Great Lakes - Traverse City Day Trip Ideas?

Hi! My husband and I are taking a second honeymoon up at Black Star over a long weekend. We are planning to bike Old Mission Peninsula on one day, but would like to add another day of biking too. I'd like to incorporate lunch at Cherry Republic . . . any ideas?

Leelanau County has plenty of great routes. Overall, good pavement and lots of options. If you want to get over to Cherry Republic, plan a day of riding out of Glen Arbor. You can cruise out to Glen Haven, along the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Pierce Stocking scenic drive, then either a loop around little and big Glen Lakes depending on how much you want to do.

My wife and I went there last year, couldn't do any biking (slipped a disc in my neck the week before:( ). There's things all over that place, but as Upcruiser said, the Sleeping Bear dunes area is nice. One thing: It doesnt seem like a long walk from the dunes to the lake, but it'll wear you out (I think it took us two and a half hours).

Cherry Republic is a nice place for lunch too :)

I was up there last year too and that Peninsula ride was highly recommended. I didnt ride it but drove it with the wife and kids and really regretted not riding it. What a awesome ride it would have been. I rode some out of Elk Rapids and down towards Torch lake and that was nice too.

You are sworn to secrecy. Do not tell anyone about T.C.
It's like people from Seattle who tell everyone else that it rains all the time.

OK, here's the real deal: Leelanau Peninsula. Out to the town of Leland. To Glen Arbor. GREAT restaurants, and they have a Cherry Republic out there one block off of the main drag. (There are only two streets in that town, so it's not something you can miss very easily.)

Down to the town of Empire. There's a great little beach there where you can see the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Seriously, let's keep this our little secret.

Check with the Cherry Capital Cycling Club http://www.cherry-capital.com/

If you have time to order it before your trip, their NW Mich Cycling Map is real nice.

Shhhhh. That Cherry Capital Cycling Club looks sweet. I love it up in T.C. - we discovered it by accident. I'll try to keep it quiet, though ;-)

The Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor is actually the original one. The owner is actually is a friend of mine and an avid cyclist too. They have some really good grub there. The stretch down to Empire is nice but the only bummer is that there is about 4 miles with no bike path. Its the only stretch of all M22 in the county that doesn't have a shoulder for some reason, drives me crazy, but in the grand scheme isn't a big deal, just watch for the RV's with the big mirrors. Glen Arbor up to Leland is great too. M22 runs through the National Lakeshore from about 8 miles south of Empire to about 9 miles north of GlenAbor. Very scenic. If you are on a bike that you don't mind riding on dirt roads, there are some great views and beaches to be seen passing through old farming comunities and the like.

I grew up in Leelanau county and have rode it all my life. Unfortunately the word has been out for a while and the sheer numbers of tourists and people moving to that region inspired me to move 5 hours north. haha I have a cottage in Glen Arbor though that I try to spend some time at in the summers. You CANNOT beet the beaches in that area.

I come to TC every month to visit my dad and I keep a bike here (I'm in TC right now). Lots of great road riding, especially, as mentioned by others, Leelenau, Old Mission, Elk Rapids. There are vast mountain bike trails--VASA is a good one, and it connects to the TART trail (http://www.traversetrails.org/).

TART (http://www.traversetrails.org/) is a rail trail, paved about half its length, hard gravel the rest of the way. Take it to access Leelenau if you use TC as your home base, and you'll skip the worst traffic near the city.

The crowds are bad in the summer, although not much of a problem on the county roads, which are beautiful. Traffic on state highways like M-22 is very bad in the summer. If you can, it's nice to visit before school lets out for the summer. If you have any specific questions, let us know! :)