9/1/2025. Labor Day Monday
St. Ignace to Petoskey State Park
Stats: Miles: 51, AIS: 4:41 Speed: 10.9 mph. Elev, 1587 Ft.
Rise and Shine was early today. Jim and I were headed to Mackinac Island and thought we were going to catch the 7am ferry… but it was 7:30. So we watched the sunrise at the ferry landing. It was a beautiful morning… not cold and no wind. First day like this of the ride so far.
We’re off for the 20 minute ferry ride to the island. The ferry at 7:30am had about 6 tourists and the rest was workers for the island. It is important to note that none of the workers are Americans. They are all imported on visas to work all over the island. Housekeeping, landscaping, shops… you name it. The place couldn’t run without them!
We locked up our bikes with the dozens to hundreds of other bikes all over the island and walked up to the Grand Hotel. It’s absolutely stunning. Perfectly manicured. It was a quiet morning… guests were leaving from the long weekend.
The horse drawn carriages are used to transport guests, garbage, deliver supplies. There are no cars on the island and no carts (golf) either. Only horses and bicycles. Btw… there are e-bikes everywhere.. mostly used by the employees to get around. None of the rentals had batteries though.
Grand Hotel grounds
We walked back down from the hotel toward the ferry dock where all the fudge and tourists shops are located. We had about an hour until the 10am ferry to Mackinaw City. It was getting busier but not crowded yet
We met Paul in Mackinaw City. He joined the famous Bridge Walk. He said it was great… really well run and 20-30,000 people. Crowded. Hard to go very fast. But he enjoyed it. The weather was perfect
Mackinaw City was crazy busy because of the Bridge Walk but Jjm led us to a bicycle path that quickly got us out of town heading south to Petaskey State Park. It was nearly 11am and we had 50 miles to go! We were on beautiful backroads in the farmland headed to Lake Michigan shoreline. It was delightful UNTIL we were nearly at the town called Bliss. Out of nowhere there was suddenly a huge, steep hill… straight up! It’s called Bliss Hill. I started out in it okay but about half way up it was just relentlessly steep. I bailed.. to walk. Paul used his e-assist (finally) as Jim soldiered all the way up. Today was a warm day so we were all sweating at the top. Once that was over the next couple of hills seemed alot easier… they weren’t as long!
We had a nice lunch stop at a corner gas station in Cross Village. They had a park like exterior with picnic tables. Perfect! The lady working inside was super nice. They had a thousand bicycles there on a tour yesterday. They started in Lansing MI to Mackinaw City for the Bridge Walk. They were all shuttled back. It was a multi day ride.
After lunch we were on M119… the Tunnel of Trees route. It was a narrow, twisty road on a hug bluff above Lake Michigan… literally in a shady tunnel of trees. Not busy today… but we were warned it could be dangerous. I took a great video but since I’m camping in a state park the video won’t load very quickly. I will post it at some point when I have good wifi.
The homes along the Tunnel of trees route were beautiful. Some were on the bluff and some we couldn’t see anything but stairways down the bluff. I don’t know how they built their homes on the steep banks. It was a long way down to the lakeshore! One place had an elevator. (Funicular?)
We were doing great but came across one more soul sucking killer climb. This one had turns so you could not see the top. I was doing great through turn one, then turn two but when it came to turn 3 and I still couldn’t see the top… I bailed and walked. Right after I dismounted I could see the top but too late by then. Too steep to get started again. Finished with another sweaty walk!
After that it was pretty easy and mostly down to the lakeshore to the upscale, ritzy town of Harbor Springs. We were later told that Chicago has been Summer homing here for years… they used to sail up… probably some still do!
I also have a video of one of the neighborhoods here but will post it later to.
Arrived at our nice state park campground at 5pm. Everyone had a good day. Were tired!
Tomorrow we have another 50 mile day to stay with WarmShowers host.
cinnicrew 