Which of the 5 Great Lakes is the best?

The State of the Great Lakes 2022 Report by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy have analyzed and reported that Lake Superior and Lake Huron are rated as “good” ecosystems as Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario are rated “fair” and Lake Erie was ranked as “poor.”



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Lake Huron, the second-largest of the Great Lakes, tops the list for its pristine turquoise waters, unparalleled shoreline sunrises, numerous lakeside parks, gorgeous beaches, and historic lighthouses. French explorers proclaimed it La Mer Douce, “the freshwater sea.” What's more, Lake Huron is home to 30,000 islands!

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Watershed's surface: 209,000 square kms. Lake Superior is the largest, cleanest, and wildest of all the Great Lakes.

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Lake Erie is the shallowest, warmest, and most productive of the Great Lakes. Three distinct basins provide a variety of offshore habitats. The Detroit River, Maumee River, and smaller tributaries drain into the western basin, which averages 24 feet deep and contains extremely nutrient-rich water.

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Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by area (31,700 mi2 /82,100 km2). It is also the coldest and deepest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 406 meters (1,332 feet). By most measures, it is the healthiest of all the Great Lakes.

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Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes by surface area and volume. It is like a mini-freshwater ocean, you can't even see the other side from the Wisconsin shoreline.

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The 5 most beautiful beaches in the Great Lakes
  • Long Point (Lake Erie) George Hornaday (Flickr) ...
  • Bluffer's Park Beach (Lake Ontario) AlexMeoko (Flickr) ...
  • The Grotto (Lake Huron) Image Ontario. ...
  • Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Lake Michigan) bDSC_6076 (Flickr) ...
  • Pancake Bay Beach (Lake Superior) Bryan O'Toole (Flickr)


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Currents in Lake Erie can be dangerous! Any current flowing faster than 2 mph is considered dangerous. Dangerous currents can exceed 5 mph — faster than an Olympic swimmer can swim.

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The greatest of the Great Lakes is Lake Superior, the northernmost and westernmost Great Lake — and the biggest, the deepest, the coldest and the most pristine.

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Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by area (31,700 mi2 /82,100 km2). It is also the coldest and deepest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 406 meters (1,332 feet).

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Lake Erie is a bastion of beach glass. A couple of reasons for the multitude of glass here: -- Lake Erie has more than 2,000 shipwrecks, all of which cold have been carrying ceramic dishes and glasses, not to mention marbles in the ballast. -- For decades, Cleveland dumped its trash in the lake.

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It's the 'forgotten' Great Lake Lake Huron is often overlooked compared with the other four Great Lakes. Superior has a reputation as the coldest, deepest and largest.

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Lake Michigan's riptide and longshore tides are unparalleled when it comes to danger among all the Great Lakes. In fact, due to its unnaturally strong winds, it's not unusual for this lake to have strong rip currents that can be dangerous for swimmers.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio – With all-time record water levels on Lake Erie, you might hear someone talk about “high tide.” Here's the thing, though. Unlike the oceans, the Great Lakes don't have tides. OK, well, they have teeny tiny tides, a difference of a few centimeters on a twice-daily cycle.

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So you know how when you go for a dip in the ocean and you come out covered in salt crust and with the distinct stench of rotting seaweed? Yeah, that doesn't happen in the Great Lakes. The water may be colder, but it's wonderfully clean.

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Lake Michigan wrecks: the oldest and the mostest Lake Michigan contains more shipwrecks than any of the other Great Lakes, as well as the oldest recorded one: the French ship Griffon, the first European vessel to sail the Lakes.

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Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake in North America (by surface area) and the eleventh-largest worldwide. It is the Great Lakes' southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume. By the 1960s, Lake Erie had become the most polluted of the Great Lakes, owing to the substantial industrial presence along its coasts.

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Lake Superior is safe for swimming. In fact, it has the lowest drowning rate of all the Great Lakes, as reflected in the statistics provided by the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. There were 108 confirmed drownings in the Great Lakes in 2022, along with 12 unknown final outcomes.

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