Lots of people ask for “remote” lake property in the Huron Mountains, so I try to find it! If remote is what you seek, this could be your north woods camp come true!

Thirty miles west of Marquette, north of Champion, this land is in some of Michigan’s most rugged and beautiful wild country. It is said the Huron Mountains were once the size of the mountains in Tibet, worn down now by great glaciers advancing and retreating over the eons. This is a place where you feel the forces of nature! The cabin fits right in. It is unpretentious but functional, solid, clean, with a good wood stove, ready for you to move in.

So what do you get for $1,500/acre? Privacy, more than a quarter mile of frontage, which is one quarter of the frontage on this 60-foot deep mountain lake, the cabin, some beaver ponds and a stream with room to roam on 320 acres of land. One other owner has a similar-sized parcel. The remaining half of the lake is owned by the State of Michigan.

Round Lake has 40 acres of surface water; it’s 60 feet deep, and VERY scenic. The opposing shore (on state land) has the dramatic rock cliff shown in the early winter photo at the bottom of this page. Rock outcroppings dot the property, some covered with ancient lichen.

With this kind of depth it’s a good fishing lake. Once it held mostly brook trout but in the 1950’s northerns found their way in, probably up the stream, and feasted on the trout. The northerns prospered and grew to 36 inches and probably larger … that’s just the largest the owners have landed. It also holds bass and perch. There is some naturally occurring mercury in the water, a common condition in the UP and in this area in particular. The current owners say they checked that out in detail before buying the property, and they do eat the fish. Read the Owner's "I am an outsdoorsman" comments about Black Maple Camp right here. (The stream that flows out is one of the most popular trout streams in the U.P. further down.)

The outlet stream becomes the Middle Branch of the Escanaba River. Portage the beaver dam and you can canoe for miles. This is the same stream you cross on the metal bridge a short distance up the Wolf Lake Road on your way to the high country.

On its western border, this property includes about a third of a 1.3-acre pond that has, surprisingly, 30 foot depths. It is deep in the woods but easy to find – if you know where it is! It was stocked with rainbow trout about three years ago. You can see a photo of this pond under “more photos”.

The land has a variety of forest cover that has not been cut for 30 years. Timber includes a saw log size hard maple stand with red oaks (valuable trees to wildlife), white pine, spruce, and other northern trees, interspersed with beaver ponds, alders, meadows and creeks. A timber type map is available. Beavers are active again along the stream and one of the former lakes is now filling up behind a new dam.

In addition to the beavers, moose, wolves, black bear and whitetail deer are plentiful on the property. Last weekend we saw a large osprey soaring above the lake, a flight of Black Throated Blue spring warblers, lots of fresh moose tracks and a ruffed grouse by his drumming log. Bald eagles are common in the Huron Mountains.

The road is not for the faint of heart. As it turns up into the high country it quickly becomes a “pit run” (means very rough) gravel road. A timber company is making some improvements to it now, but you’ll want a vehicle that can handle the back country. This road is “seasonal” and likely always will be unless you are a snowmobiler (or want to be), in which case getting there in winter is half the fun. “Seasonal” means the cabin is 8.6 miles up a road that is not plowed and which in winter becomes the “Burma Trail,” a popular snowmobile trail and shortcut, of sorts, to Big Bay.

The 20 x 24 cedar log cabin is 10.7 miles off the blacktop. It was built in the fall of 1997, was done right, and you can read those details by clicking right here. It has a 12/12 pitch that was built to hold the great snow loads typical of this mountain country. Snow depths run over 300 inches/year. The cabin has propane lights. If you want electric power you’ll need a generator or solar, but you may not want or need that in this kind of retreat anyway. Cellular reception at camp and on the road in is good so you can be as isolated as you want to be but you can stay in touch.

Just after turning off the road you'll see a new gate at the top of the first hill. It is not locked but can be locked by agreement with the timber company that owns the land. This is the same company that sold the property to the current owner and provided the recorded road easements to the north and west, and south and east. 7/10 of a mile from the gate you’ll cross the property line just before a high rock knob on the left.

A half section is a lot of land, and the adjoining 480 acres of state land effectively more than doubles its size for the owner who has the only usable access. As a wilderness hunting and fishing camp, a northern retreat for your friends and family, Black Maple Camp offers privacy, solitude and a wilderness experience that is hard to come by these days.

Better come see it now.

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© 2010 Huey Real Estate, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer All property is offered subject to prior sale, changes in price and terms, errors, omissions and to withdrawal from the market at any time without notice. Information is believed to be accurate but was obtained from the owner and/or other sources and is NOT warranted by the broker.