Mackinac Island, MI - this place has charm coming out of its ass

[SignalHillHiker]

I love it. Reminds me a bit of Bermuda in the high street shots.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Crawford

And really most of the nice stuff is FAR from human habitation. The above pics are mostly 7-8-9 hours from population centers like Detroit and Chicago (Porcupine Mountains and Pictured Rocks). You could travel to the East Coast or 2/3 way to Florida in the time it takes you to get from Detroit to the rugged parts of the Upper Pensinsula.

^ What kind of imported crack are you smoking? The towns on the west coast of Michigan (Grand Haven, S. Haven, Muskegon, Saugatuck, etc) are not 9 hours from Chicago. Nor are they 9 hours from Detroit. Not even close. You can easily get there in about 2.5 or 3 hours max from each city, depending on traffic.

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ What kind of imported crack are you smoking? The towns on the west coast of Michigan (Grand Haven, S. Haven, Muskegon, Saugatuck, etc) are not 9 hours from Chicago. Nor are they 9 hours from Detroit. Not even close. You can easily get there in about 2.5 or 3 hours max from each city, depending on traffic.

Exactly...hell, even Sleeping Bear Dunes is only 5 hours away from Chicago on a good day, and that's pretty far up there. I suppose what constitutes "stunning" scenery, and what does not, is up for interpretation, but I don't see how one couldn't find extraordinary beauty in certain parts of Michigan. And of course the entire state doesn't look like that. Does all of California look like Yosemite? Of course not, but that doesn't diminish all the natural beauty there is to find there. Perhaps Crawford is just jaded because he's from Michigan?

[Docta_Love]

You also can't forget that Michigan is covered in huge tracts of state and national forest, officially 19.3 million acres or 53% of the state is forested and there are many pristine rivers, lakes and streams to be enjoyed across all but the Southeast corner of the state. Sadly there is only one large tract of virgin old growth timber left in the Lower Peninsula it's called Heartwick Pine's and it's about 3 hrs north of Detroit near Gaylord. Yeah true you have to drive a few hrs from the major population centers to get to the spectacular areas and Michigan's unique geography and lack of freeways up north make it even more difficult to access, but that's as it should be. Up North's isolation is it's best defense in keeping those waters Caribbean Blue.

[Centropolis]

a jarring and beautiful reminder that i've (weirdly) neglected the great lakes this year. i guess the milder summer weather down here and across the southern midlands and upper south has kept me down here.

[AviationGuy]

The dead sea gull pic ruined it for me.

[boden]

Oh yeah!

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

The dead sea gull pic ruined it for me.

really? one lone single pic ruined the other 95 for you? seriously?

besides, there can be beauty in death, at least i though so enough to take the pic and post it.

12. A dead seagull I saw on the beach

[Docta_Love]

Speaking of water temps whenever i would plan trips up to the northern lower or upper peninsulas i would plan for second half of July or August so swimming for more than 5 mins is enjoyable you can get water temps along shore of northern Lake Michigan into the low 70s, also those clear cool nights keep the bugs down. I used to take a yearly trip up to Empire it's just west of Traverse City on Lake Michigan nestled in between the Sleeping Bear Dunes and the Empire Bluffs. There is this great beach at the mouth of the Platte River where the river runs parallel to the beach for a while creating a long sand bar with the warm river water on one side and the cooler lake water on the other side.

Here's the beach spoken of you can see the Empire Bluffs in the background and behiend that the Sleeping Bear dunes. Why did i break my yearly tradition again?

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8424/7...704da9cd_z.jpg
by Trish P.


http://www.panoramio.com/photo/51617789
by Rokusuke_R

for anyone thinking about a trip and wondering about the lake temps heres a great map i found it shows detailed charts for each section of each lake http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/

[Dwils01]

Great pictures, I've been to the island 3 times, but only for day visits. I live just one hour north in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario so it's a great place to go for a day.

I've only been to the Sleeping Bear Dunes once but it was a really awesome place to see and climb the dunes.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

Wow I didn't even know Michigan could look like that.

How warm does that water at Great Lake Beaches get in the summertime?

I spent a weekend in July at the Island and Mackinaw area and the high temperature for the two days was 55F. But I think that was unusually cool for that time of the year.

[Docta_Love]

It's unusual but it can happen, although temps in the lower to mid 60s are more usual for that kind of weather pattern in the peak of summer. It has to do with the geography of the region, the Straits of Mackinac are separated from large cold Lake Superior by the narrowest part of the Upper Peninsula. You can get a low pressure area coming down from central Canada over Lake Superior bringing clouds, rain and a wind that has been blowing for hundreds of miles over the 50 something degree waters of Superior with only a small bit of land to moderate it. Fortunately in the summer the winds tend to come in from the south blowing the cool foggy weather created by the lakes into North Ontario or the arrowhead of Minnesota, the weather can get a bit schizophrenic but as we like to say if you don't like the weather wait 5 mins and it will change.

[Eightball]

Truly beautiful! It's rare the place that can combine natural beauty and smart urban design. No cars only enhances that! Hopefully I can make a trip there over the next 2 to 3 years.

And congrats on the 6 month old!

[Londonee]

Beautiful place, but...

How on earth do you get there from say...the East Coast?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Londonee

How on earth do you get there from say...the East Coast?

easy. just board your yacht and head north up the altantic coast around nova scotia and into the gulf of st. lawrence. continue up the st. lawrence river and through the st. lawrence seaway into lake ontario. traverse lake ontario and travel through the welland canal into lake erie. cross lake erie and go up the detroit river into lake st. clair. then cross lake st. clair and continue up the st. clair river into lake huron. sail the length of lake huron all the way north to the straits of mackinac and boom, you're there!

or you could be all boring and shit and just drive. (drive west on I-80, take a right when you get to I-75, stop right before you go over the really big bridge and hop on a ferry over to the island)

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

easy. just board your yacht and head north up the altantic coast around nova scotia and into the gulf of st. lawrence. continue up the st. lawrence river and through the st. lawrence seaway into lake ontario. traverse lake ontario and travel through the welland canal into lake erie. cross lake erie and go up the detroit river into lake st. clair. then cross lake st. clair and continue up the st. clair river into lake huron. sail the length of lake huron all the way north to the straits of mackinac and boom, you're there!

or you could be all boring and shit and just drive. (drive west on I-80, take a right when you get to I-75, stop right before you go over the really big bridge and hop on a ferry over to the island)

Hahaha. Perfect.

You could take a really expensive flight to Pellston.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by subterranean

You could take a really expensive flight to Pellston.

i flew into pellston once to get up to mackinac. from chicago it wasn't that expensive, i think maybe $150 one way.

it was a pretty cool day of different travel modes for me. i started out on an el train to get from my condo downtown out to midway, then i took a plane from midway to pellston, then i got on a shuttle bus for the 20 minute ride from the airport over to mackinac city where i boarded a ferry for a ride over to the island. once on the island, i hopped on a bicycle for the final 3 miles of my journey.