Lake Michigan Circle Tour

A 1,100-mile loop around Lake Michigan, the Circle Tour offers breathtaking views, quaint towns and a string of not-to-be missed lighthouses. We took this trip in the Summer of 2020, when the pandemic made car travel and the ability to social distance ironclad prerequisites. With easy access to miles of isolated hiking trails and untouched shorelines in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, the route – particularly in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – provided the necessary space and solitude. We briefly departed from the route to stop at Tahquamenon Falls, the spectacular 50-foot drop referenced in Longfellow poem “The Song of Hiawatha.” The water is tinted brown from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps, creating both a unique photo opportunity and an obvious reason to veer off course.