All parts of the UP (East, West, central) have some good spots. Taking HWY 2 is good, but another alterative to I 75 is to head on highway 134 – there are some nice views and traffic isn’t bad (I have bicycled 134 several times) I can’t say if Drummond Island is worth the ferry or not.
If you head to Sault St Marie watching ships go through the locks (or take a boat trip) is interesting.
If you head to Tahquamenon Falls, a trip to the shipwreck museum at Whitefish Point isn’t too far. I stayed at Andrus Lake State Forest campground and biked to Whitefish point one day and the falls another.
Pictured Rocks is worth visiting but is probably too far
In the Lower peninsula there is Sleeping Bear Dunes
When I visited Kitchi-iti-kipi (July 6 afternoon) the line to get on the raft was ~2 hours. Luckily you can get a decent view without getting on the raft - but I agree that is probably too far to drive.
I’ve driven over the Cut River bridge many times – I keep meaning to stop and take a look.
Seconded, and I should have mentioned this museum in my earlier post about the Falls. The Edmund Fitzgerald was lost less than 20 miles from this point, and the ship’s bell is in the museum.
Yes, I took that same drive a few weeks ago and rolling into town quite a crazy scene. Some locals must be sooo PISSED. One dispensary after another, all either new-new or old-newly painted. I visited a big KingZ sized one and found it festive and fun. There must have been twenty staff working there, cheerfully!
Trip report! My trip was last week, and what an absolutely beautiful part of the country to visit. I’m so glad we got to go at this time of year - it was either peak leaf time or pretty darn close to it. Alas, I am afraid fall is forever ruined for me. I don’t know that I’ll ever see such intense, beautiful fall foliage again.
Boyne City and Petosky were both very enjoyable to walk through their downtowns. We then made our way up near the Tunnel of Trees and tried to eat at Legs Inn but it was crazy busy. We drove 15 minutes to eat at Moose Jaw Junction instead and we both were very impressed with the food. The Tunnel of Trees also ended up a bit of a disappointment. While it was still a pretty drive, almost all the trees were still green with only an occasional splash of color. We wondered if it had something to do with being right along the coast of Lake Michigan as there was abundant fall color even slightly more inland?
We spent all of Friday in the Upper Peninsula. We took Highway 123 north and continued on to Whitefish Point and visited the maritime museum there, which was quite interesting. We then went to Tahquamenon State Park and went to the lower and upper falls, which were both quite neat to see. We took 123 west and holy smokes that drive was incredible. The golds, oranges and reds were so intense! At one point we drove through a mile long section of such bright gold fall foliage that the sunlight even turned golden (it was an otherwise overcast day). At times the foliage didn’t even look real it was so beautiful.
We worked our way down to Engadine and then took Highway 2 back east. I didn’t realize they had turnoffs at Cut River Bridge until too late but the brief glimpse was neat. It seemed past peak leaf season along Highway 2 as there were quite a bit of trees that had already lost their leaves and no red leaves left at all. We did stop in at Gustafson’s in Brevort. I chickened out about buying a whole smoked fish (I didn’t really know what to do with a whole fish!) but we bought some of their smoked fish dip. It was okay, but not much flavor beyond the smokiness. I probably could have made a dip I would have liked better but alas we were unprepared. I do wish I had bought some of their beef jerky - the sign said it needed to be refrigerated and I had no way to do that for the trip home. It was only as we were leaving that I overhead one of the ladies behind the counter say an unopened package could go a couple of days without refrigeration. I’ll try to buy some when their online shop opens.
I spent Saturday exploring alone while my sister was busy with the wedding. I drove along Lake Michigan and stopped to wander small towns when there was a break in the drizzling rain. I went up Old Mission Peninsula (how are there so many dang vineyards in such a small area?!) to the lighthouse, and then made my way back south and then over to Leland. I caught a brief break in the rain to quickly explore the old fishing village and I loved it - that’s definitely a place I’d like to go back to!
Sunday was spent mostly driving as it was raining quite heavily and we had to get to Grand Rapids that evening for our flight. We happened to stumble on an unpaved road outside of Boyne City that was probably better than the Tunnel of Trees - again, great fall foliage and we only saw one other car the entire time, so a bit of a hidden gem.
Sorry this has gotten so long so I’ll wrap it up. I hope I have the opportunity to return again for fall leaf peeping. It was beautiful and all of the locals were incredibly kind and genuinely friendly people. Thank you to everyone here that gave recommendations!