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  4. 40 Midwest Spots for Amazing Summer Water Getaways

40 Midwest Spots for Amazing Summer Water Getaways

By Hannah Agran and Timothy Meinch Updated April 11, 2021
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Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Kevin J. Miyazaki/Redux

A bucket-list guide to the most Midwest ways to float in, swim through and chill out by a lake, river or creek. Summer is here. Drink it up.

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Cast Away

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Todd Zawitowski

Fish come in all sizes, and all spirits too. Little bluegills hang out under docks, their curiosity piqued by nothing more than a bit of hot dog on a child's hook. Walleye lurk deep in cold waters and fight back with Melvillean furor. Trout play coy, chasing feathered flies that flit on the surface of rippling streams. Catfish just seem dopey. But big or small, easy or tough, in a pond or on a Great Lake, catching them always follows the same arc. The bait. The wait. The tug on the line. The leap of the heart. The reeling in—a timeless battle of survival and will, energy coursing between two species along a single taut filament, the victor never a guarantee. ANYWHERE!

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Ferry to an Island

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Kevin J. Miyazaki/Redux

Leave your cares (and maybe your car) behind with a ride to a vacation accessible only by boat. Kelleys Island and Put-In-Bay are the marquee names in a cluster of Lake Erie isles west of Cleveland. Highlights include beaches, a state park, a towering war memorial, small resorts—and a lifestyle that moves at a golf-cart pace. MARBLEHEAD, CATAWBA. SANDUSKY, OH

Everything you've heard about Mackinac Island is true: The fudge. The gingerbread architecture. The carriages. And, yes, the hordes of tourists. (Escape the bustle and get big Lake Huron views on an 8-mile bike ride or hike around the island.) MACKINAW CITY + ST. IGNACE, MI

A third of Beaver Island's 54 square miles remain state-owned and largely undeveloped, inhabited by foxes, migrating cranes and, naturally, beavers. In town, you'll find a few hotels and shops, a working lighthouse, sand beaches and all the fresh whitefish you can eat. CHARLEVOIX, MI

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Take The Plunge

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Aaron Peterson

Sunshine turns Lake Superior a tempting blue-green, but the Caribbean this is not. Most years, the lake's surface temp maxes out around 65 degrees. Roll up your cuffs and let the surf lick your toes, or leap in for an unforgettable baptism in the world's largest body of fresh water. MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, WISCONSIN

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Stroll an Ancient Reef

For fossil lovers
Credit: Courtesy of fallsoftheohio.org

Time travel 390 million years back at Falls of the Ohio State Park, where amateur paleontologists can hunt for 600-plus different types of Devonian fossils on rock beds washed clean by the Ohio River. Some creatures are as big as a bus, others tinier than a pencil tip. CLARKSVILLE, IN

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Eat Fish by The Fire

Fish boil at Pelletier's

Six ingredients make up a Door County fish boil: whitefish, water, potatoes, salt, butter and lemon. Well, seven, if you count the kerosene, splashed on the open fire for the grand finale. DOOR COUNTY, WI

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(Re)Visit Highway 61

Split Rock Lighthouse, Minnesota's North Shore
Credit: Jay Wilde

Made famous by native son Bob Dylan, Minnesota's North Shore Scenic Drive is thick with gems. Historic Split Rock Lighthouse. Rocky beaches. Family-run smokehouses. And so very many waterfalls, plunging through pristine woods, out to Lake Superior. DULUTH, MN, TO CANADA

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Go to The Source

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Justin Salem Meyer

The Mississippi River cuts through our nation's heart—a 2,300-some-mile artery of commerce and culture. Hero of literature and song. Life-giving and life-taking. Where it flexes its muscle, the river stretches miles wide. But at the headwaters in Itasca State Park, the Mississippi spills from a serene Minnesota lake as a slim channel, shallow, clear and cold. To avoid tourists, come early. In the quiet of a new day, you can cross the infant river on stepping stones, alone with your thoughts, save for an occasional chortling loon. PARK RAPIDS, MN

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Explore a Sea Cave

Exploring sea caves around the Apostle Islands Bayfield Wisconsin
Credit: John Noltner

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore encompasses 12 miles of rugged Lake Superior coast and most of a 22-island archipelago. You can take a narrated cruise, but the real thrill is guiding a kayak through caves carved over millennia by the water. BAYFIELD, WI

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Pick Up a Paddle

Niobrara River near Smith Falls State Park
Credit: Ackerman + Gruber

With the right attitude, any kayak trip is an adventure. But these three rivers are truly one of a kind.

Ancient cypress trees rise from the swampy Cache River Wetlands, part of a state-run natural area in southern Illinois. Hushed and eerily beautiful, it's the northernmost marsh of its kind in the U.S. CYPRESS, IL

For a new perspective on the Windy City, join a guided float down the Chicago River and get an architecture lesson in the shadows of glittering skyscrapers. CHICAGO

The Niobrara National Scenic River offers days' worth of calm paddling in the scenic Sandhills, with countless spots to pull off and hike (including to Nebraska's tallest waterfall, Smith Falls). VALENTINE, NE

 

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Meet Mac

Ways to water in the Midwest
Credit: Aaron Peterson

Opened in 1957, the Mackinac Bridge stretches for 5 miles, spanning the point where lakes Michigan and Huron kiss. As many as 30,000 people come each Labor Day to hike across it, but this year's Bridge Walk has been canceled due to the pandemic. We'll see you in 2021, Big Mac. MACKINAW CITY + ST. IGNACE, MI

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Comb a Beach

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Anne Marie Gorham/@lakesuperior_beachglass

No promise of a message in a bottle, but freshwater waves polish and deliver treasure, same as any salt sea. Keep your eyes down to find fossil-freckled Petoskey stones by Lake Michigan, agate along Lake Superior or colorful glass on any Great Lakes shore. IN, IL, MI, MN, OH, WI

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Camp With a Moose

Moose at Isle Royale National Park
Credit: Per Breiehagen

A moose sighting up north is a rite of passage. Just about the best odds are at dawn and dusk in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a million-acre patchwork of lakes and forest along the Canada border—or at Isle Royale National Park, a cluster of 450-plus islands in Lake Superior accessible only by air or water. ELY + GRAND MARAIS, MN; MI

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See an Urban Waterfall

Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Credit: Falls Park.

At Falls Park in South Dakota's largest city, 7,400 gallons of water cascade over gorgeous pink Sioux quartzite boulders—every second. SIOUX FALLS, SD

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Let It All Slide

Wisconsin Dells: Water Park Capital of the World

Every once in a while, a gushy marketing nickname is actually correct. Case in point: the Waterpark Capital of the World. Swoosh around every flume the Dells throw at you, then line up (with a zillion other families) to do it again. WISCONSIN DELLS, WI

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Row, Row, Row A Boat

St. Louis: Forest Park

Hey, Bridget Jones fans. You know that scene where Bridge and Daniel recite bawdy limericks in a rowboat on a gauzy afternoon? That could be you, in Forest Park, drifting with your sweetie around the 1904 World's Fair-era Grand Basin. Parasol recommended. ST. LOUIS

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Look Back—And Forward

Smale Riverfront Park, Cincinnati
Credit: John Carrico/ Alias Imaging

For slaves in the antebellum South, the Ohio River marked the boundary of freedom. With its meditation labyrinth, Black Brigade Monument to volunteer soldiers, and zany all-ages toys, Smale Riverfront Park cleverly invites both play and reflection. Rock on riverfront porch-swing benches and take in the view. CINCINNATI

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Kick Back in a Tube

Hayward KOA tubing

Philosophical question: If a summer passes without floating downriver in a big inflated donut tethered to your friends—and to a tube you've rented just to carry the cooler—have you really summered at all? ANYWHERE!

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Scale a Sandy Ridge

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Tony Demin

Lake Michigan's epic dunes are living mountains—shaped by wind, stitched together by plant roots and subtly changed each time we walk upon them.

Some 50 miles of trails crisscross Indiana Dunes National Park's diverse and fragile ecosystem. Look for Chicago from the Dune Succession Trail at West Beach. PORTAGE, IN

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore stretches for 35 achingly gorgeous miles; the highest dune drops 450 feet into the cerulean abyss of Lake Michigan. EMPIRE, MI

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Go Tanking

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Ackerman + Gruber

Some water sports are, you know, sports. Others are acts of pure sloth. Enter tanking, a uniquely Nebraskan pastime of floating down a river in a cattle tank. No oar. No pole. No motor. In fact, no steering, acceleration or propulsion of any kind. (Though some outfitters rig tanks with bench seats and tables for playing cards or holding drinks.) You can hitch a tank most anywhere in the state, but the Calamus, Middle Loup and Cedar rivers are hot spots. NEBRASKA

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Visit Chicago

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Courtesy of Choose Chicago

That's it. Just go to Chicago and feel how water courses through the Windy City's veins. Zip down Lake Shore Drive, flanked by high-rises and Lake Michigan. (Or rent a bike to ride on the parallel trail.) Watch bridges lift for sailboats along the revived Chicago River. (Or see it happen from the inside out at the Bridgehouse Museum.) Join the party on Oak Street Beach. (Or escape it on 12th Street Beach.) Wade in Crown Fountain, where glowing portraits "spit" on gleeful kids. (Or stay dry watching Buckingham Fountain's regular light and water shows.) Take to the sky on Navy Pier's Ferris wheel for a 360-degree view of how water shapes this town. (Or get a four-state vista from the Willis Tower.) We could go on—but you're probably already there.

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Hunt for a Shipwreck

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Courtesy of NOAA/Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects a swath of Lake Huron known as Shipwreck Alley. Peer into the depths of maritime history on a glass-bottom boat tour. ALPENA, MI

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Sail on a Prairie Wind

25 Ways to Water
Credit: Robin Lorenson

Unfettered by hills or trees, breezes roll into mighty winds outside Wichita, making Cheney State Park and Reservoir one of the most unlikely big-time sailing destinations in the United States. CHENEY, KS

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Cruise Like a Victorian

Sure, it's a little old-school, but the Riverboat Twilight is one of the Mississippi's most memorable rides, with stops in historic towns, narrated sightseeing and pitch-perfect live banjo music on deck. LECLAIRE, IA

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Picnic on a Pontoon

Pontoon boat
Credit: Jason Lindsey

All hail the minivan of the not-so-high seas. Comfy. Roomy. Trusty. (Aerodynamics are so overrated.) Head out early, stop for a swim, snack on potato chips—and when the sun sets, put on home. ANYWHERE!

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Cruise colored cliffs

Ways to water in the MIdwest

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore gets its name from striking sandstone cliffs streaked by minerals. It's especially lovely at sunset. See the Lake Superior lakeshore by tour boat or kayak, or explore the forested shoreline to hike to beaches and waterfalls. MUNISING TO GRAND MARAIS, MI

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Climb to a lighthouse lookout

Ways to water in the MIdwest

Hundreds of lighthouses ring the Great Lakes, many open seasonally for visitors (some even for overnight guests). Get ready for a steep climb up spiral steps to see sweeping lake vistas—and hear or read tales about lighthouse keepers' solitary lives. MI, WI, IL, OH, MN, IN

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Go for a gondola ride

Ways to water in the Midwest
Credit: Ackerman + Gruber

Former Boundary Waters guide John Kerschbaum traded canoe paddling for cruising on Gondola Romantica in 2000 (after shipping an authentic vessel from Venice to Minnesota). He's been crooning to lovers on the St. Croix ever since. STILLWATER, MN

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Raft across a spring

Ways to water in the MIdwest

At Palms Book State Park, ride on a hand-cranked raft across Kitch-iti-kipi, the state's largest freshwater spring, gushing more than 10,000 gallons per minute. You'll be mesmerized by swirling clouds of sand and ancient tree trunks. MANISTIQUE, MI

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Watch history rise

Ways to water in the MIdwest

Gawk at the 135-foot-tall Aerial Lift Bridge as it rises more than 20 times each day for sailboats and skyscraper-length ships traveling between Lake Superior and Duluth Harbor. The first version of the unusual bridge was completed in 1905, and a remodeled bridge opened in 1930. DULUTH, MN

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Get a million-dollar view

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Kevin J. Miyazaki/Redux

The famously clear Geneva Lake is ringed by resorts, vacation homes and 19th-century mansions. Excursions on Lake Geneva Cruise Line offer close-up views of the Victorian mansions around the spring-fed lake, while more than 25 miles of lakeshore walking paths run through the manicured grounds of estates, most still privately owned. LAKE GENEVA, WI

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Love a lily pond

Ways to water in the MIdwest

Starting in July, giant water lilies bloom in the reflecting pools of the Missouri Botanical Garden. The plants—which can grow as fast as an inch an hour—have leaf spans of up to six feet. If St. Louis isn't on your summer itinerary, most Midwest botanical gardens boast one or more lakes or ponds that might show off aquatic plants, fountains or waterfalls. ST. LOUIS, MO

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See fire and water

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: C2 Photography

At the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers, Keeper of the Plains honors local Native American tribes. At 9 p.m. in the summer, flames from the fire drums illuminate the river. Another way to experience the statue: sunset or sunrise views from a kayak. WICHITA

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Vacation in a houseboat

Ways to water in the MIdwest

At Voyageurs National Park, a maze of waterways carries boaters into boreal forest where the namesake fur trappers once reigned. Rented houseboats are a popular choice for multiday trips in the 340-square-mile park. INTERNATIONAL FALLS, MN

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Explore an island park

Belle Isle Park
Credit: Brad Ziegler

The 900-acre Belle Isle Park in the Detroit River delivers a lineup of next-to-nature moments. Its free aquarium features more than 1,000 fish; also see a marble lighthouse, beach, conservatory and maritime museum. DETROIT

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Discover a mule's pace

Ways to water in the MIdwest

It's slow going on a replica 19th-century mule-pulled canal boat, but that's the point of a journey on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Period guides will even give you a lesson in mule-tending. LASALLE, IL

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Escape into a canyon

Spearfish Canyon, SD
Credit: Darren Squashic

Home to some of the best scenery in the Black Hills, the Spearfish Canyon gorge holds cliffs, waterfalls and forests, easily accessible from the 22-mile Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. SPEARFISH, SD

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Cheer for water-skiers

Ways to water in the MIdwest

The Min-Aqua Bats Water Ski Show lures visitors three nights a week throughout the summer to the lakeside vacation hub of Minocqua. Started in 1950, the show bills itself as the oldest continual amateur waterski show in the U.S. MINOCQUA, WI

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Play on the prairie

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Ryan Donnell

Sailing, parasailing, fishing and kiteboarding are all popular on Lake McConaughy, Nebraska's largest lake (near the Colorado border). The 100-mile shoreline is perfect for camping—spots fill quickly. LAKE MCCONAUGHY, NE

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Do the docks

Ways to water in the MIdwest
Credit: Ryan Donnell

A walk down the docks in Fishtown—one of the few unmodernized fishing villages on the Great Lakes— reveals weathered shanties that house both a working waterfront as well as cafes and boutiques. LELAND, MI

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Float underground

Indiana Caverns Family Adventure Park
Credit: Kevin J. Miyazaki/Redux

Descend 110 feet into a drippy cavern and board a boat to explore Indiana's longest cave, with a 35-foot waterfall, blind cave crayfish and rimstone dams. Also at Indiana Caverns Family Adventure Park: the Deep Darkness tour, four hours of splashing, kayaking, climbing and crawling. CORYDON, IN

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Splash in a creek

Ways to water in the MIdwest

You probably don't need to go much beyond your neighborhood to find a creek. Get your trusty Tevas wet as you step from stone to stone and see where the journey leads. Look for minnows, dragonflies and tadpoles, and take a few deep breaths while you listen to the calming sound of water tumbling over rocks. ANYWHERE!

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    Everything in This Slideshow

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    1 of 41 Cast Away
    2 of 41 Ferry to an Island
    3 of 41 Take The Plunge
    4 of 41 Stroll an Ancient Reef
    5 of 41 Eat Fish by The Fire
    6 of 41 (Re)Visit Highway 61
    7 of 41 Go to The Source
    8 of 41 Explore a Sea Cave
    9 of 41 Pick Up a Paddle
    10 of 41 Meet Mac
    11 of 41 Comb a Beach
    12 of 41 Camp With a Moose
    13 of 41 See an Urban Waterfall
    14 of 41 Let It All Slide
    15 of 41 Row, Row, Row A Boat
    16 of 41 Look Back—And Forward
    17 of 41 Kick Back in a Tube
    18 of 41 Scale a Sandy Ridge
    19 of 41 Go Tanking
    20 of 41 Visit Chicago
    21 of 41 Hunt for a Shipwreck
    22 of 41 Sail on a Prairie Wind
    23 of 41 Cruise Like a Victorian
    24 of 41 Picnic on a Pontoon
    25 of 41 Cruise colored cliffs
    26 of 41 Climb to a lighthouse lookout
    27 of 41 Go for a gondola ride
    28 of 41 Raft across a spring
    29 of 41 Watch history rise
    30 of 41 Get a million-dollar view
    31 of 41 Love a lily pond
    32 of 41 See fire and water
    33 of 41 Vacation in a houseboat
    34 of 41 Explore an island park
    35 of 41 Discover a mule's pace
    36 of 41 Escape into a canyon
    37 of 41 Cheer for water-skiers
    38 of 41 Play on the prairie
    39 of 41 Do the docks
    40 of 41 Float underground
    41 of 41 Splash in a creek

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