Most travelers cross the Mackinac Bridge and turn west, which leaves the whole northern shore of Lake Huron to the people who know about it. M-134 runs east from I-75 north of St. Ignace along that shore for about fifty miles, threading the channels of the Les Cheneaux Islands, passing through Hessel and Cedarville, and reaching DeTour Village at the far eastern end — where the highway does not stop so much as board a ferry and continue onto Drummond Island. It carries a Pure Michigan Byway designation as the M-134 North Huron Byway and forms part of the Lake Huron Circle Tour.
The Route
M-134 runs 50.2 miles, a figure that includes the ferry connection at its eastern end. It begins at an interchange with I-75 north of St. Ignace and heads east along the Lake Huron shore toward Hessel, Cedarville, and DeTour Village, with water in view for much of the way and long stretches running close enough to the channels to feel like a shoreline road rather than a highway near a shore.
The mainland portion carries the byway designation and forms part of the Lake Huron Circle Tour, which means drivers working that larger circuit pass along it whether they planned to or not. Taken on its own it is a half-day drive with stops, or a full day if the Les Cheneaux communities and a Drummond Island crossing are included.
The Les Cheneaux Channels
The route's defining stretch runs past Les Cheneaux — thirty-six islands arranged along the shore, breaking the open-water fetch into sheltered channels whose French name simply means the channels. Glimpses of the islands open up as the highway passes Hessel and Cedarville, and the effect from the road is of water that keeps appearing between trees rather than a single continuous view.
The two villages divide the area's functions. Hessel hosts the Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show each August on the docks of its marina — the largest antique wooden boat show in the United States, running since 1978 — while Cedarville holds the historical and maritime museums that the show's proceeds support. Narrated channel cruises depart from Hessel and are close to essential for understanding a landscape that reads as ordinary wooded coastline from the road and resolves into an archipelago only from the water.
DeTour Village and the Passage
The highway's mainland end is DeTour Village, positioned on one of the genuine choke points of Great Lakes shipping. Every vessel moving between Lake Huron and Lake Superior via the St. Marys River passes through the DeTour Passage, which means freighter watching here is routine rather than lucky. Three miles offshore, the 1931 DeTour Reef Light stands 83 feet above the reef it marks, maintained by a preservation society formed in 1998 by local residents after the Coast Guard declared it surplus.
This is also where the byway does something unusual. East of DeTour the highway crosses the passage by ferry and continues on Drummond Island, running south of the community of Drummond — the ferry is part of the route rather than an optional side trip, which is why the highway's official length includes it. Drummond itself is a large, largely undeveloped island of forest, trail, and rocky shoreline, and crossing to it is the natural extension of the drive.
Practical Notes
Services along M-134 are modest and concentrated in the villages. St. Ignace at the western end and Cedarville in the middle are the reliable stops; DeTour is small and should not be counted on for a full provisioning run. Lodging is limited enough that the Les Cheneaux boat show weekend in August books out the area entirely, which is worth knowing in either direction depending on whether that is the draw or the thing to avoid.
Summer brings the boating culture the area is built around and the warmest water; autumn delivers color along the shore with the channels at their calmest and emptiest. Winter quiets the route substantially, and travelers should confirm ferry operation before planning a Drummond Island crossing in the cold months. Whatever the season, the road's great advantage is proximity — it sits half an hour from the Mackinac Bridge and receives a small fraction of the traffic heading west from the same interchange.