Following Northern Michigan’s Autumn Monarch Migration

Probably the most recognizable butterfly in North America is the monarch, with its distinguishable and vibrant black and orange color palette.

Did you know that during the summer, millions of these beautiful winged creatures (if you recall from biology class: lepidoptera from Ancient Greek lepís “scale” + pterón “wing” – the order of insects that includes butterflies and moths) spend their summers in the northern Great Lakes region around Michigan?

While the “summer” monarchs only live for only about four weeks, the migratory winter monarchs (also known as the “super generation”) are noted as the longest-living butterflies with a life span of up to mine months. These late bloomers are just now gearing up for their 2,000-mile or so migration to winter in Mexico (as the butterfly flies, from the Straits of Mackinac to central Mexico).

“This generational difference is caused by changes in weather, aging milkweed, nectar sources and shorter photo periods. With fall quickly approaching, plants are beginning to die back and milkweed, or the caterpillar food, is beginning to brown,” according to a 2018 post on the Original Butterfly House of Mackinac Island website.

“The monarchs emerging in these cooler temperatures are slightly different from their parents and grandparents. Butterflies have a gene that produces collagen which influences flight muscle structure and growth. In the super generation, this gene, produces lower levels of collagen than in the summer monarchs. Less collagen in the flight muscles, increases the endurance of migratory monarchs so they can physically make the trip to Mexico. On top of all that, when the monarchs of the super generation, emerge from their chrysalises, cold weather stunts their development and sends them into a reproductive diapause, meaning they are not sexually active. Due to this HUGE energy reserve they have the ability to live for up to nine months.”

The U.S. Forest Service in Rapid River (located at the north end of Little Bay de Noc, northeast of Escanaba reports that monarchs typically travel 50 to 100 miles a day (although the longest daily trek was recorded at 265 miles). Some, they say, take up to two months to reach their seasonal homes. This group gathers information from tagged butterflies, which provide useful information about migration patterns, timelines and successful arrivals.

According to MonarchWatch.org, “each fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies migrate from the United States and Canada to mountains in central Mexico where they wait out the winter until conditions favor a return flight in the spring. The monarch migration is truly one of the world’s greatest natural wonders.”

As of August 2019, there have been over 26,000 Monarch Waystation habitats in North America registered with Monarch Watch, including 1,950 in Michigan (the third highest state, behind Texas and Illinois respectively).

This migration season is a sight to see and throughout the months of August and September (depending on the weather each year), monarch sightings around northern Michigan are high.

One of the most popular viewing areas is Stonington Point in the Upper Peninsula near Escanaba (150 miles northwest of Mackinaw City), located at the southern tip of the 894,836-acre Hiawatha National Forest. Here, the tower of the Peninsula Point Lighthouse (c. 1865) stands watch over the kaleidoscope (the official designation for a group of butterflies) which at its peak amounts to more than 3,000.

In a 2018 Mlive.com article, writer Emily Bingham notes “because not all monarchs decide to head south at the same time, the butterflies’ migration through Michigan can take up to a month. And, because their staging points can vary based on the elements, it can be tricky to catch the pageantry of a large roost. To that end, Duke Elsner, a consumer horticulture educator with Michigan State University Extension, recommended the website www.journeynorth.org: a citizen-reported tracking database for migratory animals, birds and insects, including the monarch butterfly.”

Are you seeing monarchs around the Straits of Mackinac? If so, share our photos at https://www.facebook.com/MackinawCityMI/.

PHOTO: Michigan State University Extension.

19 Ways to Soak Up the Fall Colors in the Straits of Mackinac

Mackinaw City is considered the “Crossroads of the Great Lakes” for good reason – it is central to dozens of unique locations and activities along both the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shorelines, as well as the vast woods and waters of both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. This autumn, bring the family, friends or consider a solo trip to the “Tip of the Mitt” to explore Michigan’s most colorful season.

Generally, the annual seasonal show peaks in stages, beginning at the top of the state in the Upper Peninsula, where it gets cooler first. Peak color is usually found in the U.P. between mid-September and early October; in the northern Lower Peninsula between late September and mid-October and so on.

Color patterns, however, depend greatly on the weather as well as other factors including lake-effect warming, which delays color changes near Great Lakes and inland water shorelines. In addition, cooler valleys or exposed hills may see color changing faster. Weather conditions in summer and early September largely determine how brilliant each season’s colors will be. Pure Michigan is keeping an eye on the colors for us all, so bookmark this page and check back weekly for updated conditions!

There are nearly 150 different species of trees in Michigan’s 18.6 million acres of forest. Our state boasts a colorful mix of yellows, reds, golds and oranges. Some of the most beautiful colors are displayed by such hardwoods as aspen, maple, birch, sumac and oak. When combined with a background of evergreen forest, the result is one of the best shows in the nation.

As you make plans to visit the Straits of Mackinac area during the fall season, consider these unique ways to enjoy the color show!

Go with the GLOW! This exciting 5K will offer prizes for the glow-iest man, woman and team…as well as the largest team in the competition. This evening run begins at 9pm on October 5 at The Trailhead in Mackinaw City. Contact the Mackinaw City Chamber of Commerce to register!

Scare Yourself! It is Halloween season, after all. Fort Fright is a “haunted” experience held October 4-6 (6:30-9:30pm) at Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City. Explore the wooden palisade of the Fort at twilight and experience the legends and lore of the Native Americans, French Canadians and British who called this site their home.

If you’re headed to Mackinac Island, check out the Haunted Theater or Mackinaw Manor Haunted House, both located right downtown on Huron Street.

Celebrate the History of the Season! The Mackinaw Area Historical Society & Heritage Village is hosting two ghostly events on Saturday, October 26. The annual “Ghost Supper – Spirit Feast” is planned from 12-4pm. This event is steeped in Native American culture as a traditional time of remembering and honoring deceased loved ones and relatives through the offering of food and tobacco (semaa) at a community meal. The tobacco is offered to the spirit fire, in honoring our ancestors at this gathering! While a food plate is prepared to feed the ancestor’s at the spirit fire. The ghost supper shares elements of All Souls Day (November 2) and Mexico’s Day of the Dead (November 1 – November 2) and Halloween. Guests are invited to bring a favorite dish of an ancestor to share (along with one’s own table setting). The celebration also includes a sacred fire, drumming and singings throughout the afternoon.

That evening, “Fright Night” runs from 5-7pm. Here, costumed docents greet trick-or-treaters who will walk the ‘frightfully’ decorated grounds from building to building in this historic park. There are bewitching graveyards and candle lit paths leading trick or treaters to decorated buildings. Trick or treaters will enjoy give aways, refreshments at the bon fire and a scary story or two.

Check out the Monarch Migration. Keep your eyes open for the fluttering of monarch butterflies as they begin their 2,000-mile migration through northern Michigan to Mexico, where they’ll spend the winter season. It’s quite a site to see. Read more here.

Go on an Elk Viewing Excursion. Just about 80 miles south/southeast of Mackinaw City is one of the state’s prime elk viewing sites—the Pigeon River Country State Forest and Elk Range in Gaylord, one of the largest free-roaming elk herd east of the Mississippi (with 105,000 acres). The most popular time to view elk is during the breeding season in September and October when they are feeding in open grassy areas and bulls are bugling. The best times to view elk are at dawn and dusk. NOTE: Elk should be appreciated at a distance and individuals should not try to approach the animal. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has published a Viewing Guide online, to provide more information about this unique experience.

Photograph Waterfalls. The Upper Peninsula is home to more than 300 waterfalls, ranging in size from under five feet to more than 48-foot vertical drops. Michigan’s largest falls is Tahquamenon – located just 80 miles from Mackinaw City. The centerpiece of Tahquamenon Falls State Park’s 50,000 acres, the Upper Falls is one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi with a drop of nearly 50 feet and more than 200 feet across with a water flow of more than 50,000 gallons per second. For more, check out this feature on Michigan’s Majestic Waterfalls.

Star Gazing & Moon Viewing. While there are plenty of open air places around Mackinaw City to look at the stars, the Headlands International Dark Sky Park is the premier location for unobstructed views.

Take a Scenic Drive. Michigan is home to many Pure Michigan Byways which celebrate the state’s outstanding natural beauty and many sites of historical, scenic, recreational and cultural significance. Several of these routes are easily accessible from Mackinaw City…read more here. The Mackinaw Area Visitors Bureau has even established a specific Fall Color Tour Route, which will take you along some of the most scenic sites in northern Michigan!

Celebrate Michigan’s State Parks Centennial! In May, 1919, the Michigan State Park system was officially established and today features more than 100 unique venues across the state’s two peninsulas. Locally, Wilderness State Park is a wonderful four-season destination and a highlight to the Straits of Mackinac. Here are “19 Things You May Not Know About Wilderness State Park” for those of you interested in more history!

Hike the North Country Trail. The North Country National Scenic Trail passes through seven northern states, from New York to North Dakota—traveling extensively through Michigan’s two peninsulas. When completed, the 4600-mile trail will be the longest continuous hiking trail in the United States. Coming out of Petoskey, the trail travels through Mackinac State Forest and Wilderness State Park where it follows the Lake Michigan Shoreline to Mackinaw City. The trail enters town on the southern border and its entire one-mile stretch inside the village is also a paved DNR Rails-to-Trails project named the North Western State Trail. From the trailhead, there is also access to the DNR’s North Central State Trail, which will take you from Mackinaw City south to Gaylord. For those wanting to continue north via the Mackinac Bridge, The Bridge Authority provides a shuttle to the trail’s Upper Peninsula connector. FYI – September 22-29 is Michigan Trails Week!

Explore Michigan’s National Forests & Lakeshores. In the 1920s and 1930s, the US Government started a “resettlement program” which provided for direct purchase of marginal ag land and resettled those people onto more productive lands. Most of the purchased land was set aside for National or State forests. Michigan has four National Forests, two of which are within close proximity to Mackinaw City.

Huron-Manistee National Forest: Lying between the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron in the northern half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the nearly one-million-acre Huron-Manistee National Forests are in a transition zone between forested lands to the north and agricultural lands to the south. The Huron-Manistee National Forests contain rare ecological features, such as dry sand prairie remnants, coastal marshlands, dunes, oak savannahs, fens, bogs and marshes.
Hiawatha National Forest: Located in Michigan’s wild and scenic Upper Peninsula, the Hiawatha National Forest’s dramatic shorelines lie nestled up to Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan — three of the five great lakes. Six historic lighthouses stand on Hiawatha’s Great Lakes shorelines, five of which are owned entirely or in part by the Forest Service. The Hiawatha also boasts four distinctly different Great Lakes islands.

Go on a Cemetery Tour. Take a ferry ride over to Mackinac Island and explore one of the three cemeteries found there—two civilian and one military. Ste. Anne’s Catholic Cemetery is the largest of the three; the Protestant Cemetery is referred to by locals as “The Mackinac Island Cemetery”; and The Post Cemetery is the military site with grave dating back to the War of 1812 with both British and American soldiers buried there. The Post Cemetery is designated as a National Historic Landmark and the flag here continually flies at half-mast—one of only four National Cemeteries with this honor. All three are adjacent to each other on Garrison Road, in the middle of the island, and are open to the public during daylight hours.

Go on a Self-Guided Sculpture Tour. Scattered around Mackinaw City are several wooden sculptures carved by Jerry Prior, each depicting a personal of historical importance in town. He started wood sculpting in 1989, shortly after he retired from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), where he worked as a road designer. The first was completed was Chief Wawatam, which stands in Wawatam Park. Read more about Prior’s unique works of art by reading “History Carved in Wood.”

Climb a Lighthouse. Michigan has more lighthouse than any other state (at nearly 120) and the Straits area is home to more than a dozen of these historic navigational aids. Among those open for tours during the fall season are Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse (1892-1957) and McGulpin Point Light (1869-1906). Read more about the history of our area lights here. And, for more about HAUNTED lights in the area, check this out!

Try Geocaching. This high-tech treasure hunt involves using a GPS to find a container (or cache) using specific coordinates. Northern Michigan’s many geocache spots combine hiking, birding, wildflower and leave viewing, wildlife and other outdoor recreation and natural attractions. There are hundreds in the Straits Area and some unique and amazing locations in Mackinaw City. To get started sign up at geocaching.com and download waypoints to your smart phones or visit the Mackinaw Public Library computer lab for coordinates.

Collect leaves. Remember in high school biology when you had to collect leaves as part of a class project. This is a great multi-generational project to get you out on the local trails and in the parks to hand select the prettiest of leaves. Consider pressing them between pieces of wax paper, just like when you were a kid. Head out into the trails at Wilderness State Park, The Headlands or Historic Mill Creek to begin your search!

Cast a Line. Michigan boasts more freshwater coastline than any other state (3,177 miles of Great Lakes shoreline) as well as more than 11,000 inland lakes (more than Minnesota, FYI) and 36,000-plus miles of rivers and streams…with nearly 150 different species of fish. There are also many “Blue Ribbon Trout Streams” within a short drive of Mackinaw City such as the AuSable, Maple and Sturgeon Rivers in the Lower Peninsula (among 35 total) and Tahquamenon, Fox and Two Hearted in the Upper Peninsula (among 13 total). For more about fishing in the area, click here.

Swing the Sticks. Fall is a perfect time for a round of golf—the crowds, bugs and prices are reduced versus the peak summer season. In the Mackinaw City area, check out Cheboygan Golf & Country Club or The Mackinaw Club.

Take a Trolley Tour. The Mackinac Old Time Trolley offers narrated historical tours of Mackinaw City’s timeless historic sites including the Mackinac Bridge, Colonial Michilimackinac, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and the Coast Guard Icebreaker Mackinaw. In the morning, the one-hour tour stays in town while the two-hour evening historical trip heads up over the five-mile Mighty Mac for a tour of Upper Peninsula sites.

As you’re out and about experiencing the Straits of Mackinac area this fall season, be sure to share your photos (including selfies) online using the hashtag #MakeItMackinaw, #MackinawCity and #FallIntoMackinaw whenever possible.

For lodging reservations for the fall season in Mackinaw City, visit MackinawCity.com/stay/.

PHOTO: Mackinaw City Chamber of Commerce.