Places to Paddle
Water Trails
Michigan is blessed with lots of great places to paddle; more and more water trails are being organized around the area to promote paddling and low impact tourism. Click on the title of each water trail to connect to it’s home page.
- Cass River Water Trail
- The water trail will be a series of three new canoe/kayak launch sites to be built on public property in Vassar, Tuscola and Frankenmuth. In addition to the launch sites, the water trail project includes parking and restroom facilities, along with promotional material and informative signage along the river. Construction of all three sites is anticipated for late summer, 2010.
- Hiawatha Water Trail
- Currently, the water trail is fully developed along the eastern third from Munising to Grand Marias, a section that includes the Grand Island National Recreation Area and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Campsites, signs and public land are bountiful here.
- Between Munising and Marquette, there are plenty of public access points and a sparse but adequate number campsites on public lands or at a private campground.
- In the Marquette area, west to Little Presque Isle, there are public access points but campsites are scarce.
- Between Little Presque Isle and Big Bay, a distance of 25 miles, there are no public lands and therefore it is not possible to land or camp without the landowners permission.
- Huron Blueways Water Trail
- This trail is currently under development by NEMCOG and will include Lake Huron shoreline from Mackinaw City to Alcona County. You can help develop this trail by paddling sections of it and taking notes about launch sites, shore facilities, obstructions, natural features and any other information useful or interesting to paddlers, including distances and GPS coordinates.
- The EastCoast Paddlers are supporting this effort by making available the general area map and detailed section maps provided by the NEMCOG project group, and a Paddle Inventory Sheet for recording information to send to the project organizers.
- Keweenaw Water Trail
- Michigan Upper Peninsula: Circling the tip of the beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula, it gives the paddler the opportunity to experience the grandeur of Lake Superior with an extended margin of safety provided by the ability to move to the alternate shoreline when wind and waves threaten.
- Lake Superior Water Trail
- The Lake Superior Water Trail is an on-going, cooperative effort to connect the 3,000 miles of shoreline that border Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake (by surface area) in the world and the cleanest of all the Great Lakes.
- Les Cheneaux Water Trail
- This trail spans over 75 miles of the northernmost shores of Lake Huron from the Carp River near St. Ignace through the Les Cheneaux Islands and on to DeTour Village, located at the mouth of the St. Mary's River.
- Ludington State Park Water Trail
- PDF map from MDNR
- Michigan Canoe Trails
- Trails are in Hiawatha National Forest, in Michigan's upper peninsula.
- Natural Rivers Program
- Michigan DNR - The Natural Rivers Program was developed to preserve, protect and enhance our state's finest river systems for the use and enjoyment of current and future generations.
- Tip of The Thumb Heritage Water Trail
- Huron County, Michigan -- Access Points on Lake Huron in Michigan's Thumb; the web site has very complete descriptions of facilities at each site, including camping availability and a brief history.
- The Western Shore of Lake Michigan
- This is a "work-in-progress", listing proposed/projected water trail sites/access points with GPS coordinates.
Proposed Water Trails
- St. Clair River Blueway Vision Project
- The St. Clair County Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) and the St. Clair County Parks and Recreation Commission (PARC) are teaming up to develop the St. Clair River Blueway Vision Project, which will result in a comprehensive Blueway system along the St. Clair River corridor, from Anchor Bay to the northern border of the county along Lake Huron.
This page last revised July 20, 2010