Cycling MIchigan

[Philip Slates]

I was curious if anyone might have any places to recomend for cycling or backpacking in Michigan.  I ask because I have been planning for months already to visit there this year and the only place I have ever been in that state was the Detroit airport on a layover years ago.

I have mainly been planning backpacking on the Isle Royal national park currently looking to visit there early August but have thought of visiting other areas along the way and just this morning thought of going late May since August is a long wait.

I had asked a park ranger of anything he might recomend visiting and he mentioned Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore along lake Michigan which sounds very interesting and also has bike trails.  For the last three days at 10 am I have tried to reserve a campsite there using recreation.gov for August but as some of you may know it is quite tricky and since I have gotten nowhere I just thought today to go late May and so far now I have one night at Bay City State Park Campground along Lake Huron and then three nights at D H campground at Sleeping Bear Dunes in case I love the area.  I debate then driving to backpack the Pictured Rocks Lakeshore Trail but it is like I could spend weeks in Michigan so I wonder if anyone might have any areas to recommend possibly cycling along one of the Great Lakes and then having a place to camp in my campervan or campsites along the way.

Phil Slates

[Randy Meador]

Phil two summers ago we biked at Indiana Dunes national park and Mackinac island.  They both were good but we didn’t bike anywhere else in the state. 

Randy 

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[Philip Slates]

Randy,

Was cycling Mackinac island worth it and where did you catch the ferry.

Phil Slates

On Jan 24, 2026, at 5:14 PM, Randy Meador <rmeador43@gmail.y com> wrote:



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[Randy Meador]

Phil we caught the ferry at st ignace.  No vehicles on the island so it was pretty cool.  You do have to watch for horse crap.  It was fun to go around the island and you can go across too with a hill in the middle.  We definitely enjoyed it. 

Randy 

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[ERT - Mike Breiding]

Howdy,
20 (?) years ago, Bill Foster put together a multi-day ride in the UP.
Perhaps one of the members still has the details.

If you decide to do any hiking or site seeing, these EpicRoadTrips.us trip reports might be of use.
2017: 3 Weeks in Michigan
2016:  Michigan Road Trip
2015: Michigan Meander
2014: Falls of the Black River in Gogebic County Michigan
2013: Michigan and Wisconsin Road Trip: September
2010: Michigan and Road Trip to celebrate Betsy's Retirement
1998: Michigan and Ohio

-Mike
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[A/F Dieffenbach]

It was September of 2002 Mike - about 23 years ago. Attached is the
trip summary that appeared in the first HCBA newsletter of 2003. We
spent a full day on Mackinac Island and then did a counter clockwise
tour of the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was a motel trip with
road bikes.

Al D.

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[ERT - Mike Breiding]

Thanks, Al.
That is a great memento. I am will print a copy to keep.

-Mike
====

[kelly r williams]

Yes, thanks, Al. That was my first bike tour with CRC, back in 2002. I had a good time.

I remembered they chased us away from the Grand Hotel, on the island. You can’t be on the grounds unless you are staying there.

I also remember that normally people cycled on the U P in the fall, to avoid the black flies. Kelly 

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From: crcyc...@googlegroups.com <crcyc...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of ERT - Mike Breiding <epicro...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2026 2:12:26 PM
To: CRcyc...@googlegroups.com <CRcyc...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [CRC] Cycling MIchigan

 

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[A/F Dieffenbach]

"Al's e—mail reports of this adventure are exerpted [sic] into Bill's
narrative along with his photos on our website."

Do you still have any of those emails or photos?
-mb

I believe I have all the email reports generated on the trip. My
guess is that the trip photos were likely taken by Bill. Right now my
mission is to get outside and deal with the foot of snow on the
driveway, but will look later. Is there a part of the trip that is of
particular interest?

Al D.


On Sun, Jan 25, 2026 at 2:12 PM ERT - Mike Breiding

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[Philip Slates]

I was just curious if anyone had any road routes or trails to recommend.

I now plan on taking two trips to
Michigan starting early June and looking to go back in August for mainly Isle Royal
Phil Slates

> On Jan 26, 2026, at 8:20 AM, A/F Dieffenbach <bicycleta...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "Al's e—mail reports of this adventure are exerpted [sic] into Bill's

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[A/F Dieffenbach]

Phil - You can tell from Bill Foster's small map at the top of the
page that our road route did not hug the coast to a large extent.
Bill was from Michigan and had a lot of insight into the paved and
unpaved roads at the time. I do remember that we did have stretches
of no pavement that were unavoidable and Fern and I had perhaps more
trouble than most with the skinny tires (28s) on our tandem. Hard to
say what the extent of pavement is like today. Perhaps you can find a
good source for current conditions. When we did reach the coast along
the way I remember the views of Lake Superior and Michigan were
great. If we had it to do over again we would have benefited from a
comfortable mountain bike tandem with wider tires for the 50 to 60
miles between lodgings. The full day on Mackinac Island and seeing
the locks at Sault Ste. Marie were also highlights of the trip.

Al D.

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[ERT - Mike Breiding]

I am pretty sure the unpaved section mentioned below was between Grand Marais and Munising.  It is now paved.

This map shows the area.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/UZdDmeZZutGZUudn9
Note: the route shown directly along the shoreline is the North County Trail, not a road.
-mb
====

On 1/27/2026 6:41 AM, A/F Dieffenbach wrote:

[Philip Slates]

I recenlty received numerous detailed maps regarding cycling Michigan for free from the state of Michigan and there are so many because each is about a different region of the state.  

Phil Slates

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[kelly r williams]

Al, Thanks for the update and information on the 2002 trip on the U P, which was also my first bike tour with the CRC.

One of my memories is that Bruce Summers , Laurel Klein and I biked across the International Friendship Bridge, and biked around Canada for a short while. But coming back, the U S border guard was not sure about us biking across the bridge and trying to get into the U S, without a passport. And that was 24 years ago. Kelly 

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From: 'Philip Slates' via COUNTRY ROADS CYCLISTS <CRcyc...@googlegroups.com>
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Subject: Re: [CRC] Cycling MIchigan

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[A/F Dieffenbach]

Kelly, Phil and Mike will all like to read this email of the day we
rode from Grand Marias to Munising.

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[ERT - Mike Breiding]

On 1/27/2026 11:16 AM, A/F Dieffenbach wrote:

Kelly, Phil and Mike will all like to read this email of the day we
rode from Grand Marias to Munising.

Thanks Al, for sending this on. I enjoyed reading about Kelly's birding.
Greater love hath no birder than to put in the extra miles to see a Trumpeter swan.
-mb
============
We really only had one option for breakfast in Grand Marais, that is unless you wanted to make do with coffee and donuts at the gas station. We rode about a mile to the North Shore Lodge. Once again a beautiful view of the bay and Lake Superior. The water is sort of emerald green. They served up 3 blueberry pancakes such that you couldn't see the plate. No one could finish them either. 

Bill had determined that the proposed unpaved route for today was impassable so our way was south on 77 and then west on 28 to Munising. A beautiful day with blue skies and it never got over 75 degrees. I had a long sleeved wool jersey on until we reached Seney about 10am.

The highlight of the trip for Kelly was on the first hill as we climbed out of Grand Marais. There in a dry field of grass were two gigantic birds several feet tall. All legs and necks. By the time Fern and T pulled up they were ambling away from all 7 of us. They had red spots on their heads and sort of rusty colored wings. It was Kelly's and our first sighting ever of two sand hill cranes. Later in the day Kelly diverted alone to see the Seney National Wildlife Refuge where he also saw his first encounter with trumpeter swans. He also saw several other birds that we did not such as bald eagles and osprey. We knew we had a 65 mile day on our hands and the rest of us were not wanting to add 10 miles to it. But he had a blast. 

As we moved on south we could feel a slight tailwind. On the flats we were doing a good 20 mph. Not so when we turned west on 28. We now dropped to the low teens for the rest of the day. That would not have been so bad if the road had not been so terrible. Lots of traffic including trucks heading both ways. Also potholes in the road and especially in the shoulder. For a major east west route in the UP, this was no place to be on a bike, but flanking routes were unpaved. One way we came up with that would resolve these issues would be to plan a mountain bike trip up here with fat tires. If you held the mileage below 50 between lodgings you could have fun bouncing on the UPs sand roads and the so—called paved routes alike. 

When we made it to Shingleton it was high noon and we had had enough traffic dodging so we stopped for a good lunch at the Woodlands Restaurant. Bruce tried and enjoyed his first pastie which was invisible beneath a layer of gravy. Several had whitefish sandwiches.

After lunch we split up. Jim and Sandy opted for the shorter route to Munising on 28 while the rest of us did an extra 3 miles by cutting north and west into town on paved back roads. We arrived about 3pm after another rather long and more nerve-wracking day. 

Fern and I showered quickly and headed for the shops in town. Not a lot to see but we managed a couple of antique shops, some Mackinaw fudge ice cream, some cookies from the town bakery and a good look at our last Lake Superior shoreline of the trip. Nothing feels better than to wash up and walk in to town after a day of riding.

By 6 o'clock we had all arrived and showered, even Kelly after his birding day. We walked to dinner across the street at Sydney's Restaurant. Only bottled beer but decent food. Many had the buffet but Fern and I went for the pasties.

Tomorrow should be a comparatively short day into Manistique on Lake Michigan.

[kelly r williams]

Thanks again, Al, I had actually forgotten about my trip to the Seneca Wildlife Refuge. Yes, that was my first sighting of a Sandhill Crane and a Trumpeter Swan.

Somewhere along the trip, there was the visit to the shipwreck museum, where they played “The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald”, by Gordon Lightfoot, all day long, every day. Kelly 

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Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2026 3:46:28 PM
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Subject: Re: [CRC] Cycling MIchigan

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