Your Weekend Guide to Fall Color Tours
Your weekend guide to the best fall color tours around Tahquamenon Falls. Find breathtaking scenery, shipwreck history and great eats and drinks.
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula proudly claims its place among the nation’s most spectacular fall color destinations, a fact confirmed year after year by top rankings in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. One of the biggest reasons? Tahquamenon Country.
It’s a jaw-dropping leaf show best seen in person, not someone else’s photos. Spend a three-day weekend with us this fall and let our leaves prove why they are the stars of this season. Here’s where to see the best of the best.
With its vivid trees and roaring waterfalls, Tahquamenon Country is a magnet for fall color chasers. Ensure you get the lodging, rate and amenities you want by booking before you leave home. And when you arrive, expect a warm U.P. welcome that assures you belong here.
In Mackinaw City at the top of the Lower Peninsula, cross the Mackinac Bridge. The views of Lake Michigan to the west and Lake Huron to the east are spectacular. But get ready for a phenomenon that happens the minute your wheels touch the Upper Peninsula.
Set off with a spirit of wanderlust on your first day. Start by catching lunch or a snack in St. Ignace. There are lots of choices, but here are two local favorites: Swing by Clyde’s Drive-In for legendary burgers, golden fries and thick shakes, or head to Kingston Kitchen for a flavorful fusion of spicy Jamaican favorites and American comfort classics.
Then, follow this first tour to some of the best fall color adventures in the country!
1 Hour and 30 Minutes on the Road: 66 Miles | I-75 N → M-123 N | Lower Tahquamenon Falls
Discover our fall color gem! Set aside about an hour to walk across the pedestrian bridge or rent a rowboat to reach the five cascading Lower Tahquamenon Falls tumbling off an island into the river.
40 Minutes on the Road: 23 Miles | M-123 N → Paradise → N Whitefish Point Road | Whitefish Point
The views of Lake Superior’s Whitefish Bay from M-123 are mesmerizing. Your time at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum (open until 5 p.m.) is filled with dramatic stories of shipwrecks and survival on the Great Lakes. You can extend your stay until dusk, exploring the rocky lakeshore or the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory. Autumn is prime bird-watching season, when hundreds of raptors, shorebirds and songbirds pause here along their migration routes.
40 Minutes on the Road: 26 miles | N Whitefish Point Road → M-123 S | Upper Tahquamenon Falls
It’s dinner time so stop in Tahquamenon Falls Brewery & Pub for a cold draft and your favorite U.P. foods — Lake Superior whitefish, pasties, broasted chicken, pasta, salads and more. Then, head over to the Upper Tahquamenon Falls for the rare experience of watching Michigan’s largest waterfall after dark. Bring a flashlight to follow the trail (and your ears) to this powerful force of nature. You will never forget this!
30 Minutes on the Road: 25 Miles | M-123 S → M-28 W | Newberry
Time to catch a good night’s sleep in your reserved hotel room. When you wake up, there are more fall colors to see tomorrow!
What a day ahead! See gorgeous foliage, Lake Superior beaches and where wildlife roam in the Upper Peninsula.
25 Minutes on the Road: 25 Miles | CR-407 N | 35 Minutes | Deer Park
Since the joy of a fall color tour is going at your pace, pull over in this tranquil community. Deer Park is on the shore of Lake Superior, bordered by dense forests. Give yourself an extra hour or two to uncover its allure. Start with coffee and pastries from Uglyfish Baking Co., served fresh from a quirky 1974 Airstream Argosy.
Still in shopping mode? Make your way to the Deer Park Lodge General Store on Muskallonge Lake. It has everything a Tahquamenon Country adventurer might need — a wide variety of grocery items for packing a picnic lunch, clothing, hats, souvenirs, ice, beverages and snacks — plus an ATM and DNR fishing licenses.
In contrast to the wilder Lake Superior, Muskallonge Lake is shallower and calmer, making it a peak fall place to kayak, canoe, SUP or fish. Prefer to hike? Lace up your boots and hit the trails.
40 Minutes on the Road: 25 Miles | CR-407 W | Grand Marais
Make a slight left off CR-407 onto Randolph St. to Grand Marais. This is the eastern gateway to one of the U.P.’s top attractions, the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Plan to spend at least two hours here. Choose to visit two or more of these destinations: the Log Slide Overlook, Sable Falls, the Au Sable Light Station, Twelvemile Beach, Chapel Falls or the Pickle Barrel House.
50 Minutes on the Road: 45 miles | M-77 S | Seney National Wildlife Refuge
Pick your adventure in the Seney National Wildlife Refuge! Take a driving tour through this ecological treasure, hike or bike the trails, fish or paddle and keep your eyes peeled for sandhill cranes, bald eagles, white-tailed deer, black bears, moose, beaver and river otters. There is so much to see throughout the 95,238 acres; plan on at least a two-hour stopover.
35 Minutes on the Road: 35 Miles | M-28 E → M-123 North | Newberry
Make it a pizza night! The Newberry area offers several delicious options, including Pine Stump Junction, The Pizza Place and Seder’s Pizza. After another restful night, we will see you beneath our glorious tree canopies in the morning.
Day 3 is proof that no matter which way you turn in the Upper Peninsula, fall views are equally breathtaking. This tour takes you to the Manistique Lakes, down to a hidden ancient wonder and along one of the most picturesque Lake Michigan coastal highways rivaled only by the car-stopping leaf shows on the other side of the road.
35 Minutes on the Road: 30 Miles | M-28 W → H-33 | Curtis/Manistique Lakes
Stop for your favorite mid-morning beverage and snack at the B-Grand Coffee Shop and Cafe. Then tour by car, boat or kayak any of the six major inland lakes in the Manistique Lakes Complex: North Manistique Lake, Big Manistique Lake, South Manistique Lake, Milakokia Lake, Lake Ann Louise and Millecoquins Lake. Known as great boating and fishing waters, in the fall these lakes reflect the backdrop of fiery-hued trees. Keep your camera ready.
50 Minutes on the Road: 44 Miles | H-33 S → U.S. 2 W → CR-442 W | Kitch-Iti-Kipi
Kitch-iti-Kipi, the Big Spring in Palms Book State Park, rewards you for venturing off the beaten path. The Ojibwa named it the “Mirror of Heaven” and you will know why instantly when you gaze out on its placid teal waters reflecting the surrounding trees. But what will awe you even more is taking the observation raft across the ever-bubbling spring (more than 10,000 gallons per minute) and looking into its ancient, sand-swirling depths.
20 Minutes on the Road: 12 Miles | CR-442 → U.S. 2 E | Manistique
Follow the signs from Kitch-iti-kipi to CR-442, then six miles to U.S. 2 E. Within minutes you will follow the hardwood trees to the northern shore of Lake Michigan and this resort town. Take your lunch break, saving time to walk the boardwalk and out to the East Breakwater Lighthouse.
1 Hour and 30 Minutes on the Road | 88 Miles | U.S. 2 E | St. Ignace
This is an unmatched stretch of Lake Michigan in the U.P., so save time to walk and relax on the beaches. When it comes to leaf-peeping, the Cut River Bridge Park is a must-stop about halfway to St. Ignace.
You will be awestruck by this engineering feat rising 147 feet above the gorge and spanning 161 feet. However, it is the roadside park’s tree-top view of hundreds of hardwood trees drenching the landscape in deep reds, oranges and yellows that will leave you speechless. Beneath the bridge are hiking trails that give an entirely different perspective. The contrast of the azure water against the forest ablaze with colors is spellbinding.
The grand finale is the sight of the Mackinac Bridge as you arrive in St. Ignace. If possible, stay to watch it illuminated at night.
Fall colors in Tahquamenon Country vary each year, but they typically draw weekenders from mid-to-late September through mid-to-late October. We encourage you to follow the weekly fall color report for Chippewa and Luce Counties in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. That way, you can see the breathtaking colors for yourself at just the right time.
Photos courtesy of Upper Peninsula Travel and Recreation Association
