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Continuing northward, the drive skirts Grand Lake, whose limestone floor causes the water to sparkle like a translucent green jewel. Presque Isle—its harbor long a haven for ships plying Huron's trade routes—is located on the neck of land separating Grand Lake and Lake Huron.
The Old Presque Isle Light, now a museum, began guiding mariners into the harbor in 1840. In 1870 a larger structure, the Presque Isle Light, was erected about a mile to the north, putting the older lighthouse out of commission. Bordered by a 100-acre park, the newer beacon, one of the loftiest on the Great Lakes, stands more than 110 feet tall.
5. Rogers City
Though the drive passes through forest as it leads north, the economy in these parts is fueled not by lumber but by rocks: one of the world's largest limestone quarries has been carved into the earth at Rogers City. At Quarry View visitors can take a look at the action in the immense pit—three miles long and two miles wide.
A side trip to the west on Rte. 68 leads to Ocqueoc Falls, the largest in lower Michigan. Songbirds flit through the cedars that line the trails to the terraced falls, and hikers can top off their treks with a refreshing dip in a pool at the base of the tumbling cascade.
Continuing north again on Rte. 23, you'll come to P. H. Hoeft State Park, a 300-acre refuge with a mile-long beach. Although winds and currents can combine to make the water chilly and the shore bottom pebbly, fine views of Lake Huron remain a constant. You can while away the hours by watching huge freighters pass on their way to and from the quarries at Rogers City—a sight that is equally impressive at night when the ships’ lights flicker and dance across the darkened water.
6. Cheboygan
Several roadside overlooks, complete with picnic areas, make the sightseeing easy as you travel northward. The curving wooded shoreline and the expanse of Lake Huron form panoramic patchworks of green and blue all the way to Cheboygan. The town sits on the banks of the Cheboygan River, which is part of Michigan's Inland Waterway. Meandering between willow-shaded banks, the passageway has two locks and passes through three rivers and three lakes on its way across northeastern Michigan. In addition to boating and fishing opportunities, Cheboygan boasts trail-laced parks and historic sites, including lighthouses and an old-time opera house—an elegantly restored music hall dating from 1877.
7. Mackinaw City
Located at the northernmost tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, Mackinaw City affords visitors the rare opportunity of watching the sun rise over one Great Lake, Lake Huron, and set over another, Lake Michigan. Sightseers can also tour Colonial Michilimackinac, a reconstruction at the site of a once-thriving fur-trading post and palisaded fort. Here, too, is Mighty Mac—the Mackinac Bridge, one of the world's longest suspension bridges. Spanning the swirling Straits of Mackinac, it provides an impressive gateway to the wooded wilds that spread across Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a fitting end to your drive.
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