On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
tom
In mid-October I hiked for a couple of days in Wilderness State Park, which is in the northwest corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula on the shores of Lake Michigan, between Mackinaw City and Petoskey. It’s a good-sized park of over 10,000 acres (16 square miles, 4100 hectares), with numerous hiking trails, campsites, and 26 miles of beach along the lake. Wilderness State Park is not as picturesque as the Porcupine Mountains, the subject of my previous OTR, but very scenic in its own right and well worth a visit.
Nearby is a county park called Headlands Dark Sky Park, where light pollution is deliberately kept at a minimum so visitors can see the Milky Way and the stars in the heavens in all their glory. When I was there, the sky was clear but the moon almost full, and its brightness washed out almost everything except Venus and a few other bright stars.
I stayed at a motel in Mackinaw City, which sits in the shadow of the Mackinac Bridge. Being the jumping-off point for Mackinac Island, Mac City is a 5 square mile tourist trap, with more hotels, motels, B&Bs, fudge makers, pastie bakers, and Up North kitsch vendors than should be legally allowed. Like gendered German nouns, there is no rational way to know whether “Mackinac” is spelled with a “c” or a “w”, you just have to know it. Non-Michiganders should note that it’s pronounced “Mack-in-aw” no matter how it’s spelled.
Lake Michigan shoreline at Headlands Dark Sky Park.
This is the Nebo Trail, a 4-mile out-and-back easy trail in Wilderness State Park.
Some late colors at Wilderness State Park.
This is O’Neal Lake, formed by damming up Big Sucker Creek (yes, that’s its name).
I like the red leaf caught in the evergreen branches.
A stream along the Sturgeon Bay trail.
I came across this pond when the wind was completely still and the water unrippled.
Sunset on Lake Michigan.
JeanneT
Ah! I haven’t been out hiking for ages, but these photos remind me why I should. So much simple beauty so close to home.
Benw
Amazing
Mark Stevenson
I spent many wonderful days of my youth in Mackinaw, skipping stones under the bridge, visiting the fort and playing miniature golf. The old family summer home is just 20 miles south and is one of my favorite places in the world!
Rob
I would like to be there right now.
Mustang Bobby
I lived in Petoskey from 1990 to 1995 doing sales for my dad’s window business, so I got to drive those roads a lot and see the parks. I loved the change of seasons — even the winters. Thanks, tom, for the memories.
Betty
The welcoming woods. Is Big Sucker likely named for a fish?
SiubhanDuinne
I don’t know whether it was planned (clever WaterGirl!) or just happy coincidence, but it’s really nice to have this lovely OTR post just 36 hours after a Michigan-themed Medium Cool thread.
The last time I saw any of my siblings was four years ago when we had a family reunion on Mackinac Island. Memories …
tom
@Betty: Yes, sucker fish are common throughout the upper midwest.
Another Scott
Great pictures.
My dad was in the Navy when I was born outside Detroit. We didn’t spend much time there. Just after high school I spent a few days seeing the tourist sites (Ford Museum/Greenfield Village, a GM plant and Autoworld in Flint) and spent a couple of great days at a KOA on a small pond. The weather was perfect.
Thanks for jogging the memories.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s like Pepsi and a potato chip company advertising together! :-)
WaterGirl
These photos make me want to be there. So gorgeous and peaceful. Beam me up, Scottie.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: And now I am suddenly craving potato chips. sigh.
Jerry
Fun fact: we locals to that area call the tourists, “fudgies,” because of their love for fudge. Not that I blame them for loving fudge, but I guess us local rednecks had to call them something.
Fort Michilimackinac just so happens to be my most favoritest spot on this planet. I first visited it when I was a boy and seeing how everything was put together and the story of the local natives taking it over from the British. Really got the ol’ imagination of a young child soaring. I still feel like that boy whenever I visit it these days.
Zeke
Petoskey’s my hometown. Wilderness has some great beaches, especially down near Cross Village. Rarely crowded, not too many fudgies know about them.
Chat Noir
Lovely pictures! I grew up in the Lansing area and went to Michigan State, then moved to Metro Detroit and lived there for 20 years. Up North is so beautiful and the Mackinac Bridge is really a sight to behold.
tam1MI
A trip to Mackinaw City isn’t complete without having a hot dog at Wienerlicious! ;)
Also watching the big ships passing by is a delight.
J R in WV
State parks, what would we (as little kids) do without them for memories? And Grand-parents’ places!
Nice pix of a wonderful place.
Have been to Detroit once as a child with the folks, only remember driving under the river into Canada, back before that was a big deal, and Dad telling us we were driving SOUTH to get into Canada, which I knew was NORTH of the US. He had to get out the map book with the Detroit city map to show me how twisty the river/border actually was before I would believe him. Dad was actually prone to crazy jokes, served him right… And that’s how I became a suspicious cynic!
Would have loved to see the UP and the copper mining district up there.
Unique uid
I was in the area for about 3 weeks in Sept 2020, had a fantastic time! Weather was wonderful. Did you hike on the North Country Trail? That’s also very nice south of Wilderness SP.
Did you happen to catch that county/township historical park near Line 5? They had a nice “pest house “ there, circa 1900. Claimed it was perhaps the only surviving one. Generally they were conveniently located next to cemeteries.
tom
@J R in WV: The Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin'” cracks up Detroit natives (like me) with the lines:
Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
You mean Windsor, Ontario???
tam1MI
@tom:
The Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin’” cracks up Detroit natives (like me) with the lines:
Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
You mean Windsor, Ontario???
Rather similar to how the opening line of THE NIGHT CHICAGO DIED (“Daddy was cop, on the East Side of Chicago…”), never fails to incite guffaws.
stinger
My favorite kind of cloud. My favorite kind of trail. All the rest of the photos are great, too!
tom
@Unique uid: I hiked part of the North Country trail, both in Wilderness SP and in the Porkies when I was there in September. I’d like to do more of it, but parts of it are quite daunting!
citizen dave
Dang, the pics and comments making me think I should retire up there. No offense to any fans, but there is something about Journey and especially that song that really grate on me. Enough so that I’ve never even noticed that lyric despite hundreds of involuntary listens. (I think because at that point in the first verse I’m thinking about how much I hate it) . I’ll never forgive David Chase for ending the Sopranos with it.
philpm
Beautiful pictures! My wife and I were in the area just a few days behind you, and despite persistent clouds, it was absolutely awesome. We wanted to get to the last two Great Lakes we hadn’t seen yet (Huron and Superior), and spent the majority of our time at the lake shores just enjoying the view (also drove up the west coast of Michigan and stopped several times along the lake there, to the point that we got to Mackinaw City much later than we wanted to). We are seriously considering retiring up there now.
Tehanu
Lovely pix, thanks.