Ye Olde Mackinac Bridge Walk

Kath Usitalo / September 7, 2026 / Leave a comment / General

Beautiful day for a five-mile hike above the Straits of Mackinac (Labor Day 2009)

NOTE: September 7, 2026 marks the 68th Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk. This year, Governor Gretchen Whitmer led the crowd of an estimated 30,000 participants.
I originally posted the following story in 2011, back in the good old days when the Mackinac Bridge Walk actually spanned the entire five-mile length, from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City. In those years, shuttle buses provided transportation between the two points. Today, the Labor Day event is really a half-bridge walk, the logistics of which I’m not even going to try to describe. You can find details at the bridge website.

One bridge. Two towers. Five miles. 40,000 pedestrians including the Governor. Too many commemorative patches and T-shirts to count.

T-shirts of all kinds

It all adds up to the 54th annual Mackinac Bridge Walk, a Labor Day tradition that marks Michigan’s unofficial end of summer.

It’s the only day that a pedestrian parade takes place on the suspension bridge connecting the Upper Peninsula at St. Ignace, and the Lower Peninsula at Mackinaw City, high above the Straits of Mackinac, where the Great Lakes Huron and Michigan meet.

Before the bridge opened in November 1957 travel between the two parts of the state had been by ferry. At peak periods the line of cars waiting to cross snaked for miles, and the wait could last hours.

Pause to take in the scenery; be sure to bring a camera

We’ve walked the bridge several times, most recently in 2009. We were shut out by weather at least once; the wind was too strong and by the time we arrived in St. Ignace for the start they had cut off any new walkers.

Most memorable was the time I had to carry Paige almost the entire way; she was about 2-1/2 years old and it was a challenge, but makes a great memory.

Just remember to relax and proceed at a comfortable pace. It’s not a race.