Dreaming big: A walking trail spanning Michigan’s vast coastline

Michigan’s recreational trails offer jaw-dropping glimpses of the Great Lakes stretching out against the horizon. They feature cliffs that look like they were squirted with giant tubes of fingerpaint. And miles of soft sand to trudge ‒ a scenic way to tighten the glutes.

Wander off the public parks and more breath-taking vistas await (as well as the occasional trash-strewn shoreline, landfill or nuclear power plant). It’s the kind of journey that is an inspiration for the Next Big Idea for Michigan: A walking trail that traces the entire shoreline of the state.

Yes, that’s nearly 2,200 miles of trail around the Mitten and Upper Peninsula, the centerpiece of a 10,000-mile Great Lakes mega-route traversing eight states and Canada. To put a 2,200-mile Michigan trek in perspective, that’s roughly the length of the U.S.’s entire East Coast, from Maine through Florida.

“If Michigan leads, the rest of the Great Lakes states will follow. They’ll see what this could mean for local communities along the lake shore,” said Melissa Scanlan, an environmental law professor and leading proponent of ringing Michigan and the entire Great Lakes region with public-access trails.

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