The Fossil Ledges are located on Drummond Island Michigan. You could plan to do this hike on the same day as the Marblehead hike.
Round-trip: 3 km
Difficulty: Easy
Location: Drummond Island, MI
The ledges are made up of the fossilized remains of a saltwater coral bed. It is simply amazing. Every rock you touch is an interesting fossil. I hope you will try to help preserve this area by taking pictures of the fossils and leaving the fossils there for others to enjoy.
You will need to take the ferry from DeTour Village to get to Drummond Island. The drive from the ferry landing to the Fossil Ledges takes about an hour and it would be good to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle to make the trip.
From the ferry landing drive east on M134. At what the locals call ‘the Four Corners’ M134 turns into Johnswood Road. Continue east on M134/Johnswood Road past the Four Corners for 2.25 miles (3.6km). Turn left onto Maxton Cut Across Road for 1.5 miles (2.5 km), then right onto Maxton Road and drive for 5.25 miles (8.5 km) where you will reach the interpretive signs for the Maxton Plains.
At the interpretive signs turn right onto Plains Road (on the tourist map and Google maps this is called E Cotton Bay Road) and drive for 3.2 miles (5 km) then bear left onto S Reynolds Bay Road (there are no road signs) and drive past Scott’s Camp on the right. Stay left at the Raynolds Bay Road and you will be on E Poe Point Road, where there will be a large swamp on your right.
After Raynolds Bay Road and the swamp, take the first right-hand turn onto a short two-track road to the parking area. Park and walk 10m to the shore. The shoreline hike is only about 3km total, but it will take lots of time because there is so much to look at. Be careful if you are walking in the water to the edge of the ledges, as the water drops off to 69 feet deep here.
This is also a good place to launch kayaks and paddle the shoreline.
Thank your for your reviews of hikes that are hard to find in other publications. I wanted to mention that the Fossil ledges are almost completely under water as of September 2020. The roads to the parking would only be passible by 4 wheel drive or ORVs we we hiked in the last 2 miles to the spot. It’s still possible to appreciate fossils on the few remaining areas of exposed rock.