Stephen Brede, of Petoskey, Michigan, spent last summer circumnavigating Lake Huron in a solo Kruger canoe. This summer he’s going to attempt to paddle the entire Lake Michigan coastline.

 

“I had a wonderful experience going around Lake Huron last summer, and I expect a trip around Lake Michigan will be just as interesting, and certainly as challenging,” the 58-year-old writer and photographer said.

Weather permitting, Brede will begin his trip on Saturday, June 19, in Petoskey, a small town on Little Traverse Bay, a bay on Lake Michigan. As he did on his Lake Huron trip, he’ll travel counterclockwise around the lake.

“I’ll head north to the tip of the Lower Peninsula, and cross the five-mile Straits of Mackinac to the Upper Peninsula. From there I’ll head west, and then south, to the Michigan-Wisconsin line. I’m planning on crossing the mouth of Green Bay to the Door Peninsula, but that will depend on the weather conditions. I’ll head down the Wisconsin coast to Illinois, round the southern tip of the lake in Indiana, and then make the long run north up the Michigan coast back to Petoskey.”

Brede will camp for the most of the journey, with occasional stays in motels and with family, and perhaps with some people he’ll meet along the way, which happened a few times on his Lake Huron trip.

“If the people around Lake Michigan are even half as kind to me as they were on Lake Huron, I’ll be well cared for,” he said.

Lake Huron has 3,827 miles of coastline, compared to Lake Michigan’s 1,640 miles. Those figures, however, include the coasts of islands within the lakes.

“A lot of my paddling around Lake Huron was from point to point, so that shaved a lot of miles. Most significantly, by paddling from the tip of Tobermory, Ontario, to Manitoulin Island, I skipped the majority of Georgian Bay. In all, I paddled about 800 miles getting around Lake Huron, and I expect to the paddle about the same mileage going around Lake Michigan.”

Follow Brede’s progress on his website: www.greatlakescanoe.com

Check out this exclusive interview with Stephen Brede in THIS free online digital edition of Canoeroots & Family Camping in our Spring 2010 issue.