Photo Essay: 1,000 Miles Around Lake Michigan From Chicago and Back

Author Photographer
  • Graham Hiemstra

Camera
  • Contax T2
Film

An ill-fated, off-season attempt at circumnavigating Lake Michigan on motorcycles


Published: 11-23-2016

Updated: 11-13-2020

About the author

Graham Hiemstra
Graham Hiemstra
Field Mag's benevolent overlord, Graham Hiemstra is a writer & photographer with over a decade experience covering style, design, and outdoor gear.

pls cue "Miss America" by David Byrne

An adventure was what we wanted and adventure was what we got. The plan was for a long weekend ride around Lake Michigan, camping and casual country riding among beautiful fall foliage—that sort of thing. Instead, we got four full days of pissing rain, freezing temps, oversized semi trucks galore, and a few dingy motels to top it off. In total we ran over a 1000 soggy miles and crossed three states, hitting all the hot spots—from Chicago to Green Bay, then somewhere in the Upper Peninsula to Traverse City and Muskegan—and finally limped back to Illinois on a ferry, frozen and grinning from ear to ear.

Beyond learning a lesson in terms of what Walmart rain gear works and what simply shreds to pieces in minutes at speed, I personally earned a healthy respect for the wild Midwest terrain. It can be brutal up north. And I only saw October. God help those poor Yoopers come February.

We also learned that pancakes make pretty much any situation better.

read the full feature here: Cheating Death on the Michigan Loop