The bridge walk was CRAZY! But, I'm glad I did it. As I understand it, there's usually about 10,000 people showing up for the bridge walk, mostly in the earlier part of the morning. So, if you want to walk in mid- to late-morning, there's not much of a crowd left. Well, this year, I heard there were more than 100,000 people. I don't know if it was the unusually nice weather or that it is the 50th anniversary of the bridge opening or what, but it was packed! And the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Nice and sunny, comfortable temperature, light breeze. The bride did not sway at all, although it did vibrate when the big-rigs drove by.
We parked on the south side, in Mackinaw City, intending to take a bus ride to the north side, in St. Ignace, and then walk back. Unfortunately, the line for the bus was extremely long! It went on block after block after block, in both directions along the main cross road. I'd say it was over a mile long all by itself, and people were saying it was a 2-hour wait. While I stayed in line holding our spot, my friends found that, for $21, we could take a ferry to Mackinac Island, then another to St. Ignace, followed by a shuttle bus ride from the pier in St. Ignace to a hotel near the bridge.
The first ferry was quite nice; the second was a little bit dumpier and cramped; the shuttle bus was dumpier still and also cramped. I don't mean to complain; I'm just making an observation. It was well worth the $21, and I'm sure the original bus would have been dumpy and cramped too, since they're all school buses, and they were creeping along since there was so much traffic. Yes, definitely worth the money.
Walking the bridge itself was a piece of cake. The incline was barely noticeable, and you couldn't really tell how high you were either; the waves kind of all looked the same no matter how high you were. That is until you notice the teeny-tiny police boat under the bridge, filled with teeny-tiny people. That when you realize you're pretty high.
They used the outside, north-bound lane for the walkers. The inside north-bound and both south-bound lanes were still open for traffic. (I saw a lot of campers heading south.) Our lane was paved, so you couldn't look straight down to see the water. And it made it easier for the strollers and wheelchairs and so on too.
Some people were taking a leisurely stroll across the bridge, while others pushed their way through the crowd to get some good exercise from the walk. My friends were among the later group, and I tried to keep up, but I repeatedly got boxed in by people with strollers, or family groups walking side by side, or old couples walking more slowly hand in hand. I couldn't bring myself to force my way in between them and disrupt their walk. My friends are smaller and could slip through much easier. There were spots where it opened up and I could slip through, and just when I almost caught up, I'd get boxed in again. Eventually, I decided to just move with the crowd, we would meet up later.
The worse part, which isn't really all that bad, was getting out of Mackinaw City afterward. The streets were clogged with people walking about, buses still shuttling walkers, and other cars trying to leave town too. There were spots where police or other official-looking types were directing traffic, but there were a couple of intersections without direction where the "me first" drivers caused grid lock. I didn't watch the clock, but we probably spent over a hour and traveled only 1 mile to get out of town and on the high way.
The whole thing reminded me of a dream I had when I was in college. It was one of those movie-like dreams, where you're watching somebody else rather than in the dream yourself. The details were different, but the general idea went like this: a middle-aged guy goes on a mini-adventure vacation. It starts off with nice accommodations to get him started, but once he's committed, the accommodations get less and less nice. He gets separated from his companions, and eventually has to walk a long way to get back to where he started. Kind of prophetic, huh? Well, the dream had space aliens and a human slave market, but that's just a dream. :)