North America : Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are an important water system of North America for transportation, commerce, and recreation. Lying on the border between the United States of America and Canada, they are the largest bodies of fresh water in the world making them an invaluable natural resource. The size is difficult to appreciate until you see them: at 94,250 square miles (244,100 km2) combined, the lakes are nearly as large as the United Kingdom, and a plane flying over one will not see land on any side.
Lakes
Although lakes usually have names like "This Lake" and "That Lake", the Great Lakes are named the other way 'round as "Lake This" and "Lake That". In this area, if someone says "the Lake" without naming it, they're probably referring to the nearest Great one.
- Lake Superior
- Lake Michigan
- Lake Huron
- Lake Erie
- Lake Ontario
Although much smaller than these five, Lake Saint Claire (between Southeast Michigan and Ontario, and between Lakes Huron and Erie) is part of the water system of the Great Lakes.
Regions
The following regions lie around the Great Lakes.
Cities
The following cities lie on or close to the shores of the Great Lakes.
Canada
- Kingston, Ontario
- London, Ontario
- Montreal, Quebec
- Niagara Falls, Ontario
- Niagara on the Lake, Ontario
- Sault Ste Marie, Ontario
- Toronto, Ontario
- Windsor, Ontario
- Thunder Bay, Ontario
United States
- Buffalo, New York
- Chicago, Illinois
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Detroit, Michigan
- Duluth, Minnesota
- Erie, Pennsylvania
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Niagara Falls, New York
- Put-in-Bay, Ohio
- Rochester, New York
- Sandusky, Ohio
- Sault Ste Marie, Michigan
- Toledo, Ohio
- Traverse City, Michigan
Other Destinations
See
Do
Many boaters utilize the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway and their connection points as a travel route. There are many marinas and public boat ramps available for this purpose. Also, the Great Lakes Cruising Company and the American Canadian Caribbean Line provide cruises on the Great Lakes.
This page was last edited at 17:01, on 7 February 2009 by Wikitravel user Local hero. Based on work by Jani Patokallio, Stacy Hall, Todd VerBeek, Valerie Byrnes, Ryan Holliday, Tom Holland, Mayor Pez, Ian Kirk and Evan Prodromou, Wikitravel user(s) Pashley, NRFranklin and Huttite, Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel and others.