Wilderness State Park

Infobox_protected_area | name = Wilderness State Park
iucn_category = V


caption =
locator_x =
locator_y =
location = Michigan, USA
nearest_city = Mackinaw City, Michigan
lat_degrees = 45
lat_minutes = 44
lat_seconds = 18
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 84
long_minutes = 55
long_seconds = 36
long_direction = W
area = 8,286 acres (33 km²)
established =
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
governing_body = Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Wilderness State Park is an 8,286-acre (33 km²) state park in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Emmet County in Northern Michigan. The nearest towns are Carp Lake, Michigan and Mackinaw City, Michigan. The state park is operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR). DNR has, as of 2006, approved a proposal that 4,492 acres (18 km²), more than 50% of the state park, be officially dedicated as a wilderness area.

One of the most prominent physical features of the park is Waugoshance Point, which juts westward into northern Lake Michigan. Beyond the tip of the point, Temperance Island and Waugoshance Island are also parts of the state park. Waugoshance Point and the adjacent islands were described, as of 2006, as containing approximately one-third of the remaining Great Lakes habitat suitable for nesting by the endangered piping plover.

Most of the state park is inaccessible by road. The state park contains 22.75 miles (36 km) of mapped trails, including a 5.5-mile-long (9 km) section of the North Country Trail. The beach is mainly rocky with a low slope, except in the campground area where the beach is primarily sand with a sandy lake bottom. Camping in the park is either in the 250-site campground with "modern" amenities or in one of nine cabins located along the shore and in the woods. Sturgeon Bay, Waugoshance, Station Point, Caps and Bigstone cabins are located along or near the lakesore on Waugoshance Point. The Nebo cabin is located about 1 mile back along a hiking / fire trail in a wooded area of the park. These cabins sleep as few as 4 or as many as 8 and are "rustic" with no running water(hand pumps at each cabin), no flush toilets and a wood stove to provide heat. The other 3 cabins are located near the parks "Pines" campground and can sleep up to 24 people each. All cabins are accessible by vehicle except during the Winter months they are accessible by cross country ski or snowmobile in the Winter months.

Wilderness State Park contains populations of many animals that are part of the traditional image of the northern Great Lakes ecosystem, including American black bear, beaver, bobcats, mink, muskrats, and otter. There have been unconfirmed reports of wolves in the Waugoshance Point area by area residents who state they have heard them out on the point at night. This has yet to be confirmed by DNR officials.

Four separate Lake Michigan lighthouses, Gray's Reef Lighthouse, Skillagalee Island Lighthouse, Waugoshance Lighthouse, and White Shoal Lighthouse, warn shipping from the dangerous rocks and sandbars of Waugoshance Point.

External links

* [http://www.wildernessstatepark.net Wilderness State Park - Info, Photos and Discussion]
* [http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/ParksandTrailsInfo.aspx?id=509 Wilderness State Park - general info]
* [http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-30301_31154_31260-54042--,00.html Wilderness State Park - natural area]
* [http://www.unep-wcmc.org/wdpa/sitedetails.cfm?siteid=22564&level=nat World Database on Protected Areas - Wilderness State Park]