[magellan]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

From a serious standpoint, I think I would agree with this. After crossing Zilwaulkee it seems like you are now "up north" That makes a goo dividing line.

Except where is the Ausable River. That seems pretty up north to me.

I ill have to go look for a map.

I was just kidding, Zilwaukee Bridge is still in the Saginaw Bay City area to me. Maybe just after you pass the outlet mall in West Branch? (I always thought it was a weird place for an outlet mall)

[michikawa]

North of Clare.

[North 42]

I wonder if anyone would consider the tip of the thumb to be "northern Michigan"? I wouldn't, but it's pretty far north by Southern Michigan standards, so I guess some may see it that way.

[craig11152]

I start feeling it above Bay City/Midland/Mt Pleasant and by West Branch/Houghton Lake/Cadillac its "official"

[craig11152]

Originally Posted by North 42

I wonder if anyone would consider the tip of the thumb to be "northern Michigan"?

Too much farming not enough woods for me to call the thumb up north. At the tip you just ran out of farms because the lake got in the way.

[Coldjensens]

The thumb is the thumb same with the bay. I would never call them up north, I would call them Thumb and bay areas. However a friend form Saginaw refers to the apex of the bay area as "the crotch" "I live in the crotch of Michigan" Funny thing is, she loves the area.

[Heather67]

When we'd go home from Saginaw to Alpena, I always felt like we were back "up north" when we passed Au Gres.

[beachmouse]

Originally Posted by magellan

I seem to think that it's somewhere near US-10/Cadillac/Claire, but I couldn't believe the differences in opinion on the matter. (Some people thought just North of GR was Up North. Nope. )

I do vote for somewhere around Newaygo on the west side of the state- it's where Manistee National Forest begins, and the woods and Croton & Hardy dam 'ponds' give the area a very different feel than the southern Michigan farmland.

[michigan83]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

I do vote for somewhere around Newaygo on the west side of the state- it's where Manistee National Forest begins, and the woods and Croton & Hardy dam 'ponds' give the area a very different feel than the southern Michigan farmland.

I agree. Up North starts further south on the west side of the state. The Manistee Ntl Forest is a big reason for that. I think of the Newaygo/Hardy Dam area almost as Up North Lite. It really has more in common with northern MI than southern MI.

Going north from Lansing, for example, it takes a lot longer to hit Up North. Definitely no sooner than Clare.

To those who mentioned the tip of the thumb... I agree, there are parts of the Thumb that have hints of Up North. There are noticeable patches of birch trees, tall pines, etc up there. It also has that remote feeling of Up North. But as far as labels go, I'll stick to calling that "The Thumb."

[CatzPaw]

I grew up in a northern suburb of Detroit. Several summers, before we started camping, my family would spend an August week at a mom-and-pop motel with cabins on Lake Huron's great beach in Oscoda.

On the trip up, we would always stop in Pinconning at one of the cheese stores to buy bread and cheese for the week. Still in farm country, we would have lunch at one of the old places in Standish. That, and then crossing the Au Gres River meant to me we were entering "up north." Especially once you got a glimpse of Lake Huron near Alabaster.