Water Trails on Lake Michigan

The article "Should Michigan follow other states by investing in Lake Michigan water trails?" by Howard Meyerson of the Grand Rapids Press, is really about establishing trails for canoes in Michigan, a worthy goal.

But the 6 January 2012 article contains not one, but two, comparisons between water trails and the Appalachian Trail. Here they are.

Wisconsin announced just before the holidays it is well on its way to making its 425-mile shoreline a working part of the trail. The water trail is expected to be designated by Congress as a National Recreation Trail. It will be to paddling what the Appalachian and North Country national scenic trails are to hiking: Epic.

and

Lemberg is nothing if not enthusiastic. The prospect of combining a kayak tour up the Michigan shoreline with a bike tour along U.S. Route 35, the proposed bike route up the Lake Michigan shoreline, makes him giddy. He said the tourism opportunities are astounding when the various modes of travel are combined.

“We should be a world destination on the level of the Appalachian Trail,” Lemberg said. “But we (the state) haven’t been marketing things that way.”

So there you have it: kayaking or canoeing in Lake Michigan in either state is sort of like hiking the Appalachian Trail.