Sportsman's Port Canoe Camp

The white water adventures are fantastic around here, but they’re far from the only way to experience the area’s gorgeous scenery and fresh air. You might instead like to fish for salmon in the Manistee River or for trout in the Pine River, go hiking on the North Country Trail (10 minutes’ drive to a good starting point) or play golf at Caberfae Peaks (10 minutes). There are plenty more hikes and off-road trails to make your way along in the Manistee National Forest, but if you don’t mind travelling a little further you can find a real change of scenery on the shores of Lake Michigan around Manistee (half an hour) or scramble through the sand at Sleeping Bear Dunes (an hour). If you’ve got kids to entertain, a day out at Adventure Island amusement park (15 minutes) should do the trick; if not, perhaps a tour of the farm and factory at Iron Fish Distillery (half an hour) would be more your style? It’s also worth checking listings to see if you can time a visit to coincide with events like the Mesick Mushroom Festival or Hoxeyville Music Festival (and if not there’s often live music at Coyote Crossing, five minutes away).