(231) 436-4100
9001 U.S. 23, Mackinaw City, MI 49701
www.mackinacparks.com/historic-mill-creek-discovery-park
If you like Michigan history, nature and adventure, you’ll love the Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park. It’s just five minutes east of the Mackinac Bridge on scenic U.S. 23, and it’s a great family place where you can learn about Michigan’s past, its wildlife and a whole lot more.
Jeff Dykehouse is the Curator of Natural History at the park, and he spent the entire morning showing us around. We learned about Michigan’s native animals and how the pioneers survived and thrived in the Michigan wilderness.
Jeff also took us to a place that would get me even higher on Michigan. It’s part observation tower, part climbing wall, part scenic overlook and a completely incredible experience at the park. After you climb the stairs, get ready for your jaw to drop. The view across the straits of the Mackinac Bridge and Mackinac Island is spectacular.
The park also offers an experience called The Adventure Tour. It’s a park within the park, and if you’re a nature lover, you’ll absolutely love this. The Adventure Tour offers a real tree canopy walk where you walk across a rope bridge high above the forest floor. This is something I’d always wanted to do, and I can’t even begin to tell you how cool it was.
As part of the Adventure Tour, you also get to walk along beautiful forest pathways with a guide who shares vast amounts of information about this incredible natural landscape. And the best part is, at the end of the tour, you get to zip-line through the trees like an eagle in flight over a cool mountain stream. Bonus!
If you spend a day at the Historic Mill Creek Adventure Park and you find yourself learning, laughing and maybe even launching yourself into the sky like the bird of your choice, just do yourself a favor. Don’t pick chicken like I did.