Your Michigan's Upper Peninsula CME conference.

Marquette after your study day

Study days finish at 2:00 PM local time. For an easy afternoon, choose one outing: a loop around Presque Isle Park on the lake, a guided tour of the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse, or a walk downtown, where the tourism board lists local breweries and restaurants. Leave time for the seasons. From November 1 the road around Presque Isle is closed to motor vehicles, and the lighthouse tours do not run in bad weather, so check both before you go.

Travel, lodging and any tour or admission fees are arranged separately. Your conference follows your own schedule on your phone or laptop; the Upper Peninsula is the setting you choose for it.

Presque Isle Park and Black Rocks

Presque Isle Park is a 323-acre forested peninsula that reaches into Lake Superior just north of downtown Marquette, about three miles up Lake Shore Boulevard. Peter White Drive circles it in a loop of nearly two miles that you can walk, bike or drive. The east end sits on sandstone cliffs with outlooks over the lake.

Black Rocks are formations along the shore, about 1.7 billion years old and mostly basalt, and their dark color against the water is why they draw photographers. Sunset Point on the western shore is known for sunsets over the Huron Mountains and nearby islands. A white-tailed deer herd lives on the peninsula, so please do not feed the animals. The central forest has hiking trails, and birds stop here on migration. The city’s park page lists picnic areas and grills near the southern entrance, a playground, a wood bandshell for concerts, the city-owned Presque Isle Marina, the Upper Harbor light beacon and a long breakwall. Spring and fall are the main fishing seasons for lake whitefish, lake trout and brook trout, and bikes are allowed year round on paved paths only.

Ore docks and iron history

Marquette’s lower harbor reflects the city’s maritime and mining past. The Lower Harbor Ore Dock is no longer in use but remains a downtown landmark, and the Upper Harbor ore dock, also called the Presque Isle Dock, is still active, so freighters can be seen loading taconite pellets there.

The Marquette Maritime Museum runs escorted tours of the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse on Lighthouse Point. The tour lasts about an hour and covers the park, the Coast Guard history, two floors of the lighthouse and the catwalk, and visitors must be able to climb 45 steps. The tourism board describes the museum’s exhibits as covering the region’s maritime history. The 47-mile Iron Ore Heritage Trail details 160 years of mining history through interpretive signs, and the Marquette Regional History Center is downtown.

Trails and lakes near town

Travel Marquette lists hiking at Mount Marquette and the Thomas Rock Scenic Overlook, biking on RAMBA trails and the Noquemanon Trail Network, and kayaking and boating on Teal Lake. Choose a trail outing if you would rather be outside than downtown after study, and compare the length of the route with the daylight you have left in the fall.

A day toward Pictured Rocks

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore runs about 42 miles along Lake Superior near Munising and includes roughly 15 miles of cliffs. The Park Service lists Miners Castle, Munising Falls, Grand Sable Dunes, a light station, a beach and boat tours among its suggestions. The Munising Falls Visitor Center is at 1505 Sand Point Road, and the park says to use that address, because a map search for the lakeshore will not route you to a visitor center.

Munising’s tourism site describes boat and kayak trips to Pictured Rocks and to Grand Island, a 13,500-acre island in the Hiawatha National Forest, mainly in summer, and a winter of deep snowpack and frozen waterfalls. It lists boutique hotels, small family-owned motels, and cottages and cabins. The sources checked here give no drive time from Marquette, so look up the distance before planning a visit after 2:00 PM, and compare Munising lodging with the check-in area before booking.

When to visit the Upper Peninsula

Travel Marquette calls the county a playground year round, with biking at Harlow Lake in spring, swimming in Lake Superior in summer, fall color tours and skiing at Marquette Mountain in winter. It also says any season works, with skiing and snowshoeing in winter, and that fall color varies each year with the weather. For the Pictured Rocks area, the Park Service gives the last spring freeze as typically around June 8 and the first fall freeze around September 23. Precipitation averages about 31 inches a year, snowfall typically runs 140 to 160 inches, and fog can occur in any season.

Getting to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and your study setting

Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport (MQT) is the arrival point shown in this guide, in Gwinn. Travel Marquette puts it about 17 miles from downtown Marquette and lists daily flights from Chicago and Detroit, rental cars and taxi service. Check the airline schedule against your travel dates, because the airport lists its flight times on its own site.

The map shows straight-line distances from Shift’s designated center. These are orientation distances, not driving distances or travel-time estimates. Check your exact address against the conference’s check-in area before booking.