Wilderness State Park (Mackinaw City, Michigan)

As our bicycling stories go, this one is going to be fairly tame. But don't think things are getting boring - we have a doozy of a bike story when we catch you all up to our present location.

We had read about Wilderness State Park when we were in St. Ignace. It's in the northeast corner of Michigan. It's mainly a campground, but it also has rustic cabins that can be rented, mountain bike and hiking trails. It also has a number of endangered plants and birds that call it home.

So, on Thursday September 6, we packed up the water, fruit and Poptarts (our standard bike trip food) and road off to ... The Mackinaw Bakery for some Buttermilk Sticks and Caramel Pecan Swirls. One should never start a bike trip without proper nourishment! Then we were off to Wilderness Park. The bike route through the park is a beautiful, laid back type of ride that runs along the main road of the park (Wilderness Park Drive). Parts of it hug the Lake Michigan shore, with great views of the Lake and the Bridge. There are small beaches along the way. Other parts are entirely wooded and you can smell the pines and cedar while you ride.


We came across a very large boulder that the sign states was transported there by a glacier during the last ice age. There are also a number of hiking trails that you can take. We biked the entire length of Wilderness Park Drive, about 15 miles from Mackinaw City. The Drive ends at a hiking path that goes out to Waugoshance Point. We followed the trail, marked by rock piles as far as we could, about a mile. We're pretty sure we didn't reach Waugoshance Point, but we did find an end to the trail. At least, for us it was since we didn't have wading boots with us (how neglectful of us to leave those back on Meridian).

We're still on the lookout for the elusive Michigan Moose. We didn't see one on this bike trip. But we did find this cute little frog who gladly posed for us.

Just a Short Bike Ride in St. Ignace, Michigan

Upon our arrival in St. Ignace, the harbor master gave us a packet of information about the town, events, coupons for local businesses, and maps for the area. Pretty nice. One of the booklets included information on 6 different bike routes that you could take. A 5 mile, 10 mile, 15 mile, 20 mile, 30 mile and 40 mile route. So of course we picked the 40 mile route. This route would take us from the Lake Huron side of this county to the Lake Michigan side and back. It was all paved so it should be a breeze compared to some of the riding we've done.

Breeze being the operative word in that sentence.

It started out nice. We biked through the main street of St. Ignace and past some tourist spot called Castle Rock (which you can climb if you like that kind of exercise). There were several other bikers doing a ride. This was good because we didn't really have a clue where we were going (Bernie was leading). The route ran along a highway but there was a very wide shoulder, weren't too many cars, and the drivers that were out were very nice about sharing the road with bikers. The trees are beautiful in this area. Pines, cedars, spruce, elm, oak, maple. Some of their leaves are starting to change color.

As we continued on our route, the wind picked up more and more. But there were enough sheltered areas that we could ride well. We were undaunted by the time that we stopped for a snack break and the wind blew Phil's bike over (in his attempt to stop it, he tumbled down a soft grassy slope, too. (harumph - I was just demonstrating my acrobatic abilities.)


As we neared the Lake Michigan side, the wind picked up a lot. This area is part of the Hiawatha National Forest. We thought it looked a lot like the Cape Cod area with the crashing waves and sandy shore on one side and high sand dunes on the other. We don't often see a sign warning about sand on the road. The sandy beach stretches for miles right beside the road and there is no development here because of the National Forest. Many cars were parked along the road as people spent the day at the beach. This is a really popular area, and it's easy to see why.


But the views along the way were so spectacular that you really didn't notice how strong the wind was blowing. (Yea, right!)













By the time we got back, the townspeople were so happy to see us there was dancing in the street.

And Ice Cream at Bentley's was well-deserved!