Michigan Highways: Great Lakes Circle Tours (original) (raw)

Michigan Highways: Since 1997.

The Great Lakes Circle Tours are a total of four routes circling each Great Lake, with the exception of Lake Ontario. The State of Michigan has signed each of the circle tours for the Great Lakes the state touches: the Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior Circle Tours. These tours were originally conceived as an aid for travellers who wished to stick close to the shorelines of the lakes in their journeys. The Lake Superior Circle Tour was the first route established in 1986, with Michigan (1987) following along with Huron and Erie in the early 1990s.

The links below lead to specific information and precise routings for each of the Circle Tours:

Lake Erie Circle Tour

With the shortest length of any of the Great Lakes Circle Tours in Michigan, the Lake Erie Circle Tour runs through only two counties in Southeast Michigan. The LECT enters from Ohio and departs for Ontario only fifty miles later.

Lake Huron Circle Tour

From Port Huron to Sault Ste Marie, the Lake Huron Circle Tour enters both of Michigan's peninsulas and crosses the Mackinac Bridge. This Circle Tour is the only one of the four which only enters two jurisdictions—Michigan and Ontario.

Lake Michigan Circle Tour

The Lake Michigan Circle Tour enters both peninsulas and crosses the Mackinac Bridge, like its cousin the LHCT. However, the LMCT is also the longest of the the Circle Tour routes within Michigan and is also the only one which, in its entire distance, does not leave the US.

Lake Superior Circle Tour

The first official Great Lake Circle Tour, the Lake Superior Circle Tour has roots which stretch back decades when tourism associations in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario promoted the route.

Additional Information

• Great Lakes Circle Tour – new website (under cosntruction) from the author of MichiganHighways.org.
• Great Lakes Circle Tour: Project Archive – project archive from the Great Lakes Commission. It was the GLC who originally helped establishe the Great Lakes Circle Tours, however as of the early 2020s, the Commission has seemed to have abandoned the concept and no longer supports the Circle Tours in an active manner.
• History of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour (link now dead) – from the West Michigan Tourist Association (WMTA). The WMTA helped to coordinate the first of the Great Lakes Circle Tours in the 1980s.
• The 6,500-mile Great Lakes Circle Tour (archived) – an overview article from The Fishwrapper.