A diversion: a writer’s conference on Mackinac Island, my first SATW regional conference, and with free time available here and there during the week, I set my sights on exploring the island - by foot. Tranquil Bluff Trail

Established in 1895, Mackinac Island State Park covers more than 80% of the island, which means shady arboreal forests where wildflowers carpet the forest floor.

Being a geology buff, I got Bob Tagatz, the Grand Hotel’s fount of information, to connect the dots on a map for me. Since cars are banned on the island, the only modes of transportation are bicycle, horse (and horse-drawn), and your own two feet. Okay, I saw a kid on a scooter, too, but skates and skateboards are banned too. So it’s a great place to walk. My journey took me past the Governor’s Summer House and Fort Mackinac to the South Bicycle Trail, a paved path open to folks on foot; a trodden track adjoins. The mixed forest of spruce, pine, and hardwoods hosted bouquets of yellow lady’s slipper in bloom, a delight for the eyes; lily of the valley grew in clusters, reminding me of a ribbon-wrapped bouquet from a sweetheart nearly 30 years ago. I don’t have a flora id book with me (yet), but it’s spring here, folks, and everything’s in bloom.

Arch Rock was the first stop on the geology tour, the natural bridge framing a view of crystalline Lake Huron and the Canadian shoreline in the distance. I continued along the Tranquil Bluff Trail, and it was indeed - a steep drop to the shoreline, the footpath steep enough in places I pondered sliding down it. The lip of the bluff dissuaded me. I enjoyed my lunch at an overlook, and backtracked to find a trail to the next stop, the Hay Stack.

No luck, I missed the natural footpath, so I followed the roads until I found another footpath. This one showed much use by horses (in the form of road-apples), and giant trillium sported faded blooms. The Hay Stack, a large breccia column, is a nexus: in its shadow, hikers, bicyclists, folks on horseback, and horse-drawn carriages met. But only hikers could ascend the 140 steps up a breccia cliff to Point Lookout, a most excellent view. I continued along the ridge to walk around Fort Holmes for more panoramas, and took Henry’s Trail (a steep one) down to Skull Cave, where fifth graders on bicycles were giggling. No footpaths headed west, so it was back to the road for a walk past all of the cemeteries, Turtle Park, and the Airport to find the path to The Crack in the Island. Mind you, I was warned it wasn’t as spectacular as it sounded. But it was still very fascinating. This narrow cleft in the bedrock of the island is too narrow to walk through, but you can still get down in it and stare down it and wonder where the rattlesnakes are, since it looks like a perfect snake den area. Nearby, the Cave of the Woods was a small limestone formation big enough to sleep inside.

My time was running short, so I looked for a way to walk a footpath back to the Grand Hotel and found the shady Allouez Trail. Two groups of folks on horseback passed by. The trail crosses ones with names like Trillium and Indian Pipe, and you’ll find them all here on the lush forest floor. Popping out into a residental area with gingerbread Victorian homes tucked under the pines, I found my way back down the bluff to the hotel. Total travel time, 3.5 hours. And well worth the walk. Yes, you could bicycle most of the journey, but it just wouldn’t be the same

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Diversions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.