The Michigan Creek placer showing is located approximately 9 kilometres southeast of Bamfield, immediately north of Pacific Rim National Park.

The area is underlain by metamorphic rocks of the Paleozoic and/or Mesozoic Westcoast Complex and granite of the Early to Middle Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite. The bedrock is overlain by massive to coarsely-bedded bouldery glacial till.

Small amounts of placer gold have been found in Michigan Creek and a nearby tributary of the Darling River. Michigan Creek is underlain by sheared diorite and possibly granite and metasediments. The tributary is underlain by granitic rocks and both creeks have large volumes of glacial till in their drainage basins. Abundant magnetite sand and one or two grains of gold were found per pan during heavy concentrate sampling. The gold grains were thin, angular subrounded flakes up to 0.55 millimetres in diameter. This would indicate a local source but the source was not discovered. Sample S-101 assayed 4.78 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 17564).