September mixes lingering summer warmth with early autumn, offering Michigan residents a prime window for time outdoors. The state manages nearly 4 million acres of forest along with 103 parks and many locally run recreation sites that give people room to pause among trees.

Lawrence Law, a forester in the Department of Natural Resources Urban and Community Forestry Program, notes that options stretch from Belle Isle in Detroit to hemlock stands in the Porcupine Mountains. Visitors can sit quietly to take in sounds, scents, the shape of branches above, and what is happening on the ground.

Those who go should pack out every piece of refuse, take care not to move invasive plants, and stay on marked paths so the woods remain usable for others.