KEWEENAW COUNTY, MI - It doesn’t get much farther off-the-beaten path than this Michigan gem, which is getting some big national recognition. Isle Royale National Park has just been ranked higher than Denali, Yellowstone and Big Bend, among others, to be named the best national park in the United States.
The ranking comes from the Wall Street Journal, which listed Isle Royale national park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula No. 1 in the nation, using crowd size as 50% of its criteria for the ranking, along with hiking, camping and outdoor recreation opportunities.
When coming up with its list, the national publication called Isle Royale an unexpected winner.
“Most people tend to associate national parks with a few predictable places—Yellowstone, Zion, Yosemite—but when we crunched the numbers, an unexpected winner emerged: Isle Royale, a wooded archipelago near the northwestern edge of Lake Superior, is, according to our metrics, the best,” The WSJ wrote, adding, “This is true wilderness: A land of moose and wolves and the drama forever playing out between them.”
Isle Royale national park has more than 165 miles of hiking trails and is not only one of the most secluded places in Michigan, but in the entire country. It actually had the least amount of visitors of any national park in 2023 in the entire contiguous U.S.
Located 55 miles from the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, there are only two ways to get there: Ferry or seaplane. The park consists of a 45-mile long main stretch of island surrounded by more than 400 small islands. Isle Royale is open from mid-April through the end of October. 28,000 people visited last year.
Here are the rankings for top national parks in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal:
- Isle Royale National Park in Michigan
- North Cascades National Park in Washington
- Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California
- Big Bend National Park in Texas
- Denali National Park & Preserve in Alaska
- Lassen Volcanic National Parkin California
- Great Basin National Park in Nevada
- Death Valley National Park in California and Nevada
- Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas
- Yellowstone National Park in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
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