Upper Peninsula, Michigan: Recreation in Bond Falls and Sturgeon River Gorge

May 2023, 8 days 

Above: view from trail in Bond Falls West Campground--trailer and kayak on campsite 20
Below: trail sign next to Bond Falls Road

Bond Falls Flowage: hiking, falls, boating, fishing, swimming

There are a couple of easy hikes from Bond Falls West Campground. The hike from our campsite to the falls and back was less than 4 miles roundtrip. We walked past the boat ramp, Roselawn Creek, and along the snowmobile trails next to Bond Falls Road. A small portion of this walk was along the shoulder of Bond Falls Road. We turned back onto the trail beyond the signs shown in the photo above. When you get to the dam after passing campsites 24 and 25, there is no way out to the road (the falls are on the north side of the road) unless you walk across the stone spillway behind the Outpost.

The falls and river were raging when we were there! The video above is the river near the falls picnic area. This is just below the dam and up river from the falls.

Ontonagon River above Bond Falls May 2023

The river was flooded over in spots, and the steps down to the falls had also become a waterfall. You can avoid the wet steps by accessing the falls from the parking lot, rather than from the picnic area, like we did. The parking lot and drive is tar, and the drive in/out is quite steep. After we departed that way, we thought it would have been easier to go up the waterfall steps again. 😃

Bond Falls and Ontonagon River May 2023

I am sharing a couple more photos of Bond Falls and Ontonagon River, above. This is a beautiful area!

There are a couple of short trails in Bond Falls West Campground: paths through the interior loop in the campground, paths out to Bond Falls Flowage, to Barclay Pond, and to Sand Lake.

Bond Falls Flowage

Boating and fishing in Bond Falls Flowage was great! We took our inflatable boat out one day and kayaks another day. My husband easily caught a few fish (he is more of a casual than serious fisherman) with no effort. Unfortunatly, none were keepers due to size or type of open season. We could also see fish in Sand Lake the day we walked out there; however, we had not brought fishing gear with us. It was the opening of Walleye the day we left the campground, and the boat ramp road was packed with vehicles hooked to empty boat trailers! As I mentioned in my campground post; even though campsite 20 is the first site near the boat ramp, we had not been woken by any of the many boats out on the water. In fact, we were quite surprised to see so many vehicles when we left that day.

There is a picnic area and swimming beach on the east side of the water. The bottom is sandy, and we observed kids swimming when we were on our boat rides.

Sturgeon River Gorge map

Sturgeon River Gorge National Park

This is another beautiful spot in Michigan's upper peninsula! Unfortunately, none of the hikes started at the campground. We drove and hiked Bear's Den Overlook, Pine Bluff Trail, Sidnaw Creek Trail, Sturgeon Falls Trail, and Silver Mountain. All of these areas are labeled on the map above. Although the campground we stayed in is free, I believe you are supposed to have a National Park pass to visit the gorge area. There was a self-serve pay post at one of the trailheads (Pine Bluff, I believe). We have a lifetime pass, so we hung it in our truck, just in case.

Bear's Den Overlook

The only hike I would not recommend during warm weather is Pine Bluff Trail. This is an easy hike; however, the trail was overgrown in spring, and there were many ticks. We usually hike first thing in the morning when it is a bit cooler, and we did not have trouble with any other bugs while hiking. 

Sturgeon Falls and switchback trail

Bear's Den Overlook was an easy hike. Sturgeon Falls Trail is a switchback trail, which is fairly easy, as well. 

Log jam on Sturgeon River

There is access to North Country Trail in a few spots in the Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness. One spot is on NF road 2270 where it crosses the Sturgeon River (west side of river). There was a huge log jam in the river in this spot--larger than I have ever seen.

Silver Mountain in Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness

Silver Mountain is another hike we enjoyed. Beautiful views, and we spotted a porcupine in a tree near the top. We hiked the trail around to the top, although we observed two different groups of people scaling the mountain straight up with ropes.

Many people stopped to fish in Sturgeon River within the campground, and in areas outside the campground. We did not chat with any of these folks, so I do not know what kind of success they had.

Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to share this post for others!