Natural Features
Mackinac Island State Park provides opportunities for
visitors to experience firsthand the unique features of
a northern boreal forest and witness the effects of receding
glaciers. Natural landmarks such as the slowly-eroding
limestone formations of Arch Rock, Devil’s Kitchen and
Sugar Loaf encourage visitors to adopt a system of measuring
time in hundreds of years, rather than in the hours, minutes
and seconds of everyday life in the twenty-first century.
The physical structure that has become Mackinac Island
today began to emerge over 15,000 years ago as the great
glaciers receded. The Island rose above lake-level and
the erosive action of the ancient Great Lakes against
the Island’s limestone bedrock created today’s cliffs
and rock formations. Salt deposits under the limestone
were washed away, leaving cavern holes in the rock. Weakened
by the removal of the softer minerals within its many
layers of limestone sediment, much of the rock shattered
and collapsed. As the water levels fell, dissolved minerals
became concentrated and bound the limestone fragments
together much like cement. The resulting rock is known
as breccia. The brecciated limestone is seen throughout
the Island and its fragile form is noticeable, as lime-loving
cedar roots have penetrated cracks, forcing rocks apart,
creating rockslides along the bluffs. Since the limestone
is obviously fragile and breaks easily, no climbing is
allowed on any limestone formation. The Mackinac Island
State Park has erected barriers to protect the 15,000
year-old formations from destruction accelerated by human
contact.
At this point in Mackinac’s geological history, the island
is 2200 acres in size: two miles wide, three miles long
and eight miles around. All natural formations listed
below can be visited without charge and are within boundaries
of the Mackinac Island State Park. The Mackinac Island
State Park has posted signs directing visitors through
the many riding, bicycling and walking trails to all natural
features. All can be reached by bicycle and some are within
easy walking distance of the downtown area.
Click
here for streaming video of Mackinac Island scenery.
Arch Rock
Rising nearly 150 feet above the water, Anishinaabe-Ojibwe
tradition describes Arch Rock as the place where the
Great Creator blew the breath of life into the newly
created earth. According to legend, Arch Rock is also
the gateway through which the Great Creator passed on
his way to Sugar Loaf, his Island home. This limestone
formation can be seen from M-185, high above the Island’s
exterior lakeshore on the Island’s east side. To get
a closer look, a wooden stairway and nature path leads
from the lakeshore road up the bluff to the uppermost
part of the formation. Arch Rock is also accessible
from many trails in the Island’s interior. For those
who prefer to see this natural wonder in a more leisurely
fashion, the limestone monument is one of many featured
stops on the Mackinac Island Carriage Tour.
Devil’s Kitchen
This excellent example of a limestone cavern created
by the effects of erosion and cedar-root displacement
of rocks can be seen from ferryboats approaching the
Island west of Grand Hotel. An easy bicycle ride along
M-185, Devil’s Kitchen is a popular picnic spot and
resting point where travelers enjoy the view of the
Mackinac Bridge and the many freighters passing through
the Straits.
Sugar Loaf
The dwelling place of the legendary Great Spirit Gitchie
Manitou until the coming of the Europeans, this limestone
bluff may be viewed from the ground up from the road
below or by looking down from Point Lookout. A long
wooden stairway nearby leads travelers up the bluff
to Point Lookout. Sugar Loaf, once surrounded by the
ancient Lake Algonquin, is a cone-shaped, brecciated
limestone formation rising 75 feet above the forest
floor. Sugar Loaf can be reached by foot trails or by
bicycle and is a popular Nordic skiing destination in
the winter.
Skull Cave
Below Fort Holmes on Garrison Road, Skull Cave is believed
to have been the hiding place for English Fur Trader
Alexander Henry during Pontiac’s Rebellion in 1763.
His close friend, Ojibwe chief Minavavana sent him to
hide in the cave on a bed of human bones in order to
save him from death.
Ecosystem
The landscape of Mackinac Island comprises fields, meadows,
marshes, swamps, bogs, coastline, boreal forest, limestone
formations and caves. Mackinac Island lies in the Alleghenian
Zone, a transitional habitat zone between the Carolinian
zone to the south and the Canadian zone to the north.
The Hemlock-White Pine hardwood forest has a rich undergrowth
of birch, elm and maple. On the Island, Mackinac State
Historic Parks preserves the environment for all plant
and animal life while at the same time provides an atmosphere
for humans to reflect, explore and rejuvenate their
spirits. Taking the time to explore the landscape while
respecting the environment is an integral part of the
Mackinac Island experience.
Mammals
The Straits of Mackinac have served as a barrier for
all sorts of land mammals, although occasionally, larger
mammals like wolf, deer or bear may make the three to
seven mile journey over to the Island by crossing the
ice bridge in the winter. The most abundant species
of mammal living on the Island is the bat, the only
mammal capable of flight and therefore the only mammal
for which the straits pose no significant barrier. Having
found a comfortable ecological niche on the Island,
Mackinac’s bats eat insects and nectar from flowers,
pollinate plants, disperse seeds and control insect
populations. One bat is capable of eating up to 600
mosquitoes an hour and each bat usually eats for several
hours every night. As the sun sets on a mid-summer night,
this Mackinac Island favorite can be seen eating mosquitoes
and other insects, serving as a natural form of pest
control. With the limestone caves abundant throughout
the island and the large supply of insects and plant
life, Mackinac’s ecosystem is ideal for the bat and
the bat is ideal for this ecosystem.
Wildflowers
Mackinac Island has long been admired for its natural
beauty. Because of the topography, geological history,
soils and climate, there are a great variety of niches
supporting over six hundred species of vascular plants.
Spring finds the forest floor covered in a mixture of
spring ephemerals including Large Flowered Trillium,
Trout Lily, Spring Beauty, Hepatica, Violets and Yellow
Lady Slippers. By summer, these give way to the Wood
Lilies, Buttercups and Hawkweeds. The wetlands along
the shoreline are blessed with a variety of orchids,
Fringed Gentian and Jack-in-the-Pulpit. Six species
of asters including Tall, Zigzag and Ohio cover the
fall landscape under the dramatic show of colors given
by the Maple, Birch and Elm trees of Mackinac’s boreal
forest. Snow blankets the Island during the winter months
when the dark greens of the Cedar, Pine and Spruce contrast
with the red berries of the High Bush Cranberry and
the mahogany stems of the Red Osier Dogwood.
The diversity of the plant life, rich contrast and splashes
of color create a stunning backdrop for Mackinac’s wildflowers.
Yet, it is the quiet announcement of seasonal change
through the wildflowers that makes one appreciate the
natural beauty of Mackinac Island’s living landscape.
Enjoy Mackinac’s abundance of natural beauty, but remember
that state law prohibits the picking of wildflowers.
Birds
A popular migration spot, Mackinac Island is a resort
habitat to many species of birds. Because birds dislike
flying over cold waterways, they often "island-hop"
across the Great Lakes to their summer homes in the
north. Golden and Bald Eagles, Sharp Skinned, Red Tailed
and Broad-Winged Hawks are especially abundant in late
April and early May while the Yellow Warblers and American
Redstart and the iridescent blue color flash of the
Indigo Bunting flying past pleasantly startles and excites
visitors during the early summer months.
Many birds prefer to roost or rest by Mackinac’s shoreline;
these include Herrings, Ring Billed Gulls, Cormorants,
Red-Breasted Mergansers, Great Blue Herons, Canadian
Geese and Loons. During the winter months the Snowy
Owl and Great Gray Owl fly south from the arctic to
hunt and enjoy the "warmer" climate found
on Mackinac Island.
The musical "ze-ze-zu-ze" call of the Black
Throated Green Warbler can be heard as well as the puzzling
and unusual call of the Veery. The Island’s most aural
year-round resident, the red-crested Large Pileated
Woodpecker regularly delivers its "Woody Woodpecker"
call across the landscape. Other year-round residents
include Black Capped Chickadees, Cardinals and Blue
Jays.
Mackinac Island Nature and Bird Checklists are available
from the Mackinac
State Historic Parks Visitor’s Center.
