Michigan

Ready to cast off for summer? Where to boat across Michigan in 2025

Published

11 months ago

May 31, 2025

Press Room

Ready to cast off for summer? Where to boat across Michigan in 2025

Boating is a popular summertime activity in Michigan.
The state’s expansive waterways include inland lakes and rivers and four of the Great Lakes.

Summer boating season in Michigan is getting underway, and boaters are already hitting the water.

A day out on clear, sparkling waters with loved ones offers a perfect summer getaway for Michigan boaters. The state is a boat lover’s paradise, boasting four of the Great Lakes and 11,000 inland lakes, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

“In Michigan, you are never more than 6 miles away from a lake, river or stream, so you never have to travel far to find a boaters paradise,” Pure Michigan says.

Here’s what to know.

5 places to tie off your boat and enjoy the day

When the day on the lake is done, consider docking in these areas and checking out nearby cities.

Charlevoix: This northwest Michigan city borders Lake Charlevoix, Round Lake, the Round Lake Channel and Lake Michigan. The Charlevoix City Marina is open for the season and features a boaters’ lounge, floating docks, laundry facilities, a splash pad and restrooms. Nearby, the city features restaurants, hotels, a dog park and gardens.
Detroit: The Motor City runs along an international border at the Detroit River. Among several docking options is the Riverside Marina, with the clubhouse featuring a jacuzzi, heated swimming pool, showers, locker room and laundry facilities. Downtown Detroit and nearby Midtown are packed with restaurants, museums, hotels, parks, theaters, shopping and sports venues.
Holland: Holland borders Lake Macatawa and the Macatawa River, flowing toward Lake Michigan. Docking includes the Yacht Basin Marina, with a conference center and vacation rental units. The tourist town with Dutch heritage features tulip gardens, restaurants, a lighthouse, Dutch Village, museums, hotels and state parks.
Higgins Lake State Park: North and South Higgins Lake State Park near Roscommon in northern Michigan are on Higgins Lake. The state parks provide boat launches, cabins, campgrounds, sandy beaches, a picnic area and hiking trails.
Saginaw Bay: Along the bay on Lake Huron, cities in the thumb and central Michigan offer docking, including Bay City, Caseville, Au Gres and Linwood, among others. The region offers fishing, restaurants, parks, shopping and summer festivals, with Saginaw on the Saginaw River, and Frankenmuth short a drive farther inland.

6 places to boat this summer in Michigan

Here are six places to boat on in Michigan, according to Pure Michigan:

Great Lakes: Enjoy boating on the vast waters of four Great Lakes bordering Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
Lake Leelanau in Leland: This lake is split into two sections, North and South Lake Leelanau, featuring clear waters and a natural habitat of nearly 9,000 acres. Boaters can enjoy wildlife spotting and recreation, with nearby restaurants and vineyards for dining.
Lake St. Clair in southeast Michigan: This popular metro Detroit lake connects Lake Erie, the Detroit River and Lake Huron. Lake St. Clair sees 3,000 freighters go through its shipping canal, and 150,000 boats registered in the area for recreation.
Grand Lake in Alpena: In northeast Michigan, this over 8,900-acre lake features several small islands. The nearby Besser Museum for northeast Michigan highlights the region’s wooden sailing and motorized boats.
Gull Lake in Battle Creek: This lake in southwest Michigan offers regular sailboat racing with a yacht club, scuba diving, homes and cottages along the shores and a fishery.
Torch Lake resembles the Caribbean in its deep, multi-tone color. At 18 miles in length, Torch is Michigan’s longest inland lake. Its sand bars are so legendary that musician Kid Rock wrote a song about them. Torch also is the state’s deepest lake. The village of Alden, on the lake’s southeast curve, boasts one of the few public beaches.

Glide along the ‘Inland Waterway’

Michigan’s “Inland Waterway” cuts across the tip of the mitten, starting north of Petoskey and ending at Cheboygan.

Michigan’s longest chain of rivers and lakes covers nearly 40 miles, including Pickerel Lake and Crooked Lake, the Crooked River, Burt Lake, the Indian River, Mullett Lake, the Cheboygan River, and finally into Lake Huron.

The water trails connect seven state parks; numerous campgrounds, day-use parks, and resorts; 20 Little Traverse Conservancy Nature Preserves, and six communities.

How can you register your boat in Michigan?

Boats must be registered and you can do so through the Michigan Department of State. Some boats also require a title if they’re 20 feet long or longer, or have a permanently affixed engine.

Registration is good for three years, expiring on March 31 of the third year, according to the state. Boat owners can renew online, via mail, at a self-service station or in-person at your local Secretary of State office.

What should you know before you go?

Check with your local boating access site for hours and rules. Most state-sponsored sites are closed from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., says the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Life jackets must be on board and the type and number depend on the type of boat you have and how many people are on board, the Michigan DNR says.

If you plan to take a pet, check whether pets are allowed and how to handle them. In Michigan, pets must be kept on a 6-foot leash and under the owner’s immediate control and you must clean up after them and prevent them from interacting with wildlife.

If you plan to fish or water ski, be sure to check local regulations, some inland lakes prohibit certain activities.

Can you take alcohol onboard your boat?

It’s illegal to operate a boat in Michigan while under the influence of alcohol, according to state law. Boaters with a 0.08% blood alcohol content or higher could face civil penalties like fines and imprisonment.

Some boating access sites in Michigan ban drinking alcohol, the Michigan DNR said.

Contact Jenna Prestininzi: jprestininzi@freepress.com.

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Michigan

Northern Michigan lake drained after dam failure in Alcona County

Published

9 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Press Room

Northern Michigan lake drained after dam failure in Alcona County

Barton City — This week’s flooding across northern Michigan is being blamed for the collapse of a privately owned dam in Alcona County, washing away the small lake that the structure held back.

Buck’s Pond was reduced to mud this week after its privately owned dam failed, destroying the gravel road over the 94-year-old dam structure.

The dam burst around 8 p.m. Monday, sending all of the water in Buck’s Pond north through Comstock Creek to Hubbard Lake, a large recreational boating lake in Alcona County that’s ringed by summer cottages and year-round homes, said James Plohg, who owns property on the lake.

“As it was rising, it started like just washing little parts of it away,” Plohg told The Detroit News on Thursday. “And then it just got so big that it wasn’t able to contain it. And it just opened up.”

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy classifies the Buck’s Pond Dam as a low-hazard dam because its rupture has little downstream impact on other water infrastructure and property.

Lakes in the Green Association, a local homeowners group, owned the dam, according to state records.

It was last inspected in August 2017, according to records in the Michigan Dam Inventory, the state’s catalog of data on the ownership, age and condition of 2,552 dams scattered across Michigan’s Lower and Upper peninsulas.

State records indicate the dam was in “satisfactory” condition, able to withstand a 100-year flood and that it “meets applicable tolerable risk criteria.”

Plohg said the demise of the Buck’s Pond Dam will leave a hole in his and his neighbors’ remote corner of rural Alcona County, located between Oscoda and Alpena.

Plohg said he’s been in contact with state lawmakers who represent Alcona County, hoping they could secure state funding to rebuild the dam — and restore Buck’s Pond.

“It was beautiful,” Plohg told The News. “I mean, people come here to fish. There’s the beach over there. Little kids came to swim, picnics, meetings, a lot of boats, pontoons go around the island. We had (boat) parades on the lake. It’s not much of nothing right now.”

“This doesn’t describe how nice it used to be,” Plohg added.

clivengood@detroitnews.com

DavidG@detroitnews.com

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Michigan

Michigan man didn’t turn right on red. So another driver hit him with ax, police say

Published

21 hours ago

April 16, 2026

Press Room

Michigan man didn’t turn right on red. So another driver hit him with ax, police say

70-year-old man arrested, faces assault charge

GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich. – A Michigan man was struck with an ax after not turning right at a red light at an intersection on Tuesday, according to police.

Just before 2 p.m. on April 14, a 74-year-old man driving near the intersection of Woodmere and Hannah in Grand Traverse County sat through a red light instead of turning right, Local 4’s NBC affiliate in Traverse City reported.

Police said a 70-year-old Traverse City man was in a car behind the 74-year-old man and followed him to the Traverse Area District Library,

Once the 74-year-old man got out of his car, the 70-year-old man allegedly approached him and attacked him with an ax, injuring the 74-year-old in his left upper arm. Both men then left the area.

The 74-year-old man drove himself to a local hospital and is being treated for his non-life-threatening injuries.

The 70-year-old man was later arrested at his home and faces a charge of assault to do great bodily harm.

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Michigan

What we know about the tornadoes that hit southeast Michigan overnight

Published

1 day ago

April 16, 2026

Press Room

What we know about the tornadoes that hit southeast Michigan overnight

Cleanup continued Wednesday after overnight storms spawned two EF-1 tornadoes in Southeast Michigan, toppling trees, damaging homes and businesses in Downriver communities, and leaving some neighborhoods without power for hours.

The National Weather Service confirmed one tornado tracked through the Ann Arbor area in Washtenaw County around 1:44 a.m. near Jackson Avenue and Interstate 94.

A second tornado touched down near the Allen Park and Lincoln Park border in Wayne County around 2:14 a.m.

In Garden City, strong winds snapped a large tree and brought down power lines, briefly sparking a small grass fire, resident Susan Steffke said.

“I got an alert to take cover, and I got up and split second, it was raining and thundering and lightning,” Steffke said.

Steffke said the fallen tree blocked a side street, and wires hung into her backyard.

“The tree totally was across the side street, and I had wires in my backyard, hanging down, and the telephone pole got split in half, and the top half was laying on the sidewalk,” Steffke said.

Neighbors nearby were without power for hours after the storm, said Garden City resident Julie Feinthel, who said electricity went out around 3 a.m. and returned just before 4:30 p.m.

“DTE was working around the clock to get it back up,” Feinthel said.

In Downriver, the Wayne County tornado crossed Dix Highway into Melvindale, the weather service said, snapping trees and causing damage that included roofs, windows, and HVAC equipment.

The storms also brought heavy rain and flooding, submerging flood-prone stretches of Gibraltar in southern Wayne County.

Bayview Drive in Gibraltar was closed as crews set up an additional pump to help drain standing water, officials said.

“Not much you can do, hopefully they pump it out or what have you, but it’s the first time the street’s been blocked,” said Gibraltar resident Gary Gagne.

No deaths or injuries were reported in connection with either tornado, according to the National Weather Service.

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