Hoist Lakes

On November 3, a friend and I went up to the Hoist Lakes Foot Travel Area for a three day hike. The Hoist Lakes are located in the Huron National Forest in the northeast corner of Michigan's lower peninsula. A cold snap had rolled through the day before, so there were traces of snow and the temps throughout our hike stayed in the 20s and 30s.

We found the area to be devoid of any wildlife, except squirrels and assorted birds. Likewise, we also found the area lacking in other hikers. In all, we only saw five other hikers. All five were in two different groups, and were spotted in the same location 24 hours apart (walking in to South Hoist Lake from the east).

The first day we walked the south perimeter of the foot travel area, starting at the eastern entrance and ending at Byron Lake. We camped on the east bank of Byron Lake that night, high up on a bluff in the red pines.

The next day we hiked out to the west trailhead junction, and then around the north side of the loop, exploring all the interior trails along the way. We are glad that we investigated the interior trails, as they cross some of the best parts of this tract, chocked full of spruce, fir and birch.


That night, we camped on the northeast shore of North Hoist Lake.

Even though there were no significant animal sightings, the area is still interesting. Being from further south, I was impressed by the spruce and fir trees found in the lower, wet areas. I was also taken by some of the stands of birch.

While we didn't see many critters, we sure saw evidence of them. We found dozens of holes dug by badgers, plenty of coyote scat, and hundreds of trees gnawed on by beaver. At night we heard the barred owls, howling coyotes and splashing beavers.

The area looks attractive for crosscountry skiing, and I'd like to get back there for some of that this winter. If you're interested in hiking this area, a downloadable map can be found here.