Mackinac Island

We boarded the ferry to Mackinac Island at 10 this morning, catching one of their Mighty Mac sailings. Mighty Mac sailings go under the 5 mile long Mackinac Bridge and pause to share some history and bridge specifications. Let’s just say that it’s a mighty impressive bridge!

The boat was full and Mackinac Island was already a very busy place when we landed. There are no cars allowed, so most people rent or bring bicycles. Rentals include adult tricycles and tandems. The roads are full of all ages and types of riders. Makes for some interesting times.

We headed towards British Landing on the main road which runs right along the lake. Great scenery and several places to stop with signs about the history of Native Americans on the island and yet another deceptive white man’s treaty. We also stopped at Skull Cave – never quite figured what it was aside from a photo op

British Landing was very busy with a visitor’s center and a food concession. We didn’t hang out long and headed off on a dirt road hoping for a bit less crowding

That’s when we discovered that the inland part of the island is quite hilly! Normally you would just continue on the lake road to the next major attraction but that road is closed for 4 miles due to road work to address some erosion issues.

I should also mention the horse drawn carriages and tour carriages. There are many. The horses poop all over the road and it’s just left in place so besides dodging people wobbling on bikes you are also dodging carriages and poop!

We eventually made our way to arch rock – very popular destination! We climbed up a bunch of stairs again hoping for a little breathing room and found a nice view although not a view of the rock. We did make our way to the rock view when we had a gap between tour carriages

The road from Arch Rock back to town had a really steep hill with a sign indicating that you should walk bikes down the hill. It was so steep that walking down it in bike shoes was probably more dangerous than just riding down – I suspect that the sign was for people renting bikes that don’t ride very often. In any case, the road had some nice views looking over the downtown.

At this point we were ready to head back into downtown, grab some lunch, and get back on the ferry. We were heading down the main drag Tom in front and me not far behind when all of a sudden a woman riding a tricycle veered from the middle of the road straight into me. It was bizarre and I saw it coming but had no way to avoid her. Bam, old lady on the ground! No major injuries although I expect I’ll be a bit stiff tomorrow! We had our lunch and I for one was very happy to get back on that ferry!

Here’s the lighthouse at the end of the jetty protecting the harbor. The photo of three other ferries coming in to the harbor at the time that we were leaving didn’t come out, but there are two ferry companies, both of which have boats running from Mackinaw City and St. Ignatius every half hour – from 8 to 8. We definitely experienced an “after Covid” vacation crowd.

After packing up the bikes we drove way out in the country where we are tucked away in a lovely Airbnb with an amazing view