Mackinac Island is our FAVORITE Michigan cruising destination!

Mackinac Island is a very busy tourist destination during the day. So when visiting the island, Jim and I try to focus our daytime activities on walking in less congested areas. Our favorite route starts by walking up the steps leading to the steep bluff just across the road from the marina. Most daytime visitors to the island walk or ride bikes along the path at the bottom perimeter of the island. It’s fairly busy there at the bottom; that’s why we chose to climb to the top of the island. The view from the top is majestic and far-reaching; on clear days, you can see the Mackinac Bridge, which spans the Straits of Mackinac.

Not many daytime visitors to Mackinac Island venture up to the woods and bluffs. It probably takes a few trips to the island before you learn to wander beyond the high-traffic areas.

After we spent a few minutes admiring the view in front of the magnificent homes on the bluff, we headed off into the woods where many, less-traveled, paths await. Today, with a slight mist in the air, the woods were magical and saturated with vibrant greens, oranges, and browns. Don’t think we passed a soul while walking these paths that morning.

When walking on the paths at the top of the island you are very likely to bump into a carriage or two.

There are three cemeteries on top of Mackinac Island, and they always provide something to do. We like to walk around and read the tombstones.

Walking along the top of the island eventually brings us to the bluff on the other side of the Grand Hotel. Magnificent views await along with some fairly impressive “cottages.”

Down from the bluff on the Grand Hotel side of the island is this beautiful path.

The post Mackinac Island – The Path Less Taken appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

In light of some of our road trips recently, the one we took today was relatively short. We started by heading north along the scenic route of northwest Michigan. We drove Kismet across the Mackinaw Bridge, through the Upper Peninsula, across the border into Canada, and finally, 260 miles later, we launched her in Spanish, Ontario – right in the heart of the North Channel. We stayed one night at Spanish Marina getting things organized and prepped for our two-week North Channel boating fix, it had been five years since our last visit to this magical Canadian wonderland, way too long for Lisa and me.

Spanish Marina is a good central location to launch a trailered boat into the North Channel.

Spanish is a great spot to launch a trailerable boat. Great facilities and everyone is friendly and helpful. The boat ramp is one of the steepest we’ve encountered (see below) but it all worked out once we got it rolling. It seems every ramp is different, I always do a walk around, at a new-to-us ramp, come up with a plan of attack and convey it to Lisa, so we’re both on the same page, before we start the process.

We arrived in Spanish late in the afternoon, around 4:00, and still had lots to do to get ready to leave in the morning. The biggest job was getting the dinghy and motor down to the boat from the truck, inflating it, and mounting the motor. (We are still investigating the right dinghy mount for the boat, so in the meantime, we deflate it and stow it in the bed of the truck while we’re towing the boat over land)

Soon after dark, we went to bed secure in knowing we were absolutely ready to begin our exploration of the North Channel.

The post Road Trip… Canada Here We Come – Spanish Marina appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.