Arch Rock

Arch Rock is the Mackinac Island sight people have been coming to look at for about a century and a half, and it fits into almost any ride or walk around the island’s east side. The natural limestone arch stands 146 feet above the water and measures fifty feet across at its widest point, the most famous of the island’s rock formations.

You can see it two ways: look up at it from the shore road below, or come at it from the bluff above. To reach the top, climb the 207 steps from Lakeshore Drive, or skip the stairs and ride a bike up Arch Rock Road, take a carriage, or walk in on the interior trails. The Milliken Nature Center sits right beside it, with restrooms listed in season.

Make a loop of it. Sugar Loaf, a 75-foot limestone stack, and smaller features such as Skull Cave and Devil’s Kitchen fit into the same ride or walk through the state park.

The story is in the stone. Like the island’s other arches, stacks and caves, Arch Rock is limestone that broke apart and recemented millions of years ago, and waves on the ancient Great Lakes later wore away the softer rock around it and left the arch exposed.