If you’re looking for a unique adventure and beautiful drive, a Michigan coastal road trip should top your list. Why? There are 129 lighthouses in Michigan and 3,200 miles of Great Lakes shoreline. Plus, Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state, dozens in the lower portion alone.
Though I didn’t plan to see them all, or not even many, this fact spurred me to realize I hadn’t seen enough of the Michigan coastline. So, I set off on a road trip.
Michigan’s West Coast
Van Buren State Park
I began my Michigan coastal road trip by driving three hours from Detroit to Van Buren State Park on the lower west side of the state. Van Buren State Park, just a few miles south of South Haven, encompasses 400 acres along Lake Michigan. The park has a mile-long sandy beach, high dune formations, a big campground, and woodland trails.
The big, old-growth trees are perfectly spaced for a hammock, and I set mine up first thing. The campsites are large and wooded, and just through the trees is Lake Michigan. From most spots in the campground, a 20-minute hike will take you through a densely wooded forest and put you out on one mile of sandy beach on the Lake Michigan coast.
Fun Fact: Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Remember them as HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.
After a night in Van Buren State Park, I went north up Michigan’s western coast. Inspired by the dunes at Van Buren, I was eager to see the much greater dunes around Silver Lake.
I headed through Holland, Michigan, where they have the annual Tulip Festival and stopped for lunch in Muskegon.
Muskegon
It’s the most populous city along Lake Michigan’s Eastern shore and a popular location for fall hunters and summer beachgoers. Its downtown is filled with charming small businesses and cultural amenities like museums and Muskegon State Park is home to miles of trails and stunning views of Lake Michigan.
Fun Fact: Lake Michigan is the second largest Great Lake by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior (deeper) and Lake Huron (bigger). The lake is 307 miles long and 118 miles wide. Its average depth is 279 feet, but its deepest is 923 feet!
Silver Lake Sand Dunes
I kept traveling north and found the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. This is a 2,000-acre park, made up of mostly sand, near the pinky finger of the mitten. It is home to some of the tallest dunes east of the Mississippi River. The dunes can reach up to 200 feet high and are a popular spot for off-roading (rentals available), sandboarding, and hiking.
Fun Fact: Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake entirely within the United States. It also borders Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
You can camp in the park, stay in a hotel in nearby Mears, or rent a vacation home in the area, but whichever you choose, book as far in advance as possible. The campground is small and the area fills up quickly with many long-timers returning year after year. It’s a highly touristed area, so you’ll find plenty of putt-putt golf and children’s activities, none better than the Mac Woods Sand Dune Ride.
Mac Woods Sand Dune Ride
The 40 minutes ride takes place on specially-designed, bus-size dune buggies with airplane tires that plow through the steep slopes of the dunes. They take riders through several trails and scenic spots, including Lake Michigan. I attest that the ride is an adrenaline-filled fun fest worth every penny. Moreover, the guides give you a history of dunes and information about Lake Michigan and the general area.
Fact: The Mac Woods property is called woods because it used to be a forest, but Mac cut the trees downs after the Great Chicago Fire and floated the logs across the lake to sell them.
Be prepared: the airplane tires enable the dune buggy to go faster than you might expect, but they also make it much smoother than other vehicles you might take on the dunes. Plus, they don’t tear up the trails – just glide over them. It’s a sort of lovely rollercoaster ride.
If you don’t want to rent a vehicle yourself – or use your own – Mac Woods Sand Dune rides are a great way to experience the beauty of the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. They offer rides from May to October.
Fun Fact: There are dead dunes and live dunes. Live dunes constantly shift and move with the wind growing larger or smaller. Dunes become stable when anchored by root systems, so to preserve the area in the 1950s, boy scouts planted grass.
Little Sable Point Lighthouse
The Little Sable Point Lighthouse is only about a mile from Mac Woods. At 107 feet, it’s one of the tallest lighthouses in Michigan and on the National Register of Historic Places, so I drove there to see it. Dunes surround it and while there’s a parking lot for beachgoers nearby, there’s still a lot of sand to navigate.
The lighthouse is open for tours from May through September and visitors can climb the 130 steps to the top for stunning views of Lake Michigan and the Silver Lake Sand Dunes.
But wait. If it’s one of the tallest, why is it called “Little?” Its designer, Col. Orlando M. Poe, also designed the Big Sable Point Lighthouse in Ludington State Park, the second-tallest lighthouse in Michigan, at 112 feet.
Fun fact: The tallest lighthouse in Michigan is the Rock of Ages Lighthouse on Lake Superior, overlooking Isle Royale National Park at 130 feet tall.
I drove north for a few hours to Manistee and the Orchard Lake Campground.
Manistee
The Orchard Beach State Park has a lake view at the top of the bluff with the relentless water crashing into the rocks, but downtown Manistee won my heart. Downtown Manistee is small, but it’s jammed packed with charm. Small businesses and historic buildings line Main Street with the Manistee River flowing behind them. On a much smaller scale, the vibe is like Traverse City; there’s even the Manistee Brewing Company for some craft brews.
Nearby, the Manistee National Forest has miles of hiking trails, scenic waterfalls, and old-growth forests. The city was founded from the lumber industry, which you can learn all about at the Manistee Historical Museum.
Stop by the Manistee North Pierhead Lighthouse at the end of Main Street, where the road meets Lake Michigan. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and is open for tours. Visitors can climb the 145 steps to the top of the lighthouse for stunning views of Lake Michigan and the Manistee River. It’s a great place to watch the sunset.
Further north, I drove through Traverse City. The breweries, wineries, beaches, watersports, small businesses and scenery make this a fantastic spot to stay for several days. Also, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore dunes range in height from 200 to 450 feet and, as some of the tallest in the eastern US, are worth seeing.
Petoskey
Since it’s the home of the Michigan state rock, I stopped for an afternoon in Petoskey, Michigan. Like the others, this Lake Michigan Community features many beaches and dunes, but that’s not all.
This historic town is as picturesque as the day it was incorporated and takes you back in time. Find out about Indian history at the Little Traverse Bay Indian Museum. Also, spend some time strolling the shops in the Gaslight Shopping District, a historic district with various shops and restaurants spanning several blocks. Or walk around admiring the historic homes and spectacular views of the lake.
Fun Fact: Petoskey Stones are fossilized coral. You can find them all over this part of the state, or just buy one – they’re for sale everywhere. As an avid rock collector, I can tell you they’re not easy to come by elsewhere.
Charlevoix
Charlevoix is a unique place on a narrow strip of land between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix, with the short Pine River running through it. It’s also the gateway to the largest island in Lake Michigan – Beaver Island. It’s a popular tourist spot with a charming downtown, a scenic lighthouse, and many small shops and tourist activities.
Beaver Island is a car-free island with a rich history, likened to Mackinaw Island, but much less known. The island is about 14 miles long and 7 miles wide, with about 650 residents.
No coastal Michigan road trip is complete without crossing the Mackinaw Bridge, so that’s where I headed next.
Michigan’s Upper Mitten
Mackinaw Bridge
Though I’ve crossed it many times, it’s always worth doing again because it’s just so unique. The Mackinac Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning a five-mile-wide channel that connects Lake Huron and Lake Michigan across the Straits of Mackinac. This iconic bridge is one of the longest suspension bridges in the United States and it’s a grand site to behold.
St. Ignace
In St. Ignace, just across the bridge, is the Straights State Park, where I camped for the night. St. Ignace is a great place to stay overnight if you’re traveling the area or heading further north into the upper peninsula. What I loved most about Straights State Park, aside from the 180 acres of old-growth forest, is the shoreline that makes up a large part of the park within view of the Mackinaw Bridge and nearby Mackinaw Island.
Several campers set up chairs on the beach as the sun set and the bridge lights came on. Spectacular.
Colonial Michilimackinac
The next day, back across the bridge, I continued my Michigan coastal road trip along the top of the mitten, but first, I stopped at Fort Michilimackinac. Colonial Michilimackinac is an 18th-century French and British fur trading post and military outpost on the Straits of Mackinac. Historians have reconstructed the fort based on historic maps and more than 60 years of archaeological excavations.
Today, visitors can see reenactments of colonial life at the fort with demonstrations of blacksmithing, ironworking, basket weaving, boat building and other 18th-century practices that made up daily life at the fort.
Tickets are $14.50 each, but the view of the Mackinaw Bridge from its ramparts is worth the price alone.
Mackinaw City
Nearby in Mackinaw City, there are dozens of tourist amenities and hotels and the ferries to Mackinaw Island – another popular tourist stop with a historic downtown and no motorized vehicles allowed. While in Mackinaw City, stop and take a picture of the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. You can also buy tickets to the top and see its restored quarters and bridge views.
After Mackinaw City, at the tip of the mitten, my Michigan coastal road trip turned back east beyond Cheboygan with views of Lake Huron outside my driver’s window, and my thoughts turned to shipwrecks.
Lake Huron Shipwrecks
Many people may not know that the Great Lakes are a popular scuba diving location because of the many shipwrecks near shore and in excellent condition. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects a nationally significant collection of nearly 100 historic shipwrecks in Lake Huron off the Michigan coast. There are a few that can even be seen from the shore.
Joseph S. Fay shipwreck
The Joseph S. Fay was a 216-foot wooden freighter that transported iron ore from Lake Superior to Cleveland. In 1905, the boat encountered a storm in Lake Huron and the heavy seas and gale-force winds drove it ashore on 40 Mile Point, near Rogers City, Michigan. Today, you can see the wood boards and huge metal nails that remain on the beach. The rest of the ship is about 16 feet underground, just off the shore.
I read the following on a sign at one of my Lake Huron stops. I’m not sure it’s true, but it’s amusing after you’ve seen dozens of lighthouses and shipwrecks.
Through the pitch-black night, the captain sees a light dead ahead on a collision course with his ship. He sends a signal: “Change your course ten degrees east.”
The light signals back, “Change your course 10 degrees west.”
Angrily, the captain sends: I’m a Navy Captain! Change your course, sir!”
“I’m a seaman second class,” comes the reply, “Change your course, sir!”
Now the captain is furious. “I’m a battleship! I’m not changing course.”
There is one last reply: I’m a lighthouse, your call!”
Michigan’s West Coast
Lake Huron Harrisville State Park
The tip of the mitten is the shortest part of my Michigan coastal road trip and before long, I am heading south through Alpena and the Huron-Manistee National Forest. This area, too, is part of Thunder Bay and the shipwrecks and marine life make it a popular tourist destination. I don’t stay long before heading to camp for the night at the Lake Huron Harrisville State Park.
The best thing about the Michigan state parks is that many are on the Great Lakes seashore. Here too, the views of the massive lake are spectacular. I pull up my chair and watch as the day fades into night amid the sound of crashing waves large enough to compare with any ocean.
Stop by the Sturgeon Point Light Station. It’s a historic example of a Cape Cod-style Great Lakes lighthouse.
Michigan Thumb
My Michigan coastal road trip continued through Oscoda, Tawas and Bay City into the thumb of the mitten. If you’re looking for Michigan farmland, you’ll find it here. The communities here are more rural, the houses along the shoreline are smaller, and the opportunities for significant tourism diminish. However, there is still a lot to see, especially near the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, where bird lovers better bring their binoculars to explore the 9,800-acre birders’ paradise in this inviolate sanctuary for migratory birds.
Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park
My Michigan coastal road trip has been peppered with hours of driving and intermittent stops to walk in the woods. But this was the first area where I’d walk back in time.
The Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park resides in the middle of the upper portion of the thumb and is on the National Register of Historic Places for the petroglyphs carved into rocks in the area. The Sanilac Petroglyphs are a collection of Native American petroglyphs (rock carvings) that depict various images, including animals, humans, and geometric shapes. There are a series of trails around the park to hike but go when the park is open for the ranger tours and access to the best petroglyphs, which are locked in a gated area after hours. The petroglyphs were likely carved by the Ojibwa people, who inhabited the area before European settlers. Admission is free.
After a long, rainy night in the van, I finished my Michigan coastal road trip by driving along the coastline of the thumb and eventually back to Detroit, where I began.
Despite living in Michigan most of my life, I learned a lot about the state’s industry, people, places and history that I never knew before. I’ve been to most of the states in this country, but Michigan is the only one surrounded by lakes seemingly as big and fierce as an ocean. Few states have as much shoreline coupled with forests and even fewer maintain their original character. If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind road trip, this is it.
