Grand Marais is a hiker's and backpacker's paradise. Nowhere else can you find such a diversity of trail opportunities. From wilderness and scenic hiking in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to day hiking along the Sucker River in the Grand Marais School Forest, there's something for everyone's taste and skill level. For many years this area has been developed with the backpacker in mind. There are incredible overlooks, historic buildings and sites, diverse ecosystems, waterfalls, rock cliffs and bluffs, wilderness lakes and streams, wildlife, and remote coves. You'll never experience anything like hiking around Grand Marais. Don't forget to check out Camping in and around Grand Marais for more information.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
There are incredible hiking opportunities in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Begin with Sable Falls. Then you can hike Grand Sable Dunes. Gaze at shipwrecks below the Au Sable Point Lighthouse. They line the beach. Fish the Hurricane River. Wander through the Birch Forest at Twelve Mile Beach. Stand at the top of Spray Falls or hike into the inland sea caves at Beaver Lake. This is a marvelous place to hike. If you feel like a longer hike, a shuttle bus is available in the summer months to ferry hikers to the trailheads near each visitor center. Hiking in Pictured Rocks can get very remote. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore follows the Lake Superior shoreline west all the way to Munising, a distance of 46 miles.

Looking for a shorter hike? We have a complete list of Pictured Rocks day hikes with descriptions.

Grand Marais School Forest
These trails were designed for day hikers. (These trails also double as X-country ski trails in winter.) There are three basic trails depending on how much time you have to spend. The highlight of these hikes are sections that travel both side of the Sucker River. The sand high banks give great views of this beautiful trout stream. Hikers can stand along them watching the steelheads spawn in the spring. A pine forest and lots of blueberries are also found along these trails.

These trails are located east of Grand Marais on H-58 about 5 miles east of town. There are no water sources out here so bring water. There are no outhouses either. The map on the right shows the different hiking trails. H-58 runs east-west through the center of the map. The light blue line represents the river. These trails are used for cross-country skiing in the winter.

Fox River Pathway
The Fox River Pathway is a hiking trail that runs from Twelve Mile Beach to Seney, 27 Miles. This trail is isolated, and is rated Moderate to Difficult; not recommended for casual hikers. Once you are out in the middle of this, you are there for the duration. The two easiest sections are from Twelve Mile Beach to Kingston Lake and from Seney to the Fox River Campground. Check out this map of the trail before you hike it. This is considered to be a three-day hike for expereinced hikers, and takes you through the famous Fox River country immortalized by Ernest Hemingway in his story "Big Two Heart". (As the story goes, Papa Hemingway didn't want to give away the location of the trout stream he fished, so he re-named it after a stream twenty-five miles to the northeast.) The section between Kingston Lake and the Fox River Campground is serious outback. This is some of the most remote backcountry that the Lake Superior State Forest and the Upper Peninsula has to offer. The trail is also open to mountain biking and cross-country skiing, but it is not groomed.

North Country Trail

This 3,000 mile hiking trail runs from New York to the Dakotas. It also runs right through Grand Marais. The trail comes in from Muskellonge Lake to the east, through the School Forest, and follows an old railroad grade into town. It then leaves to the west utilizing some of the trail system from Pictured Rocks. This is probably the most heavily-used regular segment of the North Country Trail in Michigan. End-to-end walking of the National Lakeshore is so popular that the Park Service, in cooperation with Alger County, runs a shuttle bus in summer months between the two visitor centers to return hikers to the trail head. An incredible feat if you can accomplish it. For more information, including maps, visit the North Country Trail website.

You can get some hiking supplies in Grand Marais at the Bayshore Market and Superior Hardware.