Adventure Cycling Association

We'll gather at our campground in the late afternoon for our orientation session. Early arrivers might take some time to explore the local surroundings, which boast an ecological mosaic of wetlands, forested-dune complexes, and sand-and-cobble beaches.

Utilizing the Mackinac Bridge Authority's shuttle service, we'll be motored across the famous bridge to the Upper Peninsula. The entire structure is five miles long, making it the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere, and it's a gateway to a land of quiet roads and gentle riding.

It's bike touring at its finest today as we navigate a series of good roads with light traffic. We'll pass through open meadows, dense forests, and over gently rolling hills. Our ultimate destination is one of the gems of the U.P. -- Tahquamenon Falls State Park, where Longfellow's Hiawatha built his canoe "by the rushing Tahquamenaw." Once there, we'll set up camp for two nights.

You'll have the option of hopping on your bike and riding to the Lower Falls and the grand Upper Falls, one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. Or ride in the opposite direction to Whitefish Point to visit the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which memorializes, among others, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and its crew of 29 lost souls. If you prefer to stay off your bike, you can take advantage of the trails leading into the forest or to the shores of Lake Superior.

Leaving the state park, we'll spin along the shore of Whitefish Bay then glide back into the cover of white birch, pine, and spruce in the Hiawatha National Forest. We'll visit one of the highlights of the trip at the Point Iroquois Lighthouse, which was built in 1855 and guards the point where Lake Superior begins its dangerous-to-navigate rush into the St. Marys River.

Today we'll visit Sault Ste. Marie and the unforgettable Soo Locks, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Wolverine State. The locks make it possible for large ships to travel between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes to the south as Superior's water level is about 20 feet higher than that of Lake Huron. We'll spend the night on the shores of Lake Huron in Cedarville.

Continuing along the northwestern reaches of Lake Huron, we'll loop around St. Martin Bay and visit St. Ignace, where the French explorer and priest Jacques Marquette founded a mission in 1671. The town is considered the third-oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the U.S. Our overnight destination offers spectacular nighttime views of boats passing beneath the awe-inspiring bridge that wears the nickname "Mighty Mac."

Saving some of the best for last, we'll take a ferry to Mackinac Island, where transportation is limited to foot, horse and buggy, and, luckily, bicycle. It's a beautiful spot filled with Victorian charm, where only about 500 residents live year-round. There's an eight-mile route encircling the island that runs right along the beach. Several other side trips are also available on roads cutting inland to battlefields, old cemeteries, and the impressive limestone formation known as Arch Rock. At the end of our stay, we'll board a different ferry bound for the Lower Peninsula for a brief ride back to our starting point in Mackinaw City.