Little Girls Point County Park — Attraction in Ironwood Township

This rendition of the legend of Little Girl's Point hangs on the wall in the Oman house. Many of us believe the Sacred Grove exists at the Hemlock forest behind and adjacent to the County Park. If you have walked this forest, it is truly a magical place as it makes the legend come alive. Hopefully this legend will be passed down for many more generations. Here is the story of Lilianau or the Lost Daughter for whom Little Girl's Point is named, as handed down for generations....

Lilianau was the beautiful daughter of a famous hunter who lived near the base of the lofty highlands, called Kaug Wudjoo. Lilianau loved to climb to the upper heights of the Kaug and look far out over the waters of "Gitchee Gumme", to the Islands of the Apostles in the great inland sea. Her view along the coastline to the west ended where a point of land projected out into the water. No place had as great an attraction for her as the forest of pines stretching westward along the shoreline to the point called Manitowak, or Sacred Grove. In the Sacred Grove there lived the Little Men of the Forest, Puk Wudjinees, who came from the Evening Star. The Sacred Grove was seldom visited by the Chippewas, but in stormy weather, hunting parties in their birch canoes were driven ashore there, they never failed to leave an offering of tobacco and meat for the Little Men of the Forest. The child of the great hunter did not share with her parents their fears of the fairies and so from the perch on the summit of Kaug Wudjoo she looked out over the Great Waters, the Sacred Grove and the shoreline where the fairies dropped to the earth from the Evening Star. One day, unnoticed, she ventured into the edge of the Sacred Grove. Her parents, when informed of her trip told her never to visit it again, but this only increased her visits, going farther each day, until she reached the point itself. Her mother who followed her to the edge of the forest one day, especially feared that some evil spirit had enticed her daughter. On one of her trips through the Sacred Grove, the hunter's daughter murmured as she leaned against a tree: "Spirit of the green wood plume, shed around thy leaf perfume. Such as spring from buds of gold, which thy tiny hands unfold. Spirits hither, spirits repair." And like an answering echo, the rustling of the leaves seemed to say: "Maiden, think of me not a tree, but thine own dear love free; tall and youthful in my bloom, with the bright green nodding plume. Thou art leaning on my breast; lean forever there and rest." Lilianau, now being of age to marry, her parents chose a husband for her, and fixed a date for the wedding. The wedding day arrived but Lilianau had disappeared. Search was made, which extended even into the Sacred Forest by torch light. But the girl returned no more to her father's lodge at the base of Kaug Mountain. One evening, years later, a party of fishermen passing close to shore near the Sacred Grove saw a female standing near the shore at the point. They paddled closer but the figure retreated. She was clad in green, and the youth who accompanied her, wore a waving green plume...

This is one of the toughest reviews I've ever done. Different people camp in different ways; and although this must be one of the most picturesque places on earth, we wouldn't camp there again.

We aren't the back-woods roughing it type of camper, nor are we ultra sophisticated motorhome types. But we do take a few basics for granted.

We knew that there were no water hookups at each campsite, but the ONLY potable water for many miles around is from a WWII vintage tanker/trailer that I wouldn't drink out of if my life depended on it.

Yes, there are flush toilets (as opposed to a vault type), but there are no showers.

We knew that there were no sewer lines at campsites, but this is the only campground that I've ever seen that doesn't have a dump station. When I asked about one I was referred to stop by another campground 30 miles away where we would have had to pay to use it!

For us, the quickest way in was to go through Wisconsin and as we approached the campground, there was road construction that required us to go back to Ironwood, and then north again to the campground which meant a 90 mile detour. Now this is road construction in Wisconsin and NOT the fault of the campground, but we had the reservations for many months and it would have been nice if they had gone through their reservations and dropped a courtesy email for those coming up.

On the park map, and even on Google Maps and Earth, it looks like many of the campsites border Lake Superior. Well, they KIND of do. You're 20 to 30' up a cliff so what looks like a few steps is really a quarter of a mile hike to the steps to get to the beach that is right below your camp.

A few other warnings that many people won't care about. If you are the kind of camper that gets in the car every morning and goes to lighthouses, waterfalls, restaurants and shops, and then return at night (like us), then THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. It is over 20 miles to the nearest road to anyplace else. Some people look for places just like this, but it ain't us. And even though we don't really use them much, it should be made VERY clear that there is no cell service, wifi, or television stations.

Like I said, if you like to tent camp, hike, bike, and sit around a campfire, this place is incredibly beautiful and perfect for you. But I think we deserved a lot...

We have visited Little Girls Point three times over 8 or so years. Once camping and twice just a few hour visit. We went there for the purpose of looking for Lake Superior agates as this site is supposedly notorious for finding wonderful agates. This is not true. We have only found one agate and it was smaller than a dime. Each time we were there was in mid-September. In talking to the locals this last time, we learned that this site is not good at all for agates. One can be considered lucky to find a small one. Apparently the North Shore is where all the agates are.

The park itself is nice. It's on the top of a bluff. There were families picnicing and children playing on the playground equipment. The bathroom (women's) was horrible; very old, dirty and in disrepair. The path to the beach is wide, but is on an incline. Most people should be able to walk up and down it without trouble. I have 2 knee replacements and did fine. If the water isn't rough with waves crashing on the beach, the beach area is very nice; sandy and pebbly with larger rocks just out at about knee level of the water. You can walk quite a distance on the beach. (We were there once when the waves were so high that there was no beach in sight.) We did come back with some sort of bug bites on our legs. Rather severe; very red/purplish and crusty looking. Not itchy. They took a long time to heal. No idea what it was; if it was from being in the water or out.

We stayed in the campground area on top of the bluff up by the office. It is nothing more than a gravel parking lot sectioned off for RV's with electricity pedestals. No water hookup. I didn't see anywhere to get water, but it could be there somewhere. The other campground is down the road just a bit with the sites on top of the bluff, tight up against the edge that is fenced off. The other side is the road. The campsites are wedged in closely together between the edge of the bluff and the road. There isn't a whole...