Long Weekend Loop Midwest

[Tortuga]

Does anyone have a favorite long-weekend (think 2 night/3 day) loops or out and backs in the MW? I'm in Chicago and looking for a decent backpacking weekend that isn't a park campground. I've heard the Ice Age Trail is OK, but also that it has a lot of road walks and I'm not sure about the campsite situation.

[dcclark]

How far do you want to travel? The Porcupine Mountains in the Upper Peninsula are fantastic, with tons of great loops. There are backcountry campsites and also cabins, all of which must be reserved (and often go fast, 6 months in advance, but there will be something available).

Example loops include:

The Summit Peak loop, e.g. South Mirror Lake trail to Mirror Lake, then Little Carp River trail to Lily Pond, and finally back out via Beaver Creek or Lily Pond trails (very short but leaves you lots of time to enjoy Mirror Lake and Lily Pond, two of the gems of the park's interior).

Lake of the Clouds to Mirror Lake, then Correction Line down to the Big Carp River trail, and return via Big Carp River trail (also showcases the Escarpment, one of the best trails in the park).

Little Carp River trailhead to Lake Superior, then up the Big Carp and Correction Line trails to Mirror Lake, finally back to the trailhead via Little Carp River (longer than the others, but reaches Lake Superior and shows off another of the park's best trails, Little Carp River).

If you want to go earlier, such as Memorial Day, there may not be a lot of sites available. But you could probably put together a decent loop by just looking at which sites are still available and patching together trails from there. Avoid Cross Trail at all costs.

[Kelly]

The Manistee River Trail can form a loop with the North Country Trail. Right now the bridge that makes this possible is closed for repairs, which were supposed to be completed in six weeks last fall. It's still closed, and there is no published date for completion. You may be able to work with NCT trail angels for a shuttle.

Also consider the Ozark Trail in Missouri. I prefer fall and winter and spring—the other season is more tick-y and snake-y. The Blair Creek section is one that is on my radar for a future trip. Bell Mountain Wilderness, while not part of the Ozark Trail, connects to it and is a nice loop. It's helpful to be flexible on OT plans in the spring—prescribed burns can be announced with little lead time, and flooding can close or limit parts of the trail.

[Ingo]

Sylvania Wilderness is a possibility, have heard it's great for canoeing at least. From the trail map it doesn't look like many loop options, though.

[torpified]

there's the Waterloo-Pinckney trail in SE Michigan---a little over 30 miles, point-to-point, with several backcountry sites along the way. The terrain is low-key midwest glaciated, plenty of pothole ponds, little hills, and wetlands. Even though it's moose-free, I like it quite well. I think I put up a TR in the "other parks" section here, and sneakymonkee's done a video of her trip. (The THs are less than an hour from my house---if you decided to do this and the timing worked out, I could help with the shuttle.)

Here's a map:

https://www2.dnr.state.mi.us/publicati ... terloo.pdf