HESSEL, Mich. _ Jessie Hadley knows the Les Cheneaux inside out _ its islands, its secrets, its secret marshes.
"The Les Cheneaux is an opaque place," says Hadley, owner of Woods and Water Ecotours. "It is word of mouth or a connection. You have to have the veil lifted, the secret passed."
So let's just say that I'm about to rip off the veil.
Many in Michigan have never heard of the Les Cheneaux, much less visited it. Pronounced Lay-Shen-O, it is a group of 36 small islands plus two small towns, Hessel and Cedarville, that hug the Lake Huron shore in the eastern Upper Peninsula. Drive across the Mackinac Bridge, turn right at M-134, and about 20 minutes later, you're there.
In French, Les Cheneaux means "the channels."
Says Hadley, "it's not a cookie cutter place."
But what's here? It is an incredible paddling and classic boat destination along 12 miles of Lake Huron shoreline. Visitors also will see some glamorous, rustic family homes passed down through the generations. The area has two golf courses, a small native casino, some tiny grocery stores and shops, extremely decent ice cream, and lodging that is mostly old-fashioned, pine-paneled Upper Peninsula-style motels and cottages.
Other than that, much of the Les Cheneaux is greenery _ protected land owned by state, national forest service or nature conservancies devoted to keeping the "wild" in the wilderness. A new North Huron Birding Trail also was just established in the eastern U.P.
Since you can't invite yourself to an island home for a vacation, I'd recommend three ways that a stranger can get a feel for this place: go kayaking, take a boat-building class, or visit the Antique Wooden Boat Show and Festival of the Arts in August.
