Named after the native American leader, Hiawatha, who also inspired Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha poem, Hiawatha National Forest is in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It is also called “the Great Lakes National Forest” because it touches three of the lakes – Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and Lake Huron.
It is physically divided into two sections, commonly referred to as the east zone and west zone. The east zone runs from just above St. Ignace to just below Tahquamenon Falls State Park. The west zone runs down the center of the Upper Peninsula starting from Munising in the north.
The Hiawatha National Forest contains six designated wilderness areas within its borders. We visited Colwell Lake near the Big Island Lake Wilderness. Colwell Lake sits in the center of the forest’s west zone.
Colwell Lake Trail
During our visit, we hiked the Colwell Lake Trail Loop. It is a 2-mile universally accessible trail around the lake. The path is wide and had boardwalks in certain sections, making it an easy walk.
You can access the trail from the Colwell Lake campground or from a trailhead off highway M-94. A narrow gravel road leads to a small parking lot, with room for 4 cars. It would be a tight fit full of cars but thankfully we had the trailhead to ourselves.
Near the boat ramp, a squirrel scurried down a tree trunk. When he saw us, he froze, allowing me to get a little closer for a great photo!
After the boat ramp, there is a small beach for campers to wade into the water and build sandcastles. Ring-billed gulls perched on the swimming area boundary buoys.
Then you’ll find the fishing dock jutting into the lake. If you don’t have any fishing gear, poles and tackle boxes are available for free at the campground host.
Along the shoreline lily pads floated on the water with water lilies in bloom. So beautiful.
At the end of our hike, we saw a sandpiper probing the mud and water. A few feet away I almost stepped on a tiny eastern American toad.
This was a perfect hike to get our bodies moving and start the day before continuing our road trip back through the Upper Peninsula.