Mackinac Island By Bike

Sunday morning brought another day of spectacular weather to complete my vacation. After gathering our belongings, we strolled once more down Market Street enjoying the flowery fragrances that wafted through the air....until we approached the horse barn!

Then it was off to the Mackinac Island Bike Shop to rent two very comfortable mountain bikes for the next few hours to ride M 185, the "highway" for bikes and occasionally horses that circles the island.

 I think I was this driver for the Grand Hotel 5 times in just one day downtown!

Our planned 8 mile bike ride shouldn't have taken very long, but I was stopping every 1/8th of a mile to enjoy the view! One of my favorite "nature moments" of the trip was today, (unfortunately I didn't snap a pic of it) was a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers swimming with 10 duckings! Four of them were hitching a ride on mom's back!

The views of the Mackinac Bridge from the west side of the Island were spectacular! Next time I shall rent a bike overnight so that I can see the bridge lit up at night from here! I bet that and sunset are awesome!

 Alyssa just wanted to keep on pedaling!

Another photo-op... Devil's Kitchen.

I'm not sure what these wildflowers were, but they were quite fragrant!

After the "circle tour" was complete, we still
had some energy left and decided to take
a ride up past the Grand Hotel into the back
country. We ended up at the airport and we were going to try to find the "crack in the Island", but we received a text from Mike to come visit. So off we rode to find him at the Scout Barracks.



Unfortunately, when we arrived 10 minutes later, he had just left with the other scouts in his patrol for their afternoon duties in town! 

We decided not to follow them, we really didn't want a runaway bike situation on Killer Hill (no riding them down, walking only), so we continued in the opposite direction, descending on another steep hill instead. Even though we walked the bikes downhill, we still had to use the brakes to keep the bike alongside! But it was a VERY nice view from this road especially looking out onto Lake Huron from behind St. Anne's with Round Island Lighthouse in the background!

After returning our bikes and a great burger and shake lunch at Fred's, we headed back to Metivier Inn to collect our luggage. And that's when I spotted one of the few vehicles allowed on the Island! Ambulance, police and a firetruck are the only motorized vehicles allowed here!

 All too soon it was about 3pm and time to depart on the ferry back to Mackinac City. Coming over I had missed this nice view of the Grand Hotel.

Ghost Tour...Mackinac Island

After Alyssa and I had a fabulous dinner at Yankee Rebel Tavern we hiked back UP killer hill to retrieve Mike from the Boy Scout Barracks so he could accompany us on our Haunted History Tour with Rob from Haunts of Mackinac.Because Mackinac Island was a sacred place to the native Americans, and the battles fought here during the war of 1812, it is rich in folklore and also tragedy which lends itself to being a paranormal hot spot. Since my first "ghost tour" in Charleston, I have become hooked on these, not because I want to have the bejesus scared out of me by a ghost, but rather I just really enjoy strolling along and being told stories of the folks that used to roam these same streets and hear about their lives. I prefer to think of them as very short biographies that have you sitting on the edge of your seat! No, I have never experienced anything "paranormal" ON a ghost tour.  

 The tour began at 9pm sharp downtown led by Rob. Now, I'm not sure just anyone could lead these tours, and I have been fortunate enough to always have an awesome guide. Rob was a fantastic storyteller who would always close his stories with this evil laugh and just leave you begging for another story! I really shouldn't describe it as a "story'. The folks were real, the events are factual, odd things have happened to some which leaves a door for interpretation wide open. We would get the facts, hear of the odd things, and  we left to believe what we wanted. Here we are in front of the Murray Hotel listening to the tale of the murder of Frances Lacey from the summer of 1960.

It is a walking tour, but the distance covered is only a mile. Ending at Mission Point Resort. The stops are usually only a few hundred feet from each other and the pace is moderate with stops in front of the "haunting". We had about 35 folks on our tour of all age groups and no one had any issues keeping up...of course it seems like you walk faster as the tour goes on because you just can't wait to get to the next stop to hear the story!
Here we are approaching Fort Mackinac to hear the tale of a very public  argument between Corporal Hugh Flinn and Private James Brown on December 5, 1828.  Private Brown had the last word by saying "God knows which one of us will
 live the longest!". The day concluded in the dining  hall when Brown's rifle "accidentally?" discharged  mortally wounding Flinn. Was it truly an accident?  A military court found him guilty and he was hung February 1, 1830. There are several accounts of   hearing bullets, and of paranormal activity at this location. Could it be the ghosts of one of these
 two men?

Of the two dozen plus tales we were told in the 90 minute walk, I think my favorite tale was that of Madeline La Framboise! Madeline was born in 1780 to French fur trader Jean Baptiste Marcotte and the daughter of an Ottawa Chief, Marie Nekesh. She was raised primarily amongst her mother's tribe and in her early teens married wed fur trader Joseph La Framboise. At 15 she gave birth to daughter Josette, who would later marry Benjamin K. Pierce (commander of Fort Mackinac and brother of U.S. President Franklin Pierce) and also a son Joseph. The young family had a successful fur trading business throughout the western and northern areas of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. In the very early 1800's, Madeline's husband, Joesph, was killed by an Ottawa native, White Ox,  at one of their trading posts over a dispute about not supplying White Ox with liqueur. Now Madeline had become quite the savvy businesswoman and continued the legacy of her husbands fur trading business on her own. She became extremely successful, and attained profits 5-10 times that of her competitors, one of which being John Jacob Astor. She eventually sold her lucrative business to Astor in 1818 and returned to her home on Mackinac Island, now known as the Harbor View Inn. Throughout her life she was very active in St. Anne's Church, adjacent to her home. in exchange for her spiritual and financial devotion to the church and to the education of the inhabitants, her only wish was to be buried under the alter of St. Anne's Church, which she was. A few decades ago, the church underwent some renovations and her burial site under the alter, along with daughter Josette and grandchild, was disturbed and interred elsewhere. Shortly after this, the church began to experience difficulty with the new electrical wiring. Time and time again, electricians would come to the Island, find no obvious cause, get it working, only to have it reoccur after they left. Was it because Madeline's grave was disturbed and her wishes disregarded? Someone finally began asking questions and the remains were located and re interred in a corner of the courtyard of the church. Since then, St. Anne's has had no problems with their electrical system. Coincidence? Regardless, I loved hearing the story of  this incredible Metis woman and her life!

All too soon, it was 10:45 and storytime was over. We begged to hear "just one more", and were treated to a few short encores of tales from the past. I will definitely book another walk with them when the opportunity presents!

Highlight's of Mackinac Island

Shortly after we arrived on Mackinac Island and unloaded our luggage at Metivier Inn, Alyssa took me on my walking tour of the island. Many of you may know that Mackinac Island is Michigan's first State Park, but did you know that in 1875 the federal government established the second national park (the first was Yellowstone), the Mackinac Island National Park? With the closure of Fort Mackinac in 1895, the federal government gifted this national park to the state of Michigan.
About 2 pm my "tour" began, We headed east on Market Street until we came to the base of Fort Mackinac. We turned left and ascended Fort Street, a.k.a. "Killer Hill". I had heard them refer to Killer Hill several times in the past, I was about to experience it firsthand. Whew, it was a mighty sleep climb!

Here's the view of Trinity Episcopal Church with downtown in the background from about half-way up Killer Hill.

 On flat ground, and above the city, we had a great view of a freighter passing in the shipping channel with seemingly tiny Round Island Lighthouse to the far right!

The Governor's Summer Residence...Gov. Snyder was not present while we were there. Perhaps the state could pick up a few extra dollars by renting some of the rooms out during the tourist season! "Rick's B&B"!

 In regards to transportation, there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island (except for ambulance, police and fire vehicles). So, 500 or so year-round residents primarily get from place to place by walking, biking or horseback. The option for horse-drawn carriage is used primarily by visitors on tours or as a taxi service.

 By the time we had reached the Scout Barracks,

the Boy Scouts were in formation outside

presumably receiving instructions for the week.

The hike continued down, I believe, Rock Trail. We prefered the dirt nature trails over the

pavement any day! And we were rewarded

by a somewhat large "garden" of

Yellow Large Ladies' Slippers!

The trail continued until we arrived at one of the

more visited locations on the island, Arch Rock.

Once upon a time, this was a complete wall of

limestone. However thousands of years of

wave action from the ancient Lake Algonquin, whose level was much higher than present day, eroded the soft limestone.

However, Indian folklore tells the tale of a

Chippewa Chief's daughter who falls madly in

love with an immortal. So, her father took her to

the Island of The Great Turtle (Mackinac Island)

and placed her atop a cliff and refused to bring

her home until she agreed to marry a mortal.

She refused to comply with her father's orders and

wept continuously, eventually washing away

the ground beneath her forming Arch Rock.

 A view of Lake Shore Road and Lake Huron
from Arch Rock.











I'm not quite sure what this unusual bloom was
but found its color and structure rather interesting.

We headed back down one of the trails and would up at another geologic locale, Skull Cave. Like Arch Rock, the soft limestone center gradually eroded from wave action from the elevated waters about 11,000 years ago. It was given the name Skull Cave in 1763, when British fur trader Alexander Henry took refuge in the cave during an Indian uprising and noticed that the floor of the cave was littered with human bones!




One of the three cemeteries on Mackinac Island,
St.Anne's. To secure burial in this location, you
must either have been born on the Island, or
resided here for 15 years.

Across from St. Anne's Cemetery is Post
Cemetery. The oldest on the Island, it contains 108 graves,mainly those of soldiers that were stationed at Fort Mackinac, family members of those buried here and a hand full of civilians who lived on the Island.

Burials began at this location in 1796 and ceased in 1892. It is now closed to burial and considered a National Cemetery.














 

One of the many burial sites of an unknown soldier most likely from the early to mid 1800's. 

We continued on a trail near the cemetery to an overlook at Point Lookout where we could see Sugar Loaf Rock below! It is another ancient limestone formation that towers 79 feet tall and the home of Gitchee Manitou, the Great Spirit, according to Ojibwa tradition.

Next up was Fort Holmes. After the Brits seized Fort Mackinac in the first battle of the War of 1812, they built Fort George high atop a bluff to provide another fortified location to the east of the fort to assist in the defense of Fort Mackinac. In 1815, The Treaty of Ghent gave Mackinac Island back to the U.S.A., when it was promptly renamed Fort Holmes, after Major Andrew Holmes who died on the Island in 1814 during a battle to attempt to re-take Fort Mackinac.  Soon after U.S. troops resumed post on the island, Fort Holmes was abandoned and this is all that remains.

More flora.....Lyre-Leaved Rock Cress.

And the tour ended where else, but Killer Hill!

Welcome to Mackinac Island!

 Alyssa and I left Mackinac City on the 12 o'clock Arnold Ferry bound for Mackinac Island. It has been nearly 20 years since I'd been here, and never overnight, so to say I was excited was an understatement! I just love Round Island Lighthouse so I made sure that I sat on the left side of the ferry on the way over so that I could photograph it as best as I could! Perhaps one day they will open it for climbing.....I'll definitely be game for that one! Or perhaps...someday....maybe I could kayak over to Round Island for a closer look!

Here we are, almost to the docks, Mission Point Resort and St. Anne's Church in the background.

We actually got to cruise right past St. Anne's!

We quickly unloaded and made haste to unload our bags at the place I had made our reservations, Hart's. It was difficult to say the least, to find lodging for just one night on a summer weekend. Nearly all had a 2 night minimum stay requirement. Given our travel plans and my work schedule, only 1 night on the island was possible. When we checked in, the lady was having great difficulty finding our reservation, which is exactly why I reconfirm everything 3-4 days prior to leaving on vacation. I provided her with names and dates and times of all to whom I had spoken. "Oh", she replied, "I think you have a room next door". I took a deep breath and really tried not to show my irritation....I had just spent 3 nights in an ant-infested housekeeping cottage with a matress that I am quite sure was made of concrete! Evidently in the winter months, their neighbors take the reservations and had chosen to keep me at their establishment.

Well, imagine my surprise when I was led to this beautiful B&B, Metivier Inn, and was told this is where I would be spending the night! It was one of the more charming places that I have ever stayed! A luxury that I most likely wouldn't have indulged on! I felt so spoiled! And the mattress.....was heavenly! No cement here tonight under this body! It would have been nice to sit on the front porch and relax a bit....but...we had to go explore!!!!! And explore we did!



Adieu to Mike

 Before 10am, we had reached Mackinac City and I realized that I had absolutely no clue as to where to drop Mike off to meet the rest of the Boy Scouts. All I knew is, the meeting spot was on the main drag near the Arnold Dock, after Mike made some phone calls to the Scoutmaster, I located the large parking area behind one of the hotels. Now what?! Boy scouts and parents were scattered here and there, without much organization or even excited anticipated looks or frenzy, kind of ho-humish. Perhaps that's just how I roll and these folks are just a whole lot more laid back than I am. Regardless, after 15 minutes of watching folks just hang out, I decided the best plan of action would be to get Mike unloaded, and Alyssa and I would drive across the street, park the car and purchase our ferry tickets.  

By the time we got back, Mike had eaten his lunch and folks were just standing idle. About 1/2 hour later, trucks with large trailers began to pull in the lot. Unloading was to begin. As with any group, apparently the Boy Scouts are no different, there are 3 types of folk: leaders, those who follow/take orders, and those who are bystanders. Now in this group of about 60 boys, there were about 4 of them who were the do'ers, 8-12 who were the followers, the rest sort of milled about, sometimes looking busy. I found that it was VERY difficult for me to watch the few people really bust butt and get the truck unloaded without just going up and helping. I felt like I would get in trouble or something if I attempted to help, and it sort of disturbed me to see the others just casually milling about.

Here's some of the hard workers unloading the seemingly endless parade of suitcases, duffel bags, crates and boxes of food off of the main trailer. In addition to personal items that 60+ boys and a dozen adult leaders will need for the week, they also need to bring over a week's worth of food!

The left side of this cart....is all bread! Loaves of bread, hot dog and hamburger buns. I've only seen this many bread products on the shelves of a well-stocked grocery store! And gallons and gallons of milk and juice too!

After all of the carts were loaded, they

 broke into small groups...I figured this is when Alyssa and I should leave them to their Boy Scout duties. So, we walked across the street, checked our luggage, ate our lunch and waited for the 12:00 ferry over to Mackinac Island. All of a sudden without warning, we looked up and saw of sea of Boy Scouts headed our way!

I had thought that we would be on the same ferry, but they actually departed on the next one. We said our goodbyes and would catch up with him in a few hours or so.

Grand Marais to Mackinac City

 Saturday June 25th was a PERFECT weather day! Leaving Grand Marais about 7am, we did make several stops along Hwy. 2 overlooking Lake Michigan. Despite it being early in the day, Mike and Alyssa were noticeably more impressed with the scenery than on the way up north!

It was such a glorious, peaceful morning, I would have loved to hike this coastline for an hour or two, but we had to stay on schedule as Mike needed to meet his Boy Scout troop in Mackinac City about 10 am. I was thrilled though that everyone did get to see how beautiful the U.P. really is!

 Around 9 am we paused at a few more lookouts to get a good glimpse of the Mackinac Bridge on such a sunny day!

 We were good on time, so we spent a good 20 minutes at the Straits of Mackinac State Park.

 Alyssa and Mike's last few moments in the U.P.

 In a few minutes we would be back in the Lower Peninsula.....hmmmmmm, I wonder if we are called the L.P. by the Yoopers?????!!!! Hehe.