Meet the Lake Michigan Water Trail -- an ambitious recreation idea gaining movement.
Planners from Michigan and three neighbors met Thursday and Friday in Saugatuck to press forward with work on a 1,640-mile shoreline route for kayaking, bicycling, hiking and road-tripping, Rod Kackley reports in Detroit Crain's Business
Dave Lemberg, a geography scholar at Western Michigan University who's spearheading the effort, compared the vision to the Appalachian Trail multi-state hiking route -- only closer to civilization.
"When we talk about the Lake Michigan trail, we are talking about a 1,600-mile loop that goes through downtown Chicago, Milwaukee, Traverse City and the resort towns along the lake, as well as national forest land and other wilderness areas," Lemberg says, according to Crain's.
The Lake Michigan Water Trail Association, formed in 2010, has representatives from paddling clubs in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and our state. It's website is here.
Dave Lorenz, a Travel Michigan manager who spoke at the conference, says the goal is to appeal to active travelers who don't want to spend all their time in a tent or in activities requiring advanced skill and athleticism.
"With the Lake Michigan Trail, you could go from the most secluded feeling, where there is nobody else around you to great cities," he says.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality subsidized this week's two-day planning discussion.
