Hello,
My husband and I would like to do a road trip from PA to the U.P. mid October 2025. But before I get too involved, I have a question. I have lower back and sacroiliac issues. Walking in sand and climbing steep steps are a real problem for me, they set my pain off. I can hike up to 4 miles on a dirt surface with no problems. Here is a rough itinerary, maybe you could advise me if this is possible. We would drive from PA to Sandusky,OH our first day. Then head into Michigan, going up Rt.31 to Traverse City. We would stop before Traverse City for the night, not sure where yet. Any advice there would be appreciated. We have heard that Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petosky and the Wilderness State Park are all nice places. Then we would head to Mackinac Island, maybe just for the day, do a carriage ride, eat lunch and maybe dinner. We would then head to the U.P. and see
Soo Locks,Tahquamenon Falls, Whitefish Point (?) on to Picture Rocks, Munising and Marquette. We have not yet decided if we will go to Houghton and Copper Harbor. We would of course love to get lucky enough to see the Northern Lights, and I am wondering where our best chances of that might be. So, could you critique my itinerary? We are interested in sightseeing, hiking a bit here and there maybe but don't have to. We like small walkable towns, looking at pretty homes,eating of course, some beers, museums etc. Any advice and places to stay/eat are all welcome. Thanks kindly. Namaste

We did the UP in 2022 and had a wonderful time. I wanted to see the places my late mother had lived in and spoke about; she was Native American and born in Zeba in the western UP. We were there in mid or late September and about half of the days were chilly and sometimes rainy. In October, it might be wise to do the further reaches of your itinerary first to due to possible weather, and do Mackinac Island and south at the end.

We went to St. Ignace, the Soo (really enjoyed the ride through the locks), the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, Tahquamenon Falls, Munising, Marquette, L'Anse, Houghton, and went up to Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor. The last two were nice drives, but not particularly worth it to us. We really enjoyed the Seaman Mineral Museum in Houghton, and the Keweenaw National Historic Park in Calumet (a nice little town with some pretty houses). The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame & Museum in Ishpeming was a surprise, and we had the place to ourselves at that time of year.

The Pictured Rocks boat tour was a highlight, even though it was really cold and windy. I was grateful our trip was east to west and back again, as the time we actually stayed in Munising it wasn't running due to weather. But on our way back from the Keweenaw area, we were able to head there after Marquette. Marquette is a nice little city and they have a great recreation path along with shore that was just really relaxing and peaceful. We went out to Presque Isle Park, and did a little rockhounding in various places. There was an aurora alert when we were in Marquette, but to my regret I was just way too tired to get dressed and head out. I don't remember hearing whether there actually was activity, so maybe I didn't miss it.

Lakenenland, a free outdoor sculpture park with some cool pieces made from scrap metal, is worth a stop. There's a lot of beautiful views of Superior between Marquette and Munising, and we pulled over at as many as we could - just couldn't get enough of it. Then we headed south to Manistique and were glad we went to Kitch-iti-kipi, which seems to be a bit of unknown attraction.

Enjoy your trip!

dreamer320,
Thanks for your reply. It must have been wonderful to visit the places that your mom has lived. How heartwarming for you. You pretty much did the trip and route we are planning. Thanks for letting me know about Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor. This helps a lot, as we were unsure whether to spend the extra time and money to do this. I think we will skip it. I am hoping to see the Northern Lights if possible but even the dark, beautiful skies will be nice. I also like your idea of going east to west and doing the UP first, great point. It really sounds like we will be doing basically the same trip as you. Thanks for your tips and advice.

Download the northern lights app or the aurora tracker app. Provides the likelihood of sighting in your area.

jill_h,
Thanks. I should have known there'd be a app for that.