Nub’s Nob includes both beautiful wooded trails and slopes, as well as challenging drops along with a full snowboarding park. Known as the best groomers in the country Nub’s Nob offers wonderful skiing and boarding regardless of skill. Numerous races are hosted, as well as festivals and entertainment. Nub’s Nob is fabulous ski fun!
Locals and long-term visitors enjoy a full schedule of racing leagues all winter. All skills welcome.
Nub’s Nob includes cross-country and Nordic trails, mountain bike trails, festivals and events.
Boyne Highlands is a mid-Western skiing icon, offering a wide variety of lifts and slopes, as well as full resort accommodations, numerous festivals and continuous night-life. Adventures include heading up to a mountain ski lodge for a picnic lunch, cross-country skiing, tubing, zip lines and more.
Night life often begins at the Zoo Bar with live bands when the slopes close. At the lodge, the Slopeside often hosts bands and sports tv. Resort visitors would well consider a visit to the spa or hot tubs.
A lesser known secret is Boyne Highlands often hosts the end-of-season snow boarding party, the last weekend after the season ends, with Spring skiing and amazing tricksters.
In summer, the Boyne Highlands resort offers golf, mountain biking, zip lines, horse back riding and a full spa.
Top O’ Michigan Outboard Racing Club presents the “World’s Toughest Outboard Marathon” with over two days of exciting and tough outboard racing in Northern Michigan. The course navigates through 87 miles of Northern Michigan’s beautiful Inland Waterway… a spectacular event!
The Historic Stafford’s Pier Restaurant, affectionately called “The Pier” by locals for generations, is nestled along the docks and parks that line the shore of Harbor Springs.
The food is fabulous, whether appetizers on “Dudley’s Deck” overlooking the harbor fleet and beautifully restored “Pointer” touring boat, or a fine planked Whitefish, Perch or other specialty meal in the dining room. The menu offers both fine dining and more casual meals for weary sailers and travelers.
A local treasure, The Pier in Harbor Springs earned it’s reputation by being a five star formal dining restaurant with teams of servers in tuxedo’s through the 1990’s, when “shooters” from The Point would come in and lay down a few thousand dollars to buy the room a pleasure, and the chef’s presented fabulous flaming entree’s with fabulous wines, enjoyed by visitors and summer resident’s alike. At night the bar comes alive with revelers.
Recently remodeled, Stafford’s Pier Restaurant now offers a boat-house atmosphere with the walls lined with restored wooden boats, and a casual dining experience should you choose, with lovely views of the water and still fabulous delicacies.
Treasures from the past come to life at this 18th-century fort and fur trading village. As you walk through the site, you are stepping back in time to 1776, as the American Revolution spread. Reconstructed based on historic maps and more than 60 years of archaeological excavations that continue today, Colonial Michilimackinac offers a one-of-a-kind experience from cannon and musket firings to hearth cooking and crafts.
Located on the shore of the Straits of Mackinac, visitors can enjoy stunning views of the Mackinac Bridge, the straits, and the Upper Peninsula.
Witness the power of the creek harnessed to cut timber into lumber at one of the oldest industrial sites on the Upper Great Lakes. On the Adventure Tour, explore the treetops on the Forest Canopy Bridge, soar like an eagle on the 425′ Eagle’s Flight Zip Line, and experience the layers of the forest on the five-story Treetop Discovery Tower.
Afterward, take time to explore the natural beauty of Mill Creek State Park, which has more than three miles of groomed hiking trails.
The Inland Waterway is a 40-mile long historic water route that begins north of Petoskey and with a series of rivers and lakes connects Conway, Oden, Alanson, Indian River, and Cheboygan to Lake Huron. A coastal route, part of the Huron Shores Blueways, connects the City of Cheboygan to Mackinaw City and the Straits of Mackinac.
The water trails connect 7 state parks; numerous campgrounds, day-use parks, and resorts; 20 Little Traverse Conservancy Nature Preserves, and six communities. Combination paddle and pedal trips are possible since the North Central State Trail, North Eastern State Trail and North Western State Trail all parallel segments of the water trail.
Paddle enthusiasts can access sites, parks, campgrounds, nature preserves, historic sites, birding, outfitters and rentals, marinas, waterfront camping and waterfront resorts.
Sanctuary Park in Alanson is a boardwalk that spans the Crooked River with a wheel-driven barge, where the wetlands, beaver, and diverse waterfowl abound. A short experience but a great place to pause and experience the river on your visit north.
Petoskey State Park, located on the north end of Little Traverse Bay, is situated on 303 scenic acres and offers a beautiful sandy beach on the bay. The park has two separate modern campgrounds. Tannery Creek Campground offers 100 campsites and Dunes Campground offers 80 campsites.
The University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) was founded in 1909. UMBS students and faculty have been studying environmental change since day one.
UMBS was established on land acquired from lumber barons after virtually all the trees had been cleared. Student and faculty researchers studied the biota of a landscape ravaged by catastrophic logging and subsequent fires, allowing them to learn first-hand how land exploitation impacted the natural environment.
The station’s 10,000-acre property has since been reforested via natural processes. But new environmental challenges have emerged, climate change and invasive species foremost among them. Fortunately, dedicated student and faculty researchers continue to roll up their scientific sleeves at the station, and they do so with an increasingly interdisciplinary approach. Natural historians collaborate with microbiologists, ecologists with climatologists, geologists with atmospheric scientists. These cross-disciplinary interactions – strengths of UMBS – foster a greater understanding of the natural world.
Today, UMBS students engage in and learn about biology and environmental science by studying directly in the field and by developing relationships with some of the world’s most respected experts. UMBS is a highly interactive community where students, faculty and researchers come together to learn about the natural world, to examine environmental change, and to seek solutions to the critical environmental challenges of our times.
A total of 1½ miles of trail, dune observation platform, pond observation platform, gazebo, amphitheatre, and seasonal guided programs all make this an excellent family destination.
Reaching into Lake Michigan from the edge of the Mackinac Straits, Wilderness State Park offers a peaceful and exotic camping and beach going. Located adjacent to the Dark Sky Park, sleeping under the veil of stars at Wilderness State Park is a bucket-list adventure!
Journey to the northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula to find the amazing International Dark Sky Park. Featuring spectacular views of the amazing Milky Way and countless stars above, the Headlands east of Mackinaw City offers frequent education and entertainment on site.
Harbor Springs Michigan is a jewel of North America, a small quaint town nestled in a protected harbor filled with magnificent sailboats and yachts from around the world, Harbor Springs offers a wide array of dining, shopping and adventure experiences. Harbor Springs beauty is second to none. Whether on the piers or along the shore, up the bluff, in the woods, or skydiving from above, the views are magnificent.
Harbor Springs has beaches in town (Zorn Park Beach), a dog beach (Zoll Street Beach), and by boat or paddle board you can beach at Harbor Point.
At night, Harbor Springs comes alive with bands and street life. Shop the di$tinctive downtown stores for the finest livery anywhere, as well as more casual shops and galleries for those of more modest means. Restaurants offer fine dining and cocktail atmospheres. Sandwich and pizza shops line the streets and the local movie theater hosts first run films.
The harbor offers complete marine services, repair, storage, and maintenance. Weekly sailboat races, sailing classes, resort sportsmen and grand yachts worthy of Monaco Harbor make the vista from shore a splendor unequaled. Harbor Springs host racers and crews for the Mackinac races as well as the local Ugotta Regatta. The namesake beach is a lovely summer spot to catch some rays and dip in Lake Michigan where you can feel the ice cold springs cool your feet as you swim.
Harbor Springs presents an Art Fair and one of the most spectacular Fourth of July Celebration events in the country. Weekly Shopper’s Nights include lining the streets with buskers and bands so music mixes with the wafting smells of fresh sweets and magnificent treats of the ice cream and specialty stores.
For bikes, classic vehicles, and family rides, Harbor Springs in the jump off point for the fabulous Tunnel of Trees Tour, or spend the day in the inland villages for the Antique Treasure Hunt Tour. Harbor Springs is a stones throw from golf, frisbee golf, nature trails, zip lines and mountain parks. With boat rentals, skate park, a small airport and skydiving, Harbor Springs offers something for everyone.
Start (or end) in Harbor Springs to take a beautiful ride along the Sacred Coast north, home of the famous Spirit Cove and Tunnel of Trees.
Cross Village along the Lake Michigan shore is just south of Sturgeon bay offers dining with spectacular views.
Legs Inn in Cross Village
Through the summer Legs Inn offers live music and spectacular dining. Don’t miss the Halloween Costume Ball the Sunday (or two) before Halloween… spooktacular!
Nearby is the Old World Cafe featuring European Cuisine as well as local shopping and gas.
A few miles South of Cross Village is the Woolam Family Nature Preserve featuring a lovely hike down to the beach.
Northwest… Sturgeon Bay is a pristine and beautify Lake Michigan bathing and beach-stone exploration spot. Nestled in a peaceful driftwood cove and surrounded by dunes with trails and private spots Kayak on a calm day or Kite Surf on a windy day. Bring chairs and enjoy the sunset. It can be a little buggy for a few weeks a year, so bring some bug dope. One of the best beaches in North America.
Pack it in, pack it out. Help keep Sturgeon Bay clean. Do not collect or remove stones, wood or artifacts. If you find a beautiful stone, enjoy it, share it then throw it back as far as you can so a future explorer can enjoy it again and again.