Cycling around Lake Huron 2000

Cycling around the Great Lakes:
Lake Huron, Canada/U.S.A

Harvey MacHattie, Dylan MacHattie, Stephen Kamnitzer
12 days, 1247 km, June 2000

This trip was a follow-on to our 1999 ride around Lake Ontario by the same trio. In 2001, we had a ride around Lake Erie, in 2002 Lake Michigan and in 2004 Lake Superior.

Harvey and Dylan are brothers. Stephen and Harvey, colleagues at the same work place for 18 years , have also done many hiking trips together over the years (Adirondacks, Canadian Rockies, the GR5:Nice to Chamonix, Grand Canyon) and have recently started cycling together. After a successful weekend trip in 1998 from our homes in Toronto to Port Hope and back on the Waterfront Trail, we became more ambitious, and in 1999 Dylan joined us for our ride around Lake Ontario.

At the end of the day-to-day description of this trip you will find a section on logistics, planning (or lack thereof), equipment etc.

Saturday June 17th

We had initially considered starting from our homes in Toronto as we did on the Lake Ontario trip. This would have added about 5 days and 500 km to our estimate of 2 weeks and 1500 km for the ride. Limited vacation time persuaded us to drive to our starting point at Oliphant where Harvey has a cottage.

Start: 2:45pm Oliphant, ON

It was sunny with a cold west wind.
Stayed on quiet roads close to the lake shore until forced back on to highway 6 which was not very busy.

End: 8:10pm Tobermory ,ON (Distance 86.47 km, time 5:24 hrs)

When we arrived in Tobermory we were tired and cold so we opted for luxury. The motels in town were either closed or expensive, so we cycled back 3 km the way we had come to a motel we had passed on the way in to Tobermory.

There had been a tragic accident a few days before when a small boat carrying school children had capsized in rough seas while taking them from Flower Pot Island just off Tobermory back to the mainland. The Ontario Provincial Police Undersea Rescue Unit (USRU) were staying at the same motel as us.

After a short debate over the relative merits of walking or riding the 3 km's back to town we decided on riding and enjoyed an excellent Pasta dinner at a restaurant in town. We then rode back to our Motel in the dark.

Starting point, near Harvey's cottage,
Oliphant, Ontario

At Tobermory, a visit to the cairn marking the end of the 800 km Niagara to Tobermory Bruce Trail, was mandatory.

Sunday June 18th

Start: 8:50am Tobermory, ON

Good breakfast at a self-service restaurant in Tobermory.
Sunny with cool, south wind (16-18C).
Visit (mandatory for all Bruce Trail members!) to Bruce Trail Cairn in Tobermory.
Took the ferry, the Chi-Cheemaun from Tobermory to South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island (C$16).
11:00am, South Baymouth, ON 'til 11:25 while we had coffee and ice-cream and enjoyed the bright sunshine.
Nice very quiet country roads from South Baymouth to Providence Bay.
Picnic lunch was at Providence Bay ~2pm.
After Providence Bay we followed quiet country roads with very little traffic until we joined highway 6 at ?. Here there was a store where we purchased a few cans of food for dinner,
5 km to campground at Elizabeth Bay.

End: 6:30pm, Elizabeth Bay, ON (Distance 89.48, time 6:50 hrs)

We camped at the Pine Haven campground (C$25) at Elizabeth Bay.
Nice fairly long beach.
We seemed to be the only people in the campground.
Hot showers but primitive bathroom facilities.
Our camp dinner consisted of rice, beans and corn stew.

The Chi-Cheemaun

Stephen and Harvey enjoying lunch at the beach,
Providence Bay, ON

Harvey, pouring excess liquid out of a can of corn at our campsite, Elizabeth Bay, ON

Monday June 19th

Start: 9:25am Elizabeth Bay, ON

Sunny and cool.
12:05pm Meldrum Bay, ON, 12 km from the western end of Manitoulin Island. Meldrum Bay has the most westerly marina on Manitoulin Island. (Distance 38.19 km , 2:40 hrs).
At the very western tip of Manitoulin is the recently restored Mississagi Lighthouse, also a restaurant and campground and is supposed to be worth a visit. In the interest of saving time we did not visit it.
As there is no regular ferry service from Meldrum Bay, ON to Drummond Island, MI, before the trip I had sent an email to the White Sea Resort (whitesea@onlink.net) near Meldrum Bay asking if they could give us a ride to Drummond Island. They replied to say that they could but we hoped to get a better price. So we asked at the Meldrum Bay Inn (705) 283-3190 (first place we came to in the small town) about getting a ride to Drummond Island.. The proprietor, Ruben, offered to give us a ride for CAN$300 for the three of us.
There is a primitive campground with a great view of the lake across the road from the Meldrum Bay Inn.
We had nice sandwiches and burgers for lunch in the restaurant of the Meldrum Bay Inn..
At 1:20 pm we loaded everything into Rubens boat. The boat could probably take five cyclists at the most.
First stop was the (more or less) ghost town of Tolsmaville on Cockburn Island, ON. Cockburn Island is about 10 km by 10 km in size and is situated across the 2 km wide Mississagi Strait from the western end of Manitoulin Island. Here Ruben sought advice from a friendly fellow called Joe, apparently a professor at the University of Guelph, who was working on his very quaint cottage which he rents out (see picture) Joe said he had been to Drummond Island before by boat but did not have time right then to take us. He did however describe the route to Ruben. On Cockburn Island we saw some deer running around.
2:45pm Ruben's boat from Cockburn to Drummond Island, MI.
Even though it was a calm and sunny day, the swell coming through the False Detour Channel between Cockburn and Drummond but Ruben's handled it well. On a rough day it must be quite dangerous.
4:50pm Drummond Island "Yachthaven", Potagannising Bay, at the western end of Drummond Island. We had to land here as it is the entry point for persons coming to Drummond Island from Canada in to the U.S. and one cannot just land anywhere as we had first hoped. The "customs" person did not seem to bothered by us, asked no questions.
The boat ride had taken 3:30 hrs, longer than expected.

End: 6:50pm Drummond Township Park, MI (Distance 51.36 km, 4:02 hrs)

Free camping since nobody in the office. This was the most primitive campsite we used on the whole trip. Pit toilets, no running water but the park was beautifully situated on an inlet of Lake Huron.
Camp dinner (noodles+beans+corn+corned beef).

Stephen covering the last few kilometres into
Meldrum Bay, ON

Arrival at Yachthaven, Drummond Island, MI,
from left to right:
Ruben, Harvey, Stephen, Dylan.

Campsite, Drummond Township Park.

Tuesday June 20th

Start: 8:47am Drummond Township Park, MI

The roads in Michigan that we followed usually had paved shoulders and were in good condition, until we got closer to Bay City (see June 24th) and then the quality of the road surface seemed to deteriorate and the paved shoulder sometimes disappeared.
Cloudy with light rain after noon.
9:20am took the regular ferry across the one mile gap to the mainland (free) and then followed # 134 west.
Lunch in Cedarville ~11:30 a.m, quite a nice town.
134 ended at Interstate 75 and #48, We followed #48 south to St Ignace. We took shelter from the rain for a while under a bridge.
Rescued turtle on highway.

End: 3:30pm took ferry (with Rooster tail) from St Ignace to Mackinac Island (Distance 102.99 km, 7:15 hrs)

La Chance Cottage B&B on Mackinac Is. (US$60)., very nice place but breakfast next day was minimal. Made a reservation by calling from St Ignace after getting accommodation list at Tourist Information center.
Dinner in town.
Pictures of Stonecliffe, Grand Hotel, Devil's Kitchen, ...

More pictures:

Where we turned to go south, intersection of #134 and Interstate 75 and #48. We took #48 south to St Ignace.

Mackinac Island - Main street in the rain.

Mackinac Island - Grand Hotel.

Mackinac Island - Mission Point Resort, this hotel was originally built as a retreat by the Moral Rearmament movement back in 19??

Lunch spot at Cedarville, MI on the 134 west of Drummond Island

Our bicycles in front of La Chance Cottage, B & B,
Mackinac Island, MI

Wednesday June 21st

Start: 9:00am La Chance Cottage, Mackinac Island, MI

Hot and sunny (27C).
Spent the morning riding around Mackinac Island.
Dylan replaced front tube on his bike while exploring Mackinac Island. Valve had hole in it. This was the ONLY bicycle problem we had on the whole trip.
12:00pm ferry to Mackinaw (sic) City thus avoiding having to go over the very impressive Mackinac Bridge.
From Macinaw City we followed #23 all the way south until it merges with I75 just north of Bay City. The traffic on #23 started out as light and became heavier as we went further south. #23 runs fairly close to the shore of Lake Huron and so the only way to avoid it is to go further inland, we stayed in #23.

End: 6:30pm Hoeft State Park, a short distance north of Rogers City, MI (Distance 86.12 km, 5:58 hrs)

.Beautiful not very crowded park with a very long sandy beach.
Camp dinner (soup + bread + cheese).

More pictures:

Breakfast on porch - Mackinac Island

Ferry from Mackinac Island (in background) to Mackinaw City.

Hoeft State Park, MI

Thursday June 22nd

Start: 9:30am Hoeft State Park , MI

Went through not very impressive Rogers City. The towns on this part of the Michigan coast of Lake Huron were not very impressive.

Packed up tents in light rain.

Rain clears by noon, sunny by 3pm (~24C).

Lunch at Presque'Isle lighthouse (sandwiches from store) ~12:30 pm.

End: 7:08pm Harrisville State Park (Distance 135.76 km, 9:34 hrs)

Camp dinner (pasta + tuna + mushroom soup)

Lunch at Presque'Isle Lighthouse.

Friday June 23rd

Start: 8:20am Harrisville State Park , MI.

Warm and sunny.
The shore of Lake Huron now started to be very built up with cottages lining the lake. Traffic on #23 became quite heavy.
Left #23 south of Tawas City at Omer. As we left #23 there were some strange barking dogs which were behind a fence. Took quiet country roads through nice countryside for a while.
Dinner in Pinconning (good salad bar ) after a short distance on #13, an awful road, 5:30 p.m. -6:30p.m. We were slowing down before dinner but felt revived afterwards and managed the last 1 1/2 hrs ride to Bay City State park without a problem.

End: 8:20pm Bay City State Park (Distance 154.74 km, 12:03 hrs) .

State Park very crowded, full of RV's.
Harvey broke the (glass) lenses of his glasses in the State Park but patched them up.
Try to go for a swim in the lake but turns out to be too swampy.

Stephen's bicycle fully loaded.

Saturday June 24th

Start: 9:00am Bay City State Park, MI

Light rain gone by noon, but rains overnight.
Road in to Bay City very ugly, lined with endless number of Muffler Shops, Gas Stations and other motor car related facilities. Bay City downtown looked very run down. Houses on south side looked a bit nicer.
Avoided Saginaw.

End: 1:00pm Frankenmuth, MI (Distance 49.0 km, 3:30 hrs)

Stayed at nice motel in Frankenmuth to which we were directed by the helpful Tourist Info.
Famous chicken dinner at the Bavarian Inn.

Lunch spot.

Sunday June 25th

Start: 8:40am Frankenmuth, MI

Warm and sunny. Became quite hot later in the day.
Very nice quiet country roads.
Breakfast at Frankenmuth restaurant.
Lunch beside the road in someone's yard after being repulsed from roadside rest stop by mosquito horde. This was the first of only two occasions on the trip that we were bothered at all by mosquitoes.
Swim in Lake Huron around 5 p.m. on small crowded beach surrounded by cottages.

End: 6:00pm Lakeport State Park (Distance 129.99 km, 8:44 hrs)

Camp dinner.

Camp at Lakeport State Park, MI

Monday June 26th

Start: 8:45am Lakeport State Park, MI

11:45am Bluewater bridge. Crossing bridge turns out to be a matter of ignoring "no bicycles" signs on ramp and asking for a ride at the toll booth, thus ignoring advice from US Customs office to ride 30km south to ferry. We waited 10 minutes or so and then the bridge supervisor, who was very friendly gave us a ride across the bridge.
Rode around the Sarnia downtown area which is reasonably nice.
Followed Howard Watson Rail Trail out of Sarnia. It eventually gets very, very narrow so we followed highway 7 which follows the lake shore. Moderate traffic on the highway.
Swim (skinny dip) in Lake Huron on very long, almost deserted beach which we approached by scrambling down a cliff in Charles J. McEwen or Highland Glen Conservation area (can't remember which one).
Weather was threatening. Since we did not want to risk having to cook in the rain, we had dinner at a restaurant in Northville, a short distance from Pinery Provincial Park.

End: 7:10pm Pinery Provincial. Park, ON Distance 100.83 km, 10:33 hrs)

Very large rainstorm starts as we are setting up camp. We have to remove one of the tents from a large puddle. Everything gets a little wet.
After the storm cleared we had a beautiful sunset.

Waiting for a ride across the Bluewater Bridge.

Howard Watson Rail Trail, Sarnia, ON

Sunset, Pinery Provincial Park

Tuesday June 27th

Start: 8:55am Pinery Provincial Park, ON

Followed slightly bumpy bike trail on lake side of the road in to Grand Bend which is a nice tourist town. On the way stopped for a second breakfast at a nice restaurant.
After Grand Bend, contrary wind, bad traffic on highway with soft shoulder.
Lunch in Bayfield, nice town.
Afternoon "tea" in Goderich. Good bakery/tea room. Nice town with interesting hexagonally shaped square in the town centre. Followed the Goderich-Auburn rail trail from near the harbour (start of trail is not well marked), over the restored Menesutung railway bridge until we were a short distance east of highway 21 (Bluewater Highway).
Got off the highway at Amberley as it was too busy. Took quiet roads away from the lake. Tired and wanted to have dinner at restaurant in Amberley but it was closed so we bought cans for dinner at a store.

End: 8:40pm Aintree Trailer Park, near Kincardine, ON (Distance 131.61 km, 11:46 hrs)

A nice quiet place to camp about 10 minutes walk from the lake.
Dinner in camp.

On the beach, Grand Bend, ON,
its actually a nice town and a nice beach.

Goderich-Auburn rail trail and Menesutung Bridge

Wednesday June 28th

Start: 8:20am Kincardine, ON

Partly cloudy, warm.
Rode around on nice dirt trails in Inverhuron Provincial Park, driven out by mosquitoes. There seemed to be nobody else in the park.
Rode by Bruce Nuclear Power Station.
Lunch in Port Elgin. From here until Oliphant we followed very quiet scenic roads on the edge of the lake.
Passed through Southampton.
Milkshake at Sauble Beach.
Stopped at Sauble Falls Provincial Park.

End: 5:00pm Oliphant, ON (Distance 98.45 km , 8:43 hrs)

More Pictures:

Sauble Falls Provincial Park.

12 days after we left we are back in Oliphant,
Total trip distance (on bike) 1247 km

A piece of a wreck, Kincardine, ON,
many ships have been sunk over the years in the Great Lakes

Near Southampton, Ontario, almost done!
Chantry Island is in the background.

General Information

Planning
We tried to do as little planning as possible. We did have to decide start/end point, clockwise or counter-clockwise and approximate number of days required. The next day's destination was decided on the night before with the maximum distance for one day being 160 km.

We measured the distance very approximately with a map and a piece of string. From Sarnia up to Tobermory, across Manitoulin Island and down the Michigan coast of Lake Huron, add about 33% for twists and turns and we came up with 1500 km. Based on our distance around Lake Ontario in 1999 in 8 days, we guessed Lake Huron would take us about 14 days. So we estimated two weeks of vacation should be enough and if we were longer well...

For maps we used the following. For Ontario, The Ontario Road Atlas 2000 Edition, MapArt Publishing $19.95. (99 pages of 1:250,000 maps of Ontario, shows Bruce Trail, other trails, Provincial Parks, Conservation areas etc). we photocopied the pages we would need but took the whole book along as well as photo-copying losing the colour. For Michigan we used a 1: ? state map. We might have been better off to purchase the Delorme book of maps of Michigan and to photocopy the appropriate pages as we did for Ontario. On the large scale state map, not all roads are shown and more importantly perhaps, progress across the map seems awfully slow.

We also had lists of campsites in Ontario and Michigan extracted from CAA/AAA travel books.

Equipment
Besides personal items such as sleeping bags and clothes, we carried two tents, one MSR Whisperlite camping stove and one pot. We all had handle-bar bags and 2 rear panniers. Dylan also had 2 low-rider front panniers. We purchased food for each day as we went along. We passed at least one or two stores every day. On one occasion we waited until too late in the day to buy food and had to make to do with scraps for dinner.

Daily Distances and Times (times include rest stops throughout the day)

Date	Distance km	Time hrs	Average
June 17	86	5:24	16.1
June 18	89	6:50	13.1
June 19	51	4:02	12.7
June 20	102	7:15	14.2
June 21	86	5:58	14.4
June 22	135	9:34	14.2
June 23	154	12:03	12.8
June 24	49	3:30	14.0
June 25	129	8:44	14.9
June 26	100	10:33	9.6
June 27	132	11:46	11.2
June 28	98	8:43	11.3
Total	1247

Equipment Failures
1 broken tube valve, replaced tube.

Useful Links

www.cyclotour.com: Harvey Botzman's Rochester site with books on cycling including around the Great Lakes and a forthcoming book on cycling around Lake Huron, also Finger Lakes, Eric Canal etc,
highly recommended.
Bruce Trail: In case you want to take some days off to hike the Bruce Trail.
Chi-Cheemaun : Ferry from Tobermory to South Baymouth, Manitoulin island, check here for ferry times.
Delorme Publishing (for book of maps of Michigan)
Drummond Island: Drummond Island tourist information.
Manitoulin Island: Manitoulin Island tourist information.
MapArt Publishing: For book of 1:250,000 maps of Ontario.

SELECTED INFORMATION ON PLACES WE VISITED

Meldrum Bay, Ontario P0P 1R0.

Boats to Drummond Island:

Meldrum Bay Inn (705) 283-3190, ask for Rubin, campground opposite.
White Sea Resort and water taxi.

The westernmost community on Manitoulin Island, Meldrum Bay welcomes visitors to one of the Island's finest harbours.

Settled in the 1870s, and named after a town in Scotland, Meldrum Bay developed as a fishing and lumbering centre. Once the village was home to a busy commercial fishing fleet, and Great Lakes steamers tied up at the docks. Now during the summer, the docks are busy again, lined with pleasure craft from around the Great Lakes. Charter boats take eager fishermen to the fine fishing grounds of the Mississagi Straits.

Many residents of the area are employed by LaFarge Canada, whose quarry near Meldrum Bay produces dolomite used in concrete, road construction and metallurgical processing. The plant does not conduct visitor tours.

In recent years the once secret Chinook salmon fishery of the Mississagi Strait is being discovered by more and more downrigger enthusiasts. The explosive fight of these silver giants gives way to the delicate flavour of grilled salmon.

Bustling early morning activity in Meldrum Bay's marinas hold evidence to the growth of this sport fishery. But please, let's keep it a secret.

The Meldrum Bay area offers visitors a general store and post office, church and community hall, a restaurant, several forms of tourist accommodation, and two museums.

St. Andrews United Church and Community Hall
This well-kept, pretty church, with its illuminated cross, has served the area for over 70 years. The nearby Community Hall is the site of local events including an annual community barbecue in August.

Net Shed Museum
The museum sits right on the village's main street in a building formerly used by commercial fishermen to repair their nets. The museum highlights the area's rich marine heritage.

Mississagi Lighthouse
The Mississagi Lighthouse is located at the western tip of Manitoulin, some 12 km from the village of Meldrum Bay.

Built over 115 years ago, the lighthouse guards the treacherous Mississagi Straits. Now converted to a museum and restaurant, the lighthouse gives glimpses into the marine history of Lake Huron. The building is furnished as it was for the lighthouse keeper and his family of one hundred years ago. The Mississagi Lighthouse Heritage Park and Campground includes camp sites, a picnic area, beach and hiking trails.

Experience pioneer living at the 115 year old Museum. Savour home style cooking in the old Foghorn Station Restaurant. Enjoy wilderness, rock-terrace campsites with fireplaces, and washrooms with showers. Enjoy hiking, scuba diving, swimming and salmon fishing in our crystal clear waters. Located on Mississagi Rd. west of Meldrum Bay on Manitoulin Island. Open daily, 8am - 8pm, from Victoria Day weekend to mid-September. For information call (705)283-3011 or write to Jody Colwell, P.O. Box 6, Meldrum Bay, Ontario, P0P 1R0.

Meldrum Bay's Dingy Tour
You'll need a boat, but an on-water perspective gives the visitor a whole new view of this historic village and the ships sunk in these waters. There is a printed "floating tour guide" available at the Net Shed Museum.

Cockburn Island, Ontario

Cockburn Island lies between Manitoulin and Drummond. On the east are the Missisaggi Straits, which contain the Magnetic Reef shoals. On the western end is False Detour Passage.

The island was settled in the late 1800's and at its peak the population may have exceeded 1,000 inhabitants. After World War II, a steady migration back to the mainland began, and now there are perhaps only two or three year-round residents. However, many former islanders use their old homes as summer cottages, and as many as 200 may gather on the island in July and August.

In Tolsma Bay there is shelter at the municipal dock, where overnight docking fees are charged.

As much as 90% of the island was owned by Ontario Paper Company, which has since sold its interests to an American firm, currently logging on the island.

DRUMMOND ISLAND

Ferry from Drummond Island to Michigan mainland. 297-8851.

The ferry operates 365 days, with runs at least hourly from early morning (5-6am) to late evening (1-2am). Although there is a ferry schedule, which is posted on both ferry docks (DeTour and Drummond), in times of heavy traffic, the ferry simply continues to run back and forth. Two ferries are sometimes used during this time. The car ferry can accommodate large loads, up to and including modular homes. The round trip fare is payable on the DeTour side and is collected by the ferry crew.

For tourist information on Drummond Island: www.drummond-island.com