Went up to St. Ignace over the weekend hoping to ride Mackinac Island. Our plan was to take the ferry over to the Island if there was no ice bridge. Even with the cold weather over the last few weeks, (it was near zero for a week at one point) there was NO ice. There wasn't any ice in the bay in St. Ignace. (Apparently, it was very windy during the cold period, no the ice never formed.) We spoke with the ferry boat captain about the snow conditions on the island and he was very frank in his description that the snow cover on the island was very thin, with the streets near the island ferry terminal being completely bare. So, we rode the trails north and west of St. Ignace - once you got a few miles from the lake shore, the trails were fantastic. The John Dee snowcover map was spot on and very helpful in locating where the snow was. Sad that we couldn't ride on the island. We'll give it a try next year. Incidentally, the Star Line ferry folks are super helpful and give great info. They charge $40 round trip per person, and $30 per trip for your sled - so about $100 round trip to get to the island and back if there's no ice. We did this ride several years ago over the "ice bridge" - free is definitely better.