Lower Peninsula of Michigan in the context of "Michigan's 5th congressional district"

The Straits of Mackinac (/ˈmækənɔː/ MAK-ə-naw; French: Détroit de Mackinac) are the short waterways between the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, traversed by the Mackinac Bridge. The main strait is 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 kilometers) wide with a maximum depth of 295 feet (90 meters; 49 fathoms), and connects the Great Lakes of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Given the large size and configuration of the straits, hydrologically, the two connected lakes are one body of water, studied as Lake Michigan–Huron. Historically, the native Odawa people called the region around the Straits Michilimackinac.

Three islands form the eastern edge of the Straits of Mackinac; two are populated—Bois Blanc Island and Mackinac Island, while the third, Round Island, is uninhabited and a designated wilderness area. The Straits of Mackinac are major shipping lanes, providing passage for raw materials and finished goods and connecting, for instance, the iron mines of Minnesota to the steel mills of Gary, Indiana. Before the railroads reached Chicago from the east, most immigrants arrived in the Midwest and Great Plains by ships on the Great Lakes. The straits are five miles (8 km) wide at their narrowest point, where they are spanned by the Mackinac Bridge. Before the bridge was built, car ferries transported vehicles across the straits. Today passenger-only ferries carry people to Mackinac Island, which does not permit cars. Visitors can take their vehicles on a car ferry to Bois Blanc Island.

The Manistee National Forest is a national forest located in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It has a total area of 540,187 acres (2,190 km). It was established in 1938, and combined with the Huron National Forest in 1945 for administrative purposes, creating the Huron-Manistee National Forests. However, they are two separate forest units, as they are not connected. The area is popular for hiking, fishing, camping, boating, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and hunting. The North Country Trail passes through it, and connects with the 11-mile Manistee River Trail to form a 23-mile loop. The highest point in the lower peninsula, Briar Hill (1,706 ft), is located here. The Manistee National Forest is not one continuous mass, but is a "mosaic" broken by private property and towns. The headquarters for the forest is in Cadillac, Michigan.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan—also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. or Yoop—is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac. It is bounded primarily by Lake Superior to the north, separated from the Canadian province of Ontario at the east end by the St. Marys River, and flanked by Lake Huron and Lake Michigan along much of its south. Although the peninsula as a geographic feature extends into the state of Wisconsin, the state boundary follows the Montreal and Menominee rivers and a line connecting them.

First inhabited by Algonquian-speaking native American tribes, the area was explored by French colonists, then occupied by British forces, before being ceded to the newly established United States in the late 18th century. After being assigned to various territorial jurisdictions, it was granted to the newly formed state of Michigan as part of the settlement of a dispute with Ohio over the city of Toledo. The region's exploitable timber resources and the discovery of iron and copper deposits in the 19th century brought immigrants, especially Finnish, French Canadian, Swedish, Norwegian, Cornish, and Italian; the peninsula includes the only counties in the United States where a plurality of residents claim Finnish ancestry. The area's economy declined in the 20th century when all of the readily available minerals had been removed, and it became largely dependent on logging and tourism.

Grand Traverse Bay (/ˈtrævərs/ TRAV-ərss) is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the west coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is separated from the rest of Lake Michigan by the Leelanau Peninsula. The bay is some 32 miles (51 km) long, ranges from 7 to 10 miles (11 to 16 km) wide, and up to 620 feet (190 m) deep in spots. It is the second-largest bay of Lake Michigan, behind Green Bay.

Grand Traverse Bay is further divided into an East Arm and West Arm by the 18-mile-long (29 km) Old Mission Peninsula. At the head of both arms of the bay is Traverse City, the largest city in Northern Michigan. The area surrounding the bay is renowned for its fruit production, especially for cherries and viticulture.

Little Traverse Bay (/ˈtrævərs/ TRAV-ərss) is a small open bay of Lake Michigan. Extending about 10 miles (16 km) into the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, much of the head of the land surrounding Little Traverse Bay, and has become part of the urban areas of Petoskey and Harbor Springs. Little Traverse Bay primarily lies within Emmet County, although a small portion lies within Charlevoix County.

Saginaw Bay is a bay within Lake Huron located on the eastern side of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms the space between Michigan's Thumb region and the rest of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Saginaw Bay is 1,143 square miles (2,960 km) in area. It is located in parts of five Michigan counties: Arenac, Bay, Huron, Iosco, and Tuscola.

The Mackinac Bridge (/ˈmækənɔː/ MAK-ə-naw; also referred to as the Mighty Mac or Big Mac) is a suspension bridge that connects the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. It spans the Straits of Mackinac, a body of water connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, two of the Great Lakes. Opened in 1957, the 26,372-foot-long (4.995 mi; 8.038 km) bridge is the world's 29th-longest main span and is the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. The Mackinac Bridge is part of Interstate 75 (I-75) and carries the Lake Michigan and Huron components of the Great Lakes Circle Tour across the straits; it is also a segment of the U.S. North Country National Scenic Trail. The bridge connects the city of St. Ignace to the north with the village of Mackinaw City to the south.

Envisioned since the 1880s, the bridge was designed by the engineer David B. Steinman and completed in 1957 only after many decades of struggles to begin construction. The bridge has since become an iconic symbol of the state of Michigan.

Mackinac Island (/ˈmækənɔː/ MAK-ə-naw, locally /ˈmækənə/ MAK-ə-nə; French: Île Mackinac; Ojibwe: Mishimikinaak ᒥᔑᒥᑭᓈᒃ; Ottawa: Michilimackinac) is an island and resort area, covering 4.35 square miles (11.3 km) in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin, meaning "Great Turtle". It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was long home to an Odawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 before the northern border was settled and the US gained this island in its territory.

In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a popular tourist attraction and summer colony. Many of the structures on the island have undergone extensive historical preservation and restoration. Because of its historic significance, the entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark. It is well known for numerous cultural events; a wide variety of architectural styles, including the Victorian-era Grand Hotel; and its ban on almost all motor vehicles, with exceptions only for city emergency vehicles (ambulance, police cars and fire trucks), city service vehicles and snowmobiles in winter. More than 80 percent of the island is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park.