16737 Forest 13 Hwy

A 1953 log cabin on Hidden Lake south of Wetmore in Delta County, 1,637 square feet with two bedrooms and a bath and a half, listed at $625,000 on 80 acres. The listing says the lake is the property’s own, with no other owners and no public access, believed to be about 38 feet deep and fished for bass, sunfish and bluegill. It counts a second pond, a workshop, a two-car garage, a 28 by 32 pole barn and a Generac generator, and says the land is surrounded on three sides by the Hiawatha National Forest. The listing names two parcels. Delta County has one of them on record, at 40 acres, and its tax bill fell by more than half in 2025. Listed September 2, 2026.

The land and setting

The listing gives 80 acres, 2,640 by 1,320 feet, on two parcels, 01315200400 and 01315200600. Delta County records the first at 1,742,400 square feet, 40 acres, the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 2 in Nahma Township, with a use of residential platted improved. The second parcel has no county record we could find under this address. A 2,640 by 1,320 rectangle is two forties side by side, so the shape fits the claim if the second parcel is the other forty.

The aerials show a round lake in unbroken forest with the cabin and its buildings on one shore. The listing gives the waterfront as lake front, interior lake, body of water Hidden Lake, frontage 2,640 feet, which is the full width of the lot rather than a measured shoreline. The remarks say the lake is private with no public access and add a second pond. The shore photos show cattails, lily pads and a small stone waterfall into the pond.

Access is Forest Highway 13 and then a long private driveway per the remarks. The listing says nothing about who plows the drive, whether it crosses federal land, or how the right to use it is held. Zoning is listed as recreational. No HOA.

The house

Built in 1953, one story, log construction, log home and cottage style per the listing, on a crawl space with no basement. Two bedrooms, 16 by 12 and 9 by 12, one full bath of 4 by 8 and a half bath, a 16 by 23 living room, a 20 by 9 dining room and a 9 by 14 kitchen. The county has no building data on file.

The living room has exposed trusses, a stone fireplace listed as gas, a wood stove on the hearth beside it, and built-in bookshelves. Heating is forced air propane and wood. Cooling is none. Off the living room is the three-season room the remarks lead with, a bank of windows on the lake with a telescope on a tripod in the photos. A wet bar with a log-slice front and stools stands at the kitchen end.

The kitchen has oak cabinets and a full list of included appliances: dishwasher, dryer, microwave, range, refrigerator, washer and electric water heater. Laundry is on the main floor in its own room with cabinets. A long counter room the listing calls a workshop opens off it. The photos show the water heater and a pressure tank in a utility space.

Outside are a detached two-car garage with a workshop in it, a log-sided workshop building, a steel pole barn the remarks size at 28 by 32, and a stone outdoor fireplace on the shore that the listing lists as an outdoor kitchen. A Generac standby generator stands beside a propane tank, and the listing says the tank is leased. Electric service is 100 amps. Water is a private well and sewer is a septic tank.

The facts

What to know before you call

Eighty acres on the listing, forty on the record we could find. The listing names two parcels. Delta County has the first at exactly 40 acres by legal description. The second has no record under this address at either site, and the lake, the second pond and the buildings may sit on either. The lot dimensions describe two forties side by side, which is the honest reading. Have the title company pull both deeds and confirm that both parcels, the whole lake and every building are inside them before you rely on 80.

Is the lake yours. The remarks say the lake has no other owners and no public access. If the whole shoreline is inside the two parcels, that is true. If any part of the shore touches national forest, it is not, because federal land is open to the public. The frontage figure the listing gives, 2,640 feet, is the width of the lot, not a measured shoreline. Ask for a survey that shows the lake inside the boundary.

The tax bill halved in 2025, and the listing’s figure is bigger than the county’s. The county shows the 40-acre parcel at $1,870 in 2024 and $868 in 2025. The listing says $2,232, which may be both parcels together. A bill that falls by more than half in one year means something changed, an exemption, a classification, or a split. Ask the Nahma Township assessor what happened in 2025 and for the current bills on both parcels.

Uncapping. Michigan caps how fast taxable value can rise while an owner holds a property and uncaps it to the state equalized value, half of market value, the year after a sale. A cabin, a lake and 80 acres that have been held long enough to carry a $2,232 bill at a $625,000 price are well below their SEV. The bill after closing will be set on half of what you pay, not on what the seller has been paying. Ask the assessor for the current SEV and taxable value on both parcels and do the arithmetic before you write an offer.

Commercial Forest. At 80 acres the property clears the 40-acre minimum for Michigan’s Commercial Forest program, which cuts taxes to a flat per-acre rate. Enrolled land must stay open to the public on foot for hunting and fishing, and withdrawal carries a penalty that follows the land. The remarks promise a lake with no public access, which is the opposite of what enrollment requires. The county shows no assessment values that would settle it. Ask the township and the Michigan DNR whether either parcel is enrolled.

A long private drive with nothing on how it is held or who plows it. The remarks call the property surrounded on three sides by the Hiawatha National Forest with a long private driveway. A drive that long, reaching a parcel bordered by federal land, may cross Forest Service ground. Ask whether the drive is entirely on the two parcels, and if not, whether the crossing is by deed, easement, or a Forest Service special use permit with its own conditions and renewal terms. Then ask who plows it, because nothing says it is plowed, and a year-round cabin that cannot be reached in February is a seasonal one.

A leased propane tank runs the furnace and the generator. Heat is forced air propane with a wood stove. The generator is a propane standby unit. The tank is leased, so it stays with the supplier. Ask who holds the lease, what the fill contract says, and whether the supplier delivers down that drive in winter.

A hundred amps. The listing gives 100 amp service. That is the minimum on a house with a well pump, an electric water heater, a washer and dryer, a full kitchen and a workshop. Ask when the service was last upgraded and whether the generator covers the whole panel.

Seventy years of unlisted work. A 1953 cabin with a three-season addition, a stone outdoor fireplace, three outbuildings and a standby generator has had work done since 1953. The listing lists no permits and the county has no building record. Ask what was permitted and when.

Everything is furnished, and nothing says what stays. Furniture, the telescope, the rowboat, the bar stools, the books, the tools in the garage. The listing lists appliances and the generator as included and nothing else. Ask for the list.

High and dry, per the remarks. The lake is ringed with cattails and lily pads in the photos and the outdoor fireplace sits at the shore. FEMA has the area in Zone X and First Street rates the flood risk low. Ask what the shore does in a wet spring anyway.

What is not shown. The furnace, the well head, the septic area, the second parcel from the ground, the second pond from any distance, and the drive from the highway to the cabin.

Six days on the market. Listed September 2, 2026, held in a trust, no price change yet.

You can see everything else we have listed on the properties page. Also in the Upper Peninsula we have an off-grid cabin on 80 acres on a ridge between two blocks of state land in Paradise and a furnished off-grid cabin on 40 acres with its own pond in Michigamme. Grover Real Estate also lists a 432 square foot log cottage near Lake Michigan in Garden.

To ask about this one, call David Muxlow on 906-450-0184 or Abbey Wood on 906-450-0222 at Grover Real Estate, 906-341-2131, and reference MLS 50220625. Showings are by appointment only with an agent present. Tell them where you saw it.