Northwest

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. The other four Great Lakes are shared by the U.S. and Canada. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron (and is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of West Virginia). To the east, it joins Lake Huron through the wide Straits of Mackinac; the two are technically a single lake.

Lake Michigan is shared, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Ports along its shores include Chicago; Milwaukee; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Gary, Indiana; and Muskegon, Michigan. The word "Michigan" originally referred to the lake itself, and is believed to come from the Ojibwe word michi-gami meaning "great water".

South Manitou Island

South Manitou Island is part of an island chain in Lake Michigan that extends north to the Straits of Mackinac. The island consists of a ridge of tilted layers of limestone, buried under a blanket of glacial debris. It features unique sand dune formations, 10 miles of pebble beaches and a grove of old growth white cedars that date back over 500 years. The campgrounds lie on sandy soils among younger forests.

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Miles of sand beach, bluffs that tower 450’ above Lake Michigan, lush forests, clear inland lakes, unique flora and fauna make up the natural world of Sleeping Bear Dunes. High dunes afford spectacular views across the lake. An island lighthouse, US Life-Saving Service stations, coastal villages, and picturesque farmsteads reflect the park’s rich maritime, agricultural, and recreational history.

Platte River

The Platte River is located in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Its mouth is located in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and much of the rest is in the Pere Marquette State Forest.

The Platte River is about 29.5 miles in length from its origin at the outlet of Lake Dubonnet. The watershed area is about 193 square miles. The land coverage is 82% forested, open lands or wetlands; 12% agriculture, and 7% urban. Approximately three-quarters of the watershed is publicly owned lands. Water in the river is clear due to extensive wetlands. Mixed conifer and hardwood wetlands give way to tamarack and arborvitae swamp near Big Platte Lake and Little Platte Lake.

Torch Lake

Torch Lake at 19 miles long is Michigan's longest inland lake and at approximately 18,770 acres is Michigan's second largest inland lake. Surrounding it are several townships including Torch Lake Township, Central Lake Township, Forest Home Township, Helena Township, and Milton Township in Antrim County and Clearwater Township in Kalkaska County, Michigan. Several villages and hamlets lie along its shore, including Alden, Eastport, Clam River, and Torch Lake. The lake is about 17 miles northeast of Traverse City and is separated by narrow strips of land from both Grand Traverse Bay on the northwest and Elk Lake at the southwest end. The lake is about two miles wide. It has a maximum depth of 285 feet and an average depth of 111 feet making it Michigan's deepest inland lake, as well as the state's largest by volume. It is a popular lake for fishing, featuring lake trout, rock bass, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, muskellunge, Pike, ciscoes, brown trout, steelhead, rainbow trout, atlantic salmon and whitefish.

The name of the lake is not due to its shape, rather, is derived from translation from the Ojibwa name Was-wa-gon-ong meaning "Place of the Torches", referring to the practice of the local Native American population who once used torches at night to attract fish for harvesting with spears and nets. For a time it was referred to by local European settlers as "Torch Light Lake", which eventually was shortened to its current name.

Pere Marquette River in Manistee National Forest

The Pere Marquette River is a river in Michigan in the United States. The main stream of this river is 63.9 miles long, running from Lake County south of Baldwin into the Pere Marquette Lake, and from there into Lake Michigan. The upper portion of the Pere Marquette runs approximately 44 miles from the forks of the Little South and Middle Branches downstream to highway M-37. In 1978, 66 miles of the river was designated a National Scenic River.

This river's original native fish was the Grayling, but due to deforestation after the great Chicago Fire, they disappeared from the river. It was then stocked with rainbow trout in 1876. In 1884, the Baldwin River, a major tributary, became the first American river to ever be stocked with European brown trout fish, which were imported from Germany, and is why they are referred to by some as German Brown Trout.

Old Mission Peninsula and Grand Traverse Bay

The US 31–Island Lake Outlet Bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge in downtown Charlevoix, Michigan, that carries U.S. Route 31 across Island Lake Outlet. It is the fifth bridge to cross the channel there with the first being a pedestrian-only structure that was built in the nineteenth century.

St. James Harbor Lighthouse, Beaver Island

Beaver Island Harbor Light is a lighthouse located in St. James, Michigan, on the northern end of Beaver Island on Lake Michigan. It has also been called "St. James Harbor Light" and "Whiskey Point Light". It is associated with a U.S. Coast Guard station, which was formerly a lifesaving station.

Charlevoix Train Station

The Chicago and West Michigan Railroad Charlevoix Station is a single-story rectangular, Shingle Style building with a hip roof. Covered platforms extend from the main mass at each end, giving the station a broad and low form. The exterior is clad with shingles below the window sill level and clapboards above. The building sits on a fieldstone foundation, with a poured concrete basement floor. A large bay window and a conical-roof round tower rise above the roofline on what was the track side. The street side has a low arched entrance with a massive gable above containing a balcony-fronted, tripartite, transomed window. A hip roof canopy supported by round columns covers the platforms at each end, and runs across part of the main building facade.

The interior contains outer and inner lobbies, a ticket/telegraph office, a waiting room, two lavatories, and a large freight and baggage room. The interior is entirely finished with hardwoods. The walls are covered with vertical beaded-board dados up to chair-rail height, horizontal boarding above that, up to picture-moulding height, and additional vertical boarding up to the ceilings. The ceiling is covered with boards, and the floor has original hardwood floorboards. The waiting room contains an original fireplace with mantelpiece. Columns similar to those supporting the platform canopies frame the opening between the main lobby and the waiting room.

Clam Lake Canal

The Clam Lake Canal is a man-made .33 miles long canal between Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac in Cadillac, Michigan. It was made by George A. Mitchell, the founder of the city of Cadillac (as the Village of Clam Lake), in the 1870s. The main purpose of the man-made canal was to facilitate the movement of logs to sawmills. Mitchell was a businessman, merchant, railwayman, lumber baron, and real estate developer who needed lumber to build the village and saw the potential for further sawmill development.

Sometimes called the Cadillac Canal, it is primarily used today for recreation boaters travelling between the two lakes. In 1919, the area was reorganized as Mitchell State Park; the canal itself was dedicated as a Michigan State Historic Site on March 16, 1989.

The canal displayed an unusual mystery soon after it was constructed. It was frozen over in the first part of the winter when the lakes on each side of it were unfrozen. Then when the adjacent lakes froze over with thick ice this canal in-between was unfrozen and flowed freely all winter long.

Hancock Street, Pentwater

Pentwater, Michigan—the village, township and surrounding area—is more than a quintessential, old-fashioned, laid back community with a rich history on the shores of Lake Michigan’s clear waters and sugar-fine sandy beaches. It’s more than an area that surrounds a 500-acre inland lake that’s fed by a vibrant river. And it’s also more than rows of downtown businesses offering an eclectic mix of shops, places to eat, and a Village Green that’s a centerpiece for many fun events year-round, including a weekly summertime band concert.

Traverse City Cherry Capital Airport

Cherry Capital Airport is a public use airport located two nautical miles southeast of the central business district of Traverse City, in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States. It is owned by Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties.

Central Michigan University