One of my favorite stops on our Michigan trip was Mackinac Island (pronounced “Mackinaw Island”). Mackinac Island is located near the Straits of Mackinac, where the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan meet. We made this stop between visiting Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Sault Ste. Marie. The island is unique for many reasons, but what stood out the most to me is that is has no cars. People primarily use bikes to get around, although there are also horse-drawn carriages for transportation.
We brought our own bikes on the trip, specifically with Mackinac Island in mind. We brought our bikes over on the ferry with us. If bringing your own bike along is not an option, you can rent bikes when you arrive on the island.
We camped at the Mackinaw City/Mackinac Island KOA Journey just outside of Mackinaw City. This was especially convenient for us with because we could ride along a bike path most of the way to the Shepler’s Mackinac Island ferry terminal. We were also able to buy ferry tickets at the KOA office.
Biking
Once we arrived on the island, we set out exploring. There is a road that follows the perimeter of the island. I would have loved to take this road all the way around the island, but at the time we visited, there was construction closing a portion of it.
We peddled as far as Arch Rock on the east side of the island. We passed historic Fort Mackinac, which was controlled by the British during the American Revolutionary War. Once we got out of town, we had nice views of the beach/water along the way. At Arch Rock, we parked the bikes and climbed to the lookout near the top of the arch.
We turned around and biked back through town on Highway 185. This time, we rode to British Landing Beach on the west side of the island. Then we took British Landing Road across the island to get back to town.
Eating/Shopping
The ferry delivered us to the main street which was covered with shops and restaurants. There were nice sit-down restaurants and take-out restaurants. Mackinac Island is known for its fudge, so there were lots of fudge shops. We splurged and bought burgers at a to-go restaurant. Then we followed them up with some ice cream and brought some fudge back with us. In addition to all the restaurants, ice cream shops, and fudge shops, there were lots of souvenir shops.
Wish List
There is so much to do on Mackinac Island! We were limited on the amount of time we had on this trip, but I’d like to return for a full day of exploring. As previously mentioned, I’d like to bike around the entire island. I would also be interested in doing some historic tours of places like Fort Mackinac. There is a lot of interesting history on the island.
If you’d like to read more about the history of the island or visiting the island, here is a link to the Mackinac Island website.