Keith, I get the digest version of paddlewise, and have been gone this weekend, so I'm a little late in replying to your inquirey. I live along the Keweenaw water trail. The majority of the trail follows the shoreline of the Keweenaw peninsula in Lake Superior. Much of it is rocky shoreline, some of which is like what you see in the leftmost picture shown on the website you posted (http://www.keweenaw.org/watertrail.htm) and some of it more grandiose, with much higher rock walls topped by trees. It's very pretty. Other parts of the shoreline are either sand beaches or cobblestone beaches. The water is very clear, and you can see 20 or more feet down. The bottom varies from sand to large boulders to solid rock masses which sometimes plunge deep and then rise up again to within a few feet of the surface. The rest of the trail, as you can see from the website map, runs from the Portage Entry near Jacobsville on the southeast side of the Peninsula upward through Portage Lake and follows M203 to the northwest side of the peninsula, which is near Bear Lake on the websites map, but more importantly, is near McLains State Park right on the shore of Lake Superior where the canal meets Lake Superior again. I don't know why the map shows Bear Lake, which is a lily pad covered, shallow lake and not really a paddling destination, and yet they don't show a very nice state park right along the waterway which may be of interest to some as an overnight or day stop. The Portage Canal part of the trail is mostly developed, but a nice paddle nonetheless. The Lake superior shoreline from Copper Harbor to Bete Gris (and possibly beyond to as far as Gay, though I'm not sure) is mostly undeveloped. There is an Island off the tip of the peninsula directly out from Schlatter Lake. The island is called Manitou Island, and is about 3 miles offshore. It has a lighthouse on it. The waters can be rough out there, so you will want to check the marine weather forecasts before trying a crossing. The rest of the Lake superior shoreline is dotted with houses or cottages, spaced about a quarter mile apart. I recommend you order the map they offer on the website. It shows launch areas, and lists highlights along the water trail, as well as areas to watch out for where there may not be good landing sites if the water is rough. If you need more info, feel free to contact me. Randy Ricchi Hancock, MI *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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