Spring - Wildflowers, Waterfalls and 5-Star Wilderness
With spring, heavy snow boots are stowed away and woolen mackinaws are shed for light jackets. At your favorite resort, it’s a warming log in the fireplace and cuddly blanket on your bed.
March is the transitional month, with tall waves pounding against the boulders in a display of power, and a final swirling snow here and there. The months of April and May enter with baskets of surprises. They lead a parade of changing temperatures, with bright spring skies and gentle winds. Beginning in April, the air sweeps in with promises that grow warmer with every dawn. Spring thaws frozen trickles into rushing streams. This is a prime opportunity to explore the 150-plus waterfalls, our kings of the wilderness that roar out demands for attention. Note the rich yellow marsh marigolds blossoming along the banks and in the marshes.
Wildflowers seem to leap up underfoot, beginning with arbutus with their spicy aroma and the delicate spring beauties. Regal trilliums and purple violets appear, along with prized Lady Slippers and 30 other varieties of wild orchids.
Meadows, forest floors, and road embankments are wildflower greenhouses. One day they’re blue with forget-me-nots, and what seems only moments later, they’re white with nodding daisies.
In the forests, catkins dangle from most hardwood limbs appear, with leaves soon covering the birch, aspen, stately oaks, and others. Sap runs in the maple sugarbush. For maple syrup samples, stop at gift shops along the way.
Choice edible morel mushrooms leap up in hardwood openings, along stream banks, and fence rows. The fresh smells of spring mix with the aromas of lilacs, apple blossoms and sugarplums.
The avian migration begins. Geese and swans spread their wide wings, passers-by friends flying in V-formations, bound for their summer homes in the north, honking their farewells. Stop at wildlife refuges. Climb the viewing decks to see the marshes already busy with wildlife’s spring home construction chores.
Watch raptors from a mountain top as they reach for the wind current and a free ride. Catch woodcock calling out their raspy mating song, culminating with the performance of a spiral love dance at dusk. Listen to the haunting call of loons, celebrating spring again along their inland lakes.
Golfers head for their favorite clubs, eager to test their swings on greens covered with new grass.
Watch the thawing of our lakes. At river mouths, listen for the shout of “Ice Out,” as the ice breaks up and surges into the big lakes.
Fishermen approach spring with fervor. Boats are dragged out of storage, painted and made ready. Stream waders are tested. Here comes trout season again!
By mid-spring, lodging selections range from the four-diamond Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island to our 5-star wilderness. Campgrounds are mere steps away from untamed beauty. They include campsites at private grounds, along with 19 state parks, 53 state and national forests, national park and national lakeshore.
Spring offers optimum shopping. Casinos are never more than a short drive away from major communities, many with full services, including lodgings.
Beach bums and collectors search our beaches for agates, freshly-scrubbed driftwood, and other treasures deposited by winter storms.
Other visitors enjoy lingering over coffee in small town cafes to chat with local characters before the competition of summer tourists arrive.
Welcome to an Upper Peninsula spring!
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