Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park Looking to be Named Best in America

A year after finishing in the top four in the same contest, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park is once again a finalist for Best State Park in America. This latest 10best.com/USA Today Reader’s Choice Poll finds one of our favorite places in the Upper Peninsula going to-to-toe with last year’s winner (Letchworth State Park – NY), our new favorite Ohio state park (Hocking Hills), one of our favorite places in Minnesota (Gooseberry Falls State Park), Big Bend Ranch State Park (TX), Blue Springs State Park (FL), and more. We’ll take any opportunity to tell more people about why we love Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, so today we will look at why we think it deserves to win.

This Michigan park that is beloved for its remoteness and outdoor recreation opportunities is no stranger to extra attention. In 2025, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness was the winner of the Michigan DNR’s State Park Madness bracket. In 2022, Travel Lens named it as the “most beautiful state park.” It also finished 2nd in this same Best State Park contest back in 2015.

One thing we love about the Porkies are the waterfalls. Whether it’s hiking the Presque Isle Loop and seeing Manabezho, Manido, and Nawadha Falls or taking a longer trail to Greenstone Falls, Overlooked Falls, Shining Cloud Falls, or Trap Falls, there’s a waterfall adventure waiting for everyone here.

Lake of the Clouds is one spot we never miss when we visit here, and it is a top ten destination in the state during fall color.

There’s even a bit of mining history in the park, as shorter trails lead to the remains of the Nonesuch Mine (and Nonesuch Falls) and Union Mine. The Carp Lake Mine is located across M-107 from a beautiful picnic area just east of Lake of the Clouds.

There are seemingly endless miles of trails to explore here, and in the winter there is a ski area. The ski area offers fall color chairlift rides and is also home to a disc golf course.

Wildlife is abundant here, and we’ve been lucky enough to see black bear, bald eagles, and many other animals during our visits. We have not spotted a porcupine in the park (yet).

Camping options include the Presque Isle Campground, the Union Bay Campground, more than 60 backcountry sites, numerous primitive campgrounds, and a few backcountry cabins and yurts.

You can vote for Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park once per day, now through May 11th. As of this writing, it was in 7th place so there is still some work to be done. If you’ve never visited, this is one park to definitely add to your list!