This 230-mile tour is 100% paved and 100% on public roads and highways. We start and end in Manistique, MI.
Two departures: July 18-24, or August 1-7. Pick the date which fits your schedule best!
Experience a scenic journey through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, featuring rides from Manistique to Kitch-Iti-Kipi, Munising, Grand Marais, and Curtis. Enjoy lakeside views, local hospitality, and the natural beauty of Pictured Rocks and surrounding areas, with comfortable lodging and opportunities for group and independent exploration.
We like to gather our group at the Pavilion on the shores of Lake Michigan, for guest orientation, safety talk, Q&A, refreshments and dinner. Be sure to walk out on the concrete pier to catch the sunset!
Breakfast on your own. Maybe try Three Seasons next to our hotel, or Big Boy, or Cedar Street Cafe in town. Be back for a 9 a.m. ride start please.
Ride to Kitch-Iti-Kipi with a 9 a.m. departure. Kitch-Iti-Kipi is a true hidden gem of the Upper Peninsula! You'll take a short ride on a barge over the springs and look through the crystal waters below as a river erupts from the earth. This sight is complete with shifting sands and giant fish floating effortlessly below you! After this adventure, we head to Thompson Rogers Roadside Park on Lake Michigan for the first of our delicious sag lunches. Bonus: fill your water bottles at the artesian wells, and get a photo dipping your rear tire in Lake Michigan. It's fun!
Lunch on the beach, complete with picnic tables, canvas chairs, artesian wells, and the beauty of Lake Michigan close by.
Tour breakfast at 3 Seasons today. They're quite used to us, so breakfast is at your leisure so long as you're finished by about 8:30. We have a 9:00 a.m. ride start for the journey up to Munising.
Sag lunch today at Shingleton or opt for something from the famous Beartrap.
Pictured Rocks Inn & Suites, 420 M-28 East, Munising MI 49862. Phone: 906-387-2493.
Special note: our Route ends at the gazebo at Waterfront Park, a great place to catch your front tire in the waters of Gitchee Gumee, or Lake Superior. This is also a perfect opportunity to jump right into the bay -- when you get home, you'll impress your friends by telling them you swam in Lake Superior!
Dinner on your own tonight. Munising is home to a wide variety of restaurants.
Day ride along lake or optional activities. We have several planned routes on Ride with GPS, staff-led but no sag today. Option: you might consider kayaking with one of the local outfitters for the day. This is an exceptional opporunity for you to see Lake Superior and the Pictured Rocks up close and personal! We'll supply a list of outfitters after you register.
Breakfast on your own, as our hotel does not offer breakfast. There are 4 good places within walking distance of the hotel, but none are big enought to accommodate our group.
Unknown lunch today since we anticipate you'll be scattered in small groups across the county. If you're in-town, maybe try one of the pastie restaurants. Pasties are the National Food of the Upper Peninsula, originally a meat pie from Cornish miners in England, and adopted by the Finns and Norskies who settled in the U.P. mines.
Tour Breakfast at the Bear Trap Inn, about 10 miles out of Munising. You'll work up a small appetite on the small hills out of town, and the Bear Trap will help solve that problem! Once our breakfast stop is over, you'll get to ride along H-15 all the way into Grand Marais. This is Tour Chief Jim's favorite ride of the season, and includes many different types of forest-maple hardwoods at the start, jack pine and open prairie in the middle, and mature pine forest on the tumble-down to our lunch stop on Lake Superior! From there, please stop at the Log Slide, Grand Sable Lake Overlook, Visitors Center, and maybe even take the walk down to Sable Falls!
Voyageurs Motel, 21914 E Wilson, Grand Marais, MI. Phone: 906-494-2389. We've upgraded lodging this night to be sure that each room has a private bathroom.
Roadside sag lunch, it's delicious!
Dinner on your own tonight, but we've had excellent meals at Dunes Saloon, the Sportsman, and at The Breakwall.
Belevedere Grand, N9450 H33, Curtis MI. Phone: 800-292-0440. This is an historic 150-year-old railroad hotel which was relocated to this site overlooking Big Manistique Lake. It's an exceptional place, complete with lodging, dining, and a bar. Note: We get all 12-rooms at Belvedere Grand. Rooms are assigned based on a combination of registration date and guest count. Five of the rooms are 'old-style' B&B rooms, using the shared men's or women's bathrooms just down the hall. If you are assigned one of these rooms and must have a private bath, we expect to find space for you at our overflow housing at Curtis Traveler's Lodge. Shuttle will be provided as needed.
Return to Manistique, 40 miles. Tour ends on arrival in Manistique, noon-1 p.m. Note: Our ride today includes about 8 miles at the start on quiet country roads, then we have 13 miles on US-2, and then 16 miles on Quarry Road & River Road. US-2 is also US Bike Route 10, complete with a 10' paved shoulder and rumble strip to separate us from the traffic. Traffic noise on this stretch can be off-putting, and the speed limit is 65 MPH. We have limited ability to shuttle around this.
Enjoy the famous Box Lunch from Belvedere Grand, on arrival back in Manistique about noon.