The Illinois shore of Lake Michigan stretches sixty-eight miles, from the Indiana border, at Calumet Park, on the south side of Chicago, to the Wisconsin border, north of Winthrop Harbor, in Lake County.

The twenty-three miles of the Chicago lakefront are almost entirely open to the public thanks to Daniel Burnham’s visionary Chicago Plan of 1909. Boat-friendly sand beaches line its shore at some places on the south side and much of the shoreline on the north side of the city. A map of Chicago Park District Lake Michigan water trail access sites is available here.

Descriptions of paddling trips on Lake Michigan and detailed trip maps can be access from the list at the bottom of this page.

In northern Cook County and in southern Lake County, the beaches narrow and give way to high wooded bluffs topped by homes and a few suburban parks. North of the industrial area of Waukegan, on the north side of Waukegan Harbor, the sand beaches return and Illinois Beach State Park protects several miles of shoreline from private development.

Beaches require little or no improvements to provide access for boats of a wide variety of design and materials. While access to and from beaches is important to the creation of a lake trail, harbor access also plays a critical role in Lake Michigan. High waves and the resulting surf in shallow waters can make an unprotected beach a difficult and/or dangerous place to launch from or land on for small boaters. Harbors, ramps, and protected beaches are therefore important design elements for a long lake trail.

Along the shore, north of the city, many suburbs control parking and/or launching by imposing high daily and seasonal fees for non-residents. Since it is extremely unlikely that anyone resides in more than one suburb, even paddlers who are residents of one lakefront suburb find it prohibitively expensive to use the north shore as a trail for longer and one-way trips.

A trail on Lake Michigan presents considerations unlike those of the other water trails. A lake trail is defined only by the location of the access points. The distance paddlers can go from shore, the potential for high wind and waves and high speed power boat traffic can make paddling on the lake a challenge even for experienced users. For these reasons, the use of a water trail on Lake Michigan is recommended only for experienced and well equipped paddlers or for less experienced paddlers accompanied by an experienced group or guide.