My wife and I took a trip to Paradise Point located in Christmas, MI. Access to it has been blocked since we went up there, and now the only way to access it is via boat.
Here is an article about how a private landowner closed access to it due to liability concerns. From the condition of the road, I could understand why.
“Despite the location on public land, USFS and the public no longer have legal road access to Paradise Point, the release said.”
I remember the road being so rough I could not believe that anyone would be there and was very surprised to see headlights coming our way on this very rough road. We had a truck camper going down this road, and it would be impossible if you had a pull-behind camper.
The image shown here was one of the many spots where you could get stuck. There was one point (not pictured) where you had a choice of going to the left around a tree or through a small pond to the right. I got out and through a branch into the water to see how deep it was, and it stuck there standing up. We opted to go to the left.
I was barely able to squeeze the truck and truck camper around this tree with only inches to spare. When we finally got there, I was again surprised to see so many vehicles there and people camping. Of course, there were no campers. Only tents. We were the only ones with a truck camper. I couldn’t believe so many people went through this challenging road to get here until I saw what it looked like.
When I reached the camp, they told me that they had to pull a few vehicles that chose to go to the right at the tree where I tested how deep the water was.
Here are a couple of relaxing videos I took at Paradise Point.
Here are some images of Paradise Point. The first one I caught a rainbow on. There were shallow caves that you can explore, places where you can listen to miniature waterfalls in these indentations, striated rocks that look like roads going into the water, gorgeous rock formations, evidence that this used to be a park back in the day, and sandy parts where you can sit and cool off.
“It was like stepping into a Windows Screensaver…”
It turns out that it was never an official park but instead a remote, unofficial dispersed recreation and camping area on the edge of Lake Superior.
Unfortunately, the lake flies were very bad this time, and my wife had to stay in the camper because she is highly allergic to their bites. The flies annoyed me at times, but I was able to hike and enjoy this beautiful site.
Here is a video someone made of Paradise Point that I found on YouTube.
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