My Adventure Driving Through the Canadian-US Border Crossing: Spring 2025

I was chatting with two friends about my recent roadtrip and casually mentioned I’d crossed a Canadia/US international border. They both raised their eyebrows and said, “I’d be terrified to do that right now.” I realized that with a lively debate on current ICE tactics dominating the media, there might be many folks concerned about driving across the border. So here’s my experience on Saturday, May 31 ^st , 2025.

After some off-road camping in the National Forest in Western Pennsylvania, I decided to see Niagra Falls, on the Canadian border. Then I drove through Ontario and home to Detroit, Michigan.

Crossing from the U.S. into Canada

My first border crossing was from upstate New York into Ontario. I crossed the rainbow bridge with its gorgeous view of the falls. Even at midday on a Saturday, there was no wait at the border (perhaps two cars in front of me). In a vehicle full of camping gear, my roadtrip buddy and I looked 100% like tourists. I handed over my US passport. My buddy handed over an enhanced Michigan license. The Canadian border officer asked how long we’d be staying and we said “straight through to Detroit.” They couldn’t send us on our way fast enough.

Crossing from Canada, back into the U.S.

My second border crossing was back into the United States. It was just before dinnertime. The Blue Water Bridge border crossing is my usual stop when driving through to Montreal or Vermont. I’ve seen long lines (up to half an hour) there before. So. I was ready to wait. Instead, I found no line. Zero cars in my lane, to be exact.

My buddy used their Michigan enhanced license again. But this time, I handed over my own enhanced license, issued by the state of Vermont. (I’d buried my passport in my bag in the back and didn’t want to slow down the process). I explained that I’d moved to Detroit and had yet to get a a Michigan license. So long story short, my paperwork was a bit messier, my story of driving home to Detroit was a bit more suspicious. That said, swiping my enhanced license confirmed I am indeed a U.S. citizen.

The border officer joked around with us. She asked where exactly we were coming from, how long we’d been in Canada, and where we were going. Then she let us go, and directed us to pull into a side lane. That’s where things got interesting.

The officers at the Blue Water Bridge border crossing told me they were X-Raying every single vehicle that day. I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen that procedure at that border crossing. But the process was quick, easy, and painless.

There were three cars in line for the X-Ray machine. An officer directed us to drive exactly 5 mph through a huge X-Ray machine. I drive a stick shift, but found throwing it into 1 ^st gear and letting it pull itself through at an idle was close enough to 5 mph that I didn’t upset the machine.

On the far side, an officer stepped in front of my car, waiting for the machine to give him the high sign. After perhaps thirty seconds he said three words to me, but my window was up so I couldn’t hear. I rolled it down and asked him to repeat himself. That’s when he gave me a thumbs up and waved me through.

This is obviously just one driver’s experience at one border crossing. But I found driving across the US/Canadian border in spring 2025 barely more complicated than all my previous crossings. For full disclosure: I was born in the U.S. and have no criminal record beyond a pair of speeding tickets.