Ambitious Lower Peninsula One-Day Color Tour

This is a pretty ambitious one-day color tour, but you can cut some things out if you want. Or use it as a base for two trips! Expand the map and click on the points to see details; you can also share it to your phone if you want!

A: Farmington Hills — starting point

B: Hartwick Pines State Park (198 miles; 2 hours, 46 minutes)

After 200 miles and nearly three hours, this is a great place to stretch your legs and see a beautiful state park that is tranquil and leaves you breathless. You can see forever under the pines, and walking on the floor of the pine forest is pretty special. It’s not far off the path and worth the stop, maybe for a picnic lunch.

C. Cross in the Woods National Shrine, Indian River (52 miles, 46 minutes)

Again, if you haven’t seen the Cross in the Woods, it’s absolutely beautiful in the fall, and a great outdoor stop along the way. Indian River is really beautiful, too, set along the river and really picturesque. If you are looking for a place to get food, Wilson’s River Edge is our favorite, although I haven’t been there during the COVID outbreak. I see they have a “carhop” service touted on their website; I’m betting you could get carryout.

D. Cross Village (Legs Inn) – 35 miles (41 minutes)

You can skip this part of the route if you feel like it’s too ambitious. But the drive through that part of northwest Lower Peninsula is absolutely beautiful, because it takes you through rolling hills and lots of trees. If you go a bit FARTHER northwest you can go to Wilderness State Park, on Sturgeon Bay, which is also super pretty at any time of the year.

Legs Inn is one of my top five favorite places in that area, maybe even my favorite. The food is fantastic, authentically Polish. The indoors area of the restaurant is full of handcarved wooden features. You can ask to sit outside on the giant porch, which rolls out to a yard on a bluff and overlooks Lake Michigan.

Bonus: Tunnel of Trees

From Legs Inn heading south along the bluffs of Lake Michigan you head through the famed Tunnel of Trees, which is a 19-mile narrow, winding road from Cross Village to Harbor Springs. It’s a beautiful drive, but be aware it will take about an hour because it’s 25 mph along much of it. It also gets a bit crowded in fall because it really is the most well-known fall color road. It’s beautiful, but the one along Torch Lake is just as beautiful and much less well known, so there are very few cars.

E. Harbor Springs to Charlevoix (27 miles, 46 minutes)

Harbor Springs to Charlevoix takes you along Little Traverse Bay, and it’s just an opportunity to drive through quintessential up north towns that are quaint and fun. Either Harbor Springs or Charlevoix has great little shops to grab picnic lunches or ice cream. And both have beautiful harbors as well.

F. Charlevoix to West Torch Lake (25 miles, 32 minutes)

Taking U.S. 31 south from Charlevoix to Torch Lake, you can continue down the highway or veer off and take the road along the west side of Torch Lake. It’s a hidden gem. I’d suggest going east one mile off McLaughlan Road, and if you are so inclined take the winding road up a hill to A-Ga-Ming Golf Course, which gives you a view of both Lake Michigan and Torch Lake, and is the prettiest course in Michigan in the fall. Or just continue on McLaughlan Road a bit more (it’s just a quarter-mile or so) to Torch Lake Drive, turn right and hang on to that road as long as it follows the lake. It’s breathtakingingly beautiful in the fall and anytime. At Kewadin, stay left at Cherry Avenue, and head toward Rapid City, rather than taking the road back to U.S. 31. It’ll take you back around the south end of the lake, and then you can veer onto Rapid City Road NW, a short distance to U.S. 72 south and into Kalkaska.

G. U.S. 131 through Cadillac and into Grand Rapids (135 miles, 2 hours, 20 minutes)

U.S. 131 is so much prettier than I-75 or U.S. 31, so taking this route, through Cadillac and down to Grand Rapids, is my preferred route in the fall. If you like German food, there’s fantastic German food and beer at Cedar Springs Brewery. I am still dreaming about the Jaeger Schnitzel I had there last year.

H. Grand Rapids: Meijer Sculpture Garden

While in Grand Rapids (or if you want a great day trip some time) stop at the Meijer Sculpture Gardens. You can wander among all the sculptures, staying totally outside, if you want. There’s lots inside as well, but the outside gardens are worth a visit all on their own. My nieces and Stacy and I loved our visit a few years ago.

BACK HOME TO FARMINGTON HILLS: I think you can make it from here!

UP quickie trip

If you want to get to the U.P., there are several places you can go that are less than an hour or two of the bridge. If you decide to take a night along the way in St. Ignace or Mackinaw City, you can do the UP trip easily overnight. If you want to do just a day trip, you can head straight north on 75 and over the bridge, turn west on U.S. 2, and head 40 miles to Cut River Gorge, where you can hike along the river and the gorge all the way to Lake Michigan. It’s a beautiful place to spend an afternoon! And it’s right off the highway, easily accessible across this bridge or down through a park and along the falls/river.

UP Option 2: Tahquamenon Falls

It may seem a long way, but it’s actually just 5 hours (356 miles) straight north. So if you decide to be ambitious, the falls are a must-see, in spring or fall. Spring is when the water is moving fastest and fiercely; fall is just so picturesque it’s not even describable. I realize this is a stretch, but just throwing it out there. These falls and the paths along them are worth the trip at some point, if you haven’t gone.

One more option: West to Muskegon

Stacy and I spend at least a weekend every October (til this one) in the Holland/Saugatuck/Grand Haven area. It’s beautiful in the fall. One place I visited last year that I’d never been before is PJ Hoffmaster State Park, just south of Muskegon. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, sandy cliffs along Lake Michigan, and you can walk the beach for miles. And it’s an easy day trip. If you do it, you’ll find beautiful color all the way into the park, then you can head south along the lake to Grand Haven, where the pier and lakeside park is also super picturesque. If you can walk out onto the pier (not sure if it’s still open given the high water) that’s a great walk.

The road along the lake between Grand Haven and Holland is among the prettiest I’ve traveled in the fall. I discovered it by accident last year, coming down to meet Stacy in Holland from the state park in Muskegon. It was so pretty I took her BACK up that way the next day, on our way to Grand Haven.