Lake Charlevoix

Lake Charlevoix is a natural freshwater lake in Charlevoix County, Michigan. It is the third-largest inland lake in the state, covering about 17,200 acres. The main basin is up to 122 feet deep and the south arm up to 58 feet. Glacial processes formed two basins. The Main Basin runs from Boyne City, where the Boyne River enters, west to the city of Charlevoix. The shallower, narrower South Arm runs from where the basins meet near Ironton south to East Jordan, at the mouth of the Jordan River. The lake drains through Round Lake and the Pine River to Lake Michigan. Because of this open connection, its level rises and falls with Lakes Michigan and Huron, and wind-driven seiches sometimes reverse the flow in the Pine River channel. The watershed covers 335 square miles in Charlevoix, Antrim and Otsego counties. The lake was called Pine Lake until it was renamed in 1926.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources runs boating access sites at Ironton, at Dutchman's Bay north of East Jordan, and at Young State Park near Boyne City. The Young State Park site is at the Terrace Campground and has an accessible skid pier and very limited parking. Charlevoix, Boyne City and East Jordan operate municipal launches. Under state rules, in the Lake Charlevoix narrows in Eveline Township, vessels under 26 feet must keep to slow-no wake speed within 500 feet of any shore, dock or pierhead. Vessels 26 feet or longer must do so within 1,000 feet. The Ironton Ferry, in operation since 1876, crosses the South Arm at Ironton.

The open connection also lets invasive species from Lake Michigan into the lake. Since 2008, the Lake Charlevoix Association, the Charlevoix County Conservation District and Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council have mapped and treated invasive Phragmites along the shoreline.