Rock River Canyon Wilderness

Rock River Canyon Wilderness is a 4,640-acre roadless area in Michigan’s Hiawatha National Forest, in Alger County near Chatham. Heavily logged from about 1880 to about 1930, it lost its old-growth timber to clear-cutting, fire, and erosion, and now stands as a visible example of second-growth forest and natural succession within a working national forest. Created by Congress in 1987, it is centered on two small sandstone canyons about 150 feet deep carved by the Rock River and Silver Creek. The wilderness also includes Rock River Falls and Ginpole Lake, supports black bear and whitetail deer, and contains fragile sandstone cliffs.

Chatham, Michigan · United States