Hello fellow midwesterners! I recently moved to Michigan but have never traveled to upper peninsula or even the northern part of Michigan. I’ve heard there are some great places to visit, some beautiful places to see, and want to start writing a list of ideas. What recommendations do you have for things to visit while on a multi-day trip?
Michigan has 2 out of the 3 National Lakeshores in the country: Sleeping Bear and Pictured Rocks. Both are beautiful scenic areas with many different activities. They’re great summer activities.
I’m orignally from the UP. There’s a lot to see, but it’s all so far away from each other. I’ve been to Tahquamenon Falls a couple of times, not really my cup of tea, but it’s a nice stop. (There used to be a really nice Best Western motel near Trout Lake. The story I heard was someone in the Detroit Mob built it because they wanted a place to stay when they went deer hunting. I’m sure it’s not true. I’m pretty sure.)
In St. Ignace or Mackinaw City you can catch a ferry to Mackinac Island. Both cities also have areas to view the Mackinac Bridge. Sault St. Marie has the locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Last weekend of June there’s a giant Auto Show in St. Ignace, I remember it being a lot of fun. Farther west is the Seney Wildlife Refuge, a very nice place to visit. Of course, Pictured Rocks on Lake Superior in Munising. Something most people don’t know about is Kitchi-ti-kipi, a massive freshwater spring near Manistique.
The UP State Fair is some time in August, in Escanaba. This was always a blast when I was younger. The Marquette area is loaded with things to do. Lots of breweries, parks, beaches etc. There’s a nice park called Presque Isle that you can drive through, it has a lot of places to stop and walk around or look for rocks on the beach. In the summer it’s always loaded with students (from NMU) jumping off the cliffs into Lake Superior. North of Marquette there’s a nice hike up Sugarloaf Mountain, with a spectacular view of the lake.
If you go in the fall, you’ll want to drive up to the Keweenaw for the fall colors. Just make sure you watch the local color reports, because they happen earlier than usual for the rest of the state. On the way from Marquette there’s a very nice waterfall south of L’anse called Canyon Falls. It doesn’t look like anything from the road (just a parking lot and some outhouses), but after about a 15 minute walk there’s a beautiful waterfall falling between a couple of shear cliffs. Between L’anse and Baraga there’s a statue commemorating Bishop Baraga, one of the early European explorers. But I don’t know if this is still open.
If you do make it to the Keweenaw, it’s packed with waterfalls, beaches (stop and look for agates), little tourist towns. Drive up Brockway Mountain drive to see the colors from high. Check your brakes first, the road can be a little steep. Copper Harbor has a historical fort. In Hancock you can stop at Quincy Mine and take a tram down the hill and visit an old copper mine. I think they moved the rock museum here too, it used to be on campus (MTU) in Houghton.
There’s an iron mine in Iron Mountain you can tour. I’m not really that familiar with this part of the UP, so I don’t remember much else in this area.
I’m sure there’s lots I’m forgetting about, and a lot that wouldn’t be interesting except for someone who lived there and saw all the sights. Sorry, I kind of jumped around in location.
Oh, on Lake Michigan there’s an old smelting town name Fayette that you can walk around.
There are plenty of cool places to see in the UP like pictured rocks, tahquamenon falls, Kitch-iti-kipi, and Big Spring. There are also some good sounding state parks up there, but I haven’t been to any yet.
In the lower peninsula, check out silver lake and sleeping bear dunes. Both have way more sand than I expected to find in Michigan after moving here from the east coast. Sand dunes aside, both have camping and offer plenty of hiking opportunities. There’s also Muskegon state Park and PJ Hoffmaster a little further south. These last two are somewhat close to Grand Rapids, which is worth checking out as is the nearby Michigan Adventure and Meijer Gardens and Sculpture park. If you like art and gardens you can easily spend a full day there and get a decent amount of walking in.
If you like wine you should go on a wine tasting tour of old mission in Traverse city. My wife and I try to go once a year.
I’d actually recommend Petoskey’s wine scene over Traverse City. I couldn’t find a single wine I really liked in the Traverse City area.
Maybe we should try that. We love old mission but we have done it every fall for 10 years. Maybe time to try something new…or maybe both.
Petoskey’s downtown also has a good mix of small businesses with really nice, accepting folks.
I don’t live in Michigan (wish I did) but Hawk Ridge in Duluth and Gooseberry State Park are both really beautiful places.
I’ve been going to Charlevoix for 30 years. Love the place, there’s a sweet festival during late July called, “Venetian Festival” that has a boat parade and fireworks. Super nice quaint town between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix.
The drive out to Copper Harbor is nice.
