The Field Atlas
0/363Inland seas
Great Lakes destinations in the USA
The Great Lakes behave like a freshwater ocean. Dunes, sea caves, hardwood gorges, and restored tallgrass at Midewin sit on or near their rims.
FrontispiecePictured Rocks, Michigan
These plates are for travel that turns inland and still finds a horizon. McCormick Wilderness holds Lower Baraga Lake in the Ottawa hardwoods, east of the Porkies. Sylvania is the Ottawa wilderness of lakes west of Watersmeet. Eagle Mountain is the Superior National Forest summit northwest of Grand Marais, a walk rather than a portage.
- Plates
- 14
- States
- 4
Great Lakes
The plates
Plate XXIIIPictured Rocks
coastLake Superior shore, Michigan
A painted wall standing in freshwater sea.
46.6° N · 86.3° WOpen plate →
Plate XLVIIISleeping Bear Dunes
duneMichigan
A dune so high the lake looks like another sky.
44.9° N · 86.1° WOpen plate →
Plate LXXIIIApostle Islands
coastLake Superior, Bayfield Peninsula, Wisconsin
A red-stone archipelago in a freshwater ocean.
47.0° N · 90.7° WOpen plate →
Plate LXXXIBoundary Waters
forestSuperior National Forest, Minnesota
A forest you cross by water, one lake at a time.
48.0° N · 91.5° WOpen plate →
Plate CXXXIIILake of the Clouds
hillsPorcupine Mountains, Upper Peninsula, Michigan
A lake that sits in a notch of an old mountain.
46.8° N · 89.8° WOpen plate →
Plate CLVIMidewin National Tallgrass Prairie
prairieWill County, south of Joliet, Illinois
Illinois tallgrass grown back on an arsenal prairie.
41.4° N · 88.1° WOpen plate →
Plate CCCVVoyageurs
forestKabetogama, Rainy, and Namakan lakes, Minnesota
A park you enter by water.
48.5° N · 92.8° WOpen plate →
Plate CCCVIShawnee Garden of the Gods
hillsGarden of the Gods Wilderness, Shawnee NF, Illinois
Illinois stone the fall still paints.
37.6° N · 88.4° WOpen plate →
Plate CCCXTahquamenon Falls
forestTahquamenon Falls State Park, Upper Peninsula, Michigan
Root-tea water under an Upper Peninsula maple.
46.6° N · 85.3° WOpen plate →
Plate CCCXIPalisade Head
coastTettegouche State Park, North Shore, Minnesota
A rhyolite cliff dropping into Superior.
47.3° N · 91.2° WOpen plate →
Plate CCCXVISplit Rock
coastSplit Rock Lighthouse State Park, North Shore, Minnesota
A Superior cliff and a light on the brow.
47.2° N · 91.4° WOpen plate →
Plate CCCXLIIMcCormick Wilderness
forestLower Baraga Lake, Ottawa National Forest, Michigan
A quiet Ottawa lake under early color.
46.7° N · 88.0° WOpen plate →
Plate CCCXLIXEagle Mountain
hillsMisquah Hills, Superior National Forest, Minnesota
The highest rock in Minnesota.
47.9° N · 90.6° WOpen plate →
Plate CCCLXIISylvania Wilderness
forestOttawa National Forest, Gogebic County, Michigan
Canoe water in old Ottawa woods.
46.2° N · 89.3° WOpen plate →
Asked at the trailhead
Questions already asked
- Is there wilderness travel near the Great Lakes?
- Yes. Dune shores, forested gorges, lake-country plates, and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie are listed on this region page.
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