Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan shapes this whole coast. You get dune shores, state park beaches, harbor towns with pier lights to walk out to, and open water for boating and fishing, from Grand Haven north to the Mackinac Bridge. It is the only Great Lake that lies entirely within the United States.

Where to swim, town by town

Most towns on this shore have a public beach within reach of downtown. Heading north:

• Grand Haven: Grand Haven State Park, 48 acres of sand where the Grand River meets the lake, with the pier lights in view.
• Muskegon: Pere Marquette Park, a free city beach beside the Muskegon Channel, and about 2 miles of beach at Muskegon State Park north of the channel.
• Pentwater: Charles Mears State Park, on the north side of the channel, with a designated swim beach a short walk from downtown.
• Ludington: Ludington State Park, which lists swimming beaches between Hamlin Lake and the big lake.
• Manistee: First Street Beach and Fifth Avenue Beach, where the north pier starts.
• Onekama: Captain John Langland Park, the township’s main Lake Michigan beach, and Portage Point Beach by the channel.
• Frankfort: the public beach and playground at the west end of Main Street.
• Empire: Empire Beach at the foot of Niagara Street, a sunset spot at the edge of Sleeping Bear Dunes.
• Charlevoix: Michigan Beach, near the South Pier Lighthouse, with a playground and picnic pavilion.

Farther north, the beaches on Little Traverse Bay and Grand Traverse Bay have their own pages. State park beaches have no lifeguards, and not every park has a buoyed swim area, so read the safety notes below before you go.

Harbors and marinas

The harbor towns grew where rivers or inland lakes reach the big lake, so most marinas sit on protected water with a channel out. City marinas with transient slips include Grand Haven, Muskegon, Pentwater, Ludington, Manistee, Arcadia, Frankfort, Leland and Charlevoix. Leland’s harbor is right on the open lake beside Fishtown. For the bays and the Straits, see Petoskey, Harbor Springs and Mackinaw City. Many marinas book through the state reservation system, and fuel and pump-out vary by harbor, so check each one before you plan a run.

Before you head out, carry life jackets, file a float plan and bring a phone or marine radio.

Dunes and pier lights

Sand defines much of the shore. Michigan’s environmental agency describes the state’s dunes as the largest collection of freshwater dunes in the world, formed as glacial sand washed onto the beaches and westerly winds pushed it inland. U-shaped parabolic dunes are the most common form along the Lower Peninsula’s Lake Michigan shore. At Sleeping Bear, the dunes sit perched on bluffs high above the water.

Grand Haven, Ludington, Manistee, Frankfort and Charlevoix mark their channels with pier and breakwater lights that are now popular walks.

Staying safe

Treat the lake with respect. Rip and structural currents and high waves can form along beaches, near river outlets and beside piers and breakwalls. When waves push water along the shore and it meets a pier, it turns out into the lake, and that can carry a swimmer into deep water with little chance of escape. Stay at least 100 yards from piers, never jump off them, and stay off them when waves wash over, because waves can sweep people off. The DNR has named the beaches at Grand Haven, Ludington and Mears state parks among places where rip currents tend to build.

If a current catches you, flip onto your back and float, and keep calm. Follow the current to see where it runs, then swim at a right angle to it. Swim in a buoyed area where there is one, check the beach flag often because conditions change quickly, and check the National Weather Service’s Great Lakes beach forecasts before you go.

In winter, admire the shelf ice from the beach. It looks solid but is not, and first responders ask everyone to stay off it.

The scale

The scale is hard to take in. The Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council gives it a length of about 307 miles, a maximum depth of 923 feet and roughly 1,659 miles of shoreline. It joins Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac, and the Mackinac Bridge is customarily treated as the line between the two lakes. This guide follows the eastern shore, and the map pin marks a point offshore near the middle of that stretch.