Great Lakes Circle Tours
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 from the author of MichiganHighways.org.- Great Lakes Circle Tour - information from the Great Lakes Commission. It was the GLC who originally helped establishe the Great Lakes Circle Tours and continues to provide information on many aspects of the Great Lakes region.
- Great Lakes Circle Tour - from the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN), which "is a partnership that provides one place online for people to find information relating to the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region of North America."
Great Lakes Circle Tours - from the Pure Michigan website.
History of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour - 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 (via archive.org)- an overview article
from The Fishwrapper.
