Michigan /

Lake Michigan

Lake in Michigan · 14,906,231 acres · near Acme, Bingham, Bliss, Charlevoix

Lake Michigan is one of the Great Lakes and the only one that lies entirely within the United States. Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan share its shoreline. It is a glacial lake about 307 miles long and 118 miles wide, with a surface area of about 22,300 square miles. About 13,237 square miles of that area lies in Michigan. The lake averages 279 feet deep and reaches about 923 to 925 feet at its deepest point. Including islands, it has more than 1,600 miles of shoreline. The wide Straits of Mackinac connect it to Lake Huron, and the two share the same surface elevation, so hydrologically they form a single lake. Rivers flowing in include the Fox, Grand, Menominee, Muskegon, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph. Long bays line its northern end: Green Bay in the northwest and Grand Traverse and Little Traverse bays in the northeast.

On the Michigan shore, the Michigan DNR Parks and Recreation Division and local municipalities run the public launches. The DNR sites include Nine Mile Point near Charlevoix, Wilderness State Park near Bliss, Fayette Historic State Park, Garden Bay, Nahma, Stonington, and the East Arm and West Arm sites on Grand Traverse Bay. Municipal ramps include Elk Rapids Dock, Gladstone Marina, Harbor Springs, Northport Marina and Loomis Street in Ludington. The DNR describes Michigan's Great Lakes shoreline as the longest freshwater coastline in the United States, served by 82 state-sponsored harbors.

Launches

Community

Where people who fish, boat and paddle Lake Michigan talk about it. Lake associations, clubs and local groups will be added as we find them.

Sources

  1. Lake Michigan - Great Lakes Commission
  2. Lake Michigan - Wikipedia
  3. Boating the Great Lakes - Michigan harbors - Michigan DNR

Researched October 13, 2026 from the sources above. Written content CC BY 4.0. Something wrong? Corrections are welcome.

Wikidata: Q1169