The Overland Directory
Lodges, cabins, motels and ranches near the dirt, for the night you want a shower, a bed and someone else's cooking.
3 listings
The useful pattern here is a town on the water with public land behind it. Munising and Grand Marais bracket Pictured Rocks at either end of H-58. Ontonagon sits about 20 miles from the Porcupine Mountains. Copper Harbor is the last town on US 41. Houghton holds the Isle Royale mainland headquarters.
Book early for autumn. The forests make a point of late September color, and the rooms nearest the byways go first.
Nobody plans a trip around motels, and almost every long trip uses a few. After a week of wind, when the weather turns, while the truck is in a shop, or when the people you travel with have simply earned a hot shower.
It comes down to parking and attitude.
Call rather than click when you have a big vehicle.
Ask before you book. Roof tents, campers and high-roof vans do not fit many parking garages, and trailers need pull-through space. Small-town motels and lodges are usually easier than city hotels.
Use judgment, park where you can see the vehicle or under lights, and bring in what you cannot replace. Ask the front desk where they would park it.
From Oscoda at 588 feet to Mount Arvon at 1,979. Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.
Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates), retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.
Reviewed September 19, 2026. Conditions, closures and rules change; check with the managing agency before you travel.