At first glance, the small farming town of Posen, located along Highway 65 in northeast Michigan and hosting the annual Potato Festival, doesn’t seem like a reasonable meeting point to start a car tour The machine lasts all day. But Route 65 Diner offers classic breakfast and lunch fare, nearby Posen EZ Mart is a convenient place to fill up, and the village is close to Lake Huron, the second largest of the Great Lakes, so here it is. The perfect starting point for a Huron Lighthouse Loop Lake.
Scan the QR code above or click here to view the route on REVER
This scenic route that crosses the northeast corner of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula is about 180 miles long and gives you a leisurely day of biking with stops for sight-seeing and dining. It offers unique historic sites, lighthouses, shipwrecks, wildlife sanctuaries, parks and beaches on Lake Huron, and paved paths through deep wooded forests.
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The trip is best done between Memorial Day and Labor Day but can be done earlier in the spring or later in the fall depending on the weather. We took our ride in September.
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About 5 miles north of Posen, the dead-end 65th Street at U.S. Route 23, runs along the shores of Lake Huron on the Michigan shore from Mackinaw City to Saginaw. We headed east on 23rd Street and quickly entered Thompson’s Harbor State Park. We turned onto Old State Road, followed it to the end and headed north on East Grand Lake Road, which brought us to a narrow peninsula jutting into Lake Huron between the North Bay and the Presque Isle Bay.
On the right we see the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse, built in 1840. Due to inclement weather on Lake Huron, the original lighthouse has deteriorated and the New Presque Isle Lighthouse was built in 1870 farther north near the end of the peninsula . Standing 113.5 feet tall, it is one of the tallest lighthouses on the Great Lakes. Both lighthouses have been restored and are part of a 99-acre park that includes a playground, picnic areas, pavilions, gift shops, museums, and nature trails.
Adjacent to the New Presque Isle Lighthouse is the keeper’s house built in 1905 and now a museum. Admission is free, but we paid $5 to climb 130 steps to the top of the lighthouse for stunning views of Lake Huron and the Presque Isle area. The buildings and grounds are open to the public daily from mid-May to mid-October.
We turned back on US Route 23 and headed south, finding a few bends along the edge of Grand Lake and Long Lake, located just inland from Lake Huron. We made our way to Alpena, a town of about 10,000 inhabitants located on the north shore of Thunder Bay. Nearby are two lighthouses, but they are off the lake on the islands and can only be reached by boat.
The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects an area of Lake Huron known as “Shipwreck Lane” where there have been more than 100 shipwrecks of historical significance. Some wrecks are close enough to the surface to visit, which we did on a two-hour wreck tour aboard a glass-bottom boat called the Lady Michigan. We also visited the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, a museum that displays artifacts and fragments of boats that washed ashore.
As we left the museum, the Royal Enfield and Triumph racers in our group insisted that we check out an English pub in downtown Alpena called the Black Sheep Pub. It’s decorated with British flags and memorabilia, and the menu includes delicious and rich pub fare like fish and chips, vinegared pork sandwiches, Scotch eggs and pickled fries .
After lunch, we continued south on Route 23 through portions of Thunder Bay River State Forest, Au Sable State Forest and Huron National Forest. This is the country of chainsaws. In Ossineke, we passed colorful concrete statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox built in the 1940s by Paul Domke, who also built these creatures in the Dinosaur Gardens Prehistoric Zoo near.
South of Alcona, we visited the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse, built in 1870. The 70-foot lighthouse is maintained by the United States Coast Guard and is open to the public. The Goalkeeper’s Home is a maritime museum open from Memorial Day to mid-September.
In Harrisville, the Harley riders and Indians in our group said it was time for some American fare. We headed west on Highway 72 into the heart of Huron National Forest and then turned north on Highway 65 to Curran. Just north of town, we stopped at the Lunch Zone and had a lumberjack breakfast.
Filled with a hearty meal, we packed up our motorbikes and continued north on Route 65 through a forest so dense that no paved roads crossed to the east. The Werth Road eventually appeared and provided a paved road with a few bends back to the Alpena. Alternatively, you can continue north on 65 and turn east on State Route 32.
Just north of the Alpena, past a wildlife reserve, we took the Long Rapids Road, which meanders along the Thunder Bay River northwest to the town of Bolton. We continued north on Bolton Road, then west on the Long Lake Highway, and finally back onto 65th Street back to Posen.
If Michigan is on your motorcycle travel plans, check out the northeastern part of the state near the shores of Lake Huron. The paths offer stunning lake views and some mellow curves and hills, and the lighthouses and historic sites are a nice diversion when it’s time to stretch your legs.
