eastern U.P. Adventure Overlanding Explorers Expedition (how's that for combining all the "cliche" terms that we love to use?).
 
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