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!

Through the Mackinac Straits to St. Ignace, Michigan

On Saturday September 1, we made the passage from Harbor Springs to St. Ignace, which is located across from Mackinac Island at the northern terminus of the Mackinac Bridge. Because of a brisk south wind, the seas were a little rough while heading north after leaving the protection of Little Traverse Bay. But they calmed down significantly after making the eastward turn around Waugoshance Point and heading into the Mackinac Straits.



Shortly after leaving Harbor Springs, we decided to take a little detour to get a closer look at the Ile Aux Galets Light. We couldn't get too close because the island is surrounded by some pretty nasty shoals.

We found the passage through the Gray's Reef area into the Mackinac Straits to be one of the most interesting stretches of Lake Michigan. For a period of time, you can see four lighthouses, the Beaver Island group to the west, shoals and islands to the east, and the tall spires of the Mackinaw Bridge in front of you. And, there was a lot of activity going on, too. A freighter was passing through the area, we started to see the ferries that go between Mackinac Island ("the Island", as it is called up here) and Mackinaw City and St. Ignace.

This is the Gray's Reef Light.


This is the old, abandoned Waugoshance Light. (This light station is allegedly haunted by the practical-jokester, wine-imbiber former lightkeeper who may or may not have fallen off a pier one night.)


Here is the St. Helena Light, on an island to the north as you approach the Mackinac Bridge.


This is the White Shoals Light. It is the only "candy striped" lighthouse on the Great Lakes. We were pretty far away from it but could still see the red and white stripes.


We were soon in the Mackinac Straits. We approached, then passed under, the Mackinac Bridge, which is a very impressive structure. On a clear day, like the one we had, you can see it from many miles away. We could actually see the top of it rising over the Michigan mainland while we were still well south of Waugoshance Point. Then, as we neared it, it just grew larger and larger until it towered over us. Passing under it and looking up, you can see the cars and trucks through the metal gridwork over 100 feet above you . Then, you find yourself on the other side of the bridge and in Lake Huron.













We're now in St. Ignace and will write a couple of blogs about what happens when one of us (the energetic one) innocently - or at least she makes it sound that way - exclaims "Hey, let's take a short bike ride and then, if we feel up to it, take a little stroll across the bridge."

Harbor Springs, Michigan

The trip from Beaver Island to Harbor Springs was fairly uneventful. It was another one of those silver water days and wavy until we got well inside Little Traverse Bay. We had been planning to go to Petoskey but we had a following sea and Meridian, like most of us, doesn't like to be pushed along, so she's a little more work in those conditions. But she does take the opportunity to enjoy herself by surfing the waves now and then. (Allowing us to go faster yet save gas!) Anyway, since Petoskey is only a short bike ride away, so we could easily visit, we decided to get a slip in Harbor Springs Municipal Marina, a very well-run marina with an attentive staff and good "welcome" information. We were again slotted next to another ChrisCraft. This one was another 41 footer just like ours. I'm sure it was just a coincidence!

Bernie had found information about another winery in the area that she wanted to visit. Phil now realized that "visiting a winery" also means "tasting wines". So he was all for this. Pleasantview Winery is located about 5 miles from Harbor Springs. We biked over there and it quickly became our favorite winery visit so far. The main reason is that it is a small, owner-operated business and the vintner is the one that led the wine tasting. He gave us great information about the grapes, where they come from, the blend, what foods it would go with, and a general overview of how long the process of growing grapes to produce wines really is. Everything. Oh - and he's lived aboard a sailboat as well. Most of the grapes are grown on their property (some come from Canada) and they have a blend that was created from wild Michigan grapes and jellyfish DNA (those wild and crazy scientists). They also offered to deliver our purchases to the marina (really we didn't purchase THAT much -- but they do internet sales so ... ). They also run a bed and breakfast, which is all on the same property.

The property, by the way, is at the top of the steepest hill we've ever encountered. I didn't even try to ride up the hill (I know - I've got 24 gears I should use 'em). Phil attempted, but his front tire kept lifting off the surface. So once again, we ended up pushing the bikes. But this time it wasn't through sand -- it was up a hill.






Our bike trip to Petoskey over the Little Traverse Wheelway did not require us to push our bikes (for a change). We had ridden the Little Traverse Wheelway from Charlevoix to Bay Harbor earlier in the trip and encountered some steep hills. The segment from Harbor Springs to Petoskey is flat and goes through forest/lake area. In part of this area we were lucky enough to see a bald eagle. This isn't the clearest picture -- but we couldn't get too close.

Anyway, among other reasons for the visit to Petoskey, there was a Farmer's Market going on. We got blueberries, blackberries, peaches, plums, tomatoes, carrots, salad mix, green beans, maple syrup, garlic dill pickles, some asiago bread and some cherry strudel bites. Yum!



We really liked Petoskey. Its section of the bayfront is very well-landscaped -- with ponds, waterfalls, wooden walkways, large trees, flowers. It is very pedestrian and biker friendly and reminded us of how Chicago's lakefront is very much public-oriented. The Marina at Petoskey is nice as well (we had to check it out for our next trip!). It has high docks and the facilities look nice as well. It's right off the bike path and near the downtown area, too.

Harbor Springs, Charlevoix and Petoskey are part of the Little Traverse Bay resort mecca. The houses are huge Victorian style "Summer Homes" that get passed down from generation to generation. Most people came to this area to "get away from it all" and escape hay fever season. The air - and the water - are incredibly clear in this area. The Little Traverse History Museum that we stopped at had much information about the "resort life", the ships and trains that brought the people here. Tourism really is their business and seems to always have been.

During our visit, we were able to check off two additional light houses: the Little Traverse Light (right) and the Petoskey Light (left).


Oh - Harbor Springs has a good ice cream shop (Yummies), with close to 50 flavors to pick from; a Woolly Bugger Coffee and Internet Cafe (Bernie's daily fix of Lake Effect), nautical antique shops and quite a few art galleries and clothes shops. They also have a very good bike shop. On the way back from Petoskey, Phil noticed that his bicycle tire was losing air rather quickly. Turns out that the tire had a cut in it - probably from all the rough riding we'd been doing. We went over to Touring Gear, which is actually off the main street, and they helped us out with everything we needed. Their staff is really knowledgeable as well. Although we didn't get over to it this trip, there is a very nice bike route past Harbor Springs on M-119 called Tunnel of Trees that we want to see on our next visit. The grocery store is, as our Port O' Call Cruising Guide lamented, a good walk out of town and up a hill but it isn't as steep as the hill by Pleasantview Winery - heck, had we been riding our bikes we could have done it using less than 5 different gears!





Now we're off to St. Ignace (actually, we're already there - in Lake Huron!). We'll write about St. Ignace and the Mackinac Straits next.