North Bar Beach

North Bar Beach pairs the swimming shore of a small inland lake with Lake Michigan, just over a low sand ridge. North Bar Lake is shallow and sandy-bottomed, and it is usually the warmer, calmer swim. Lake Michigan brings cooler water and more wave action, depending on wind and conditions. If you only have time for one, the inland lake is the easier choice; cross the dune when you want the bigger-lake shoreline too.

A large paved lot serves the beach, with a vault toilet. The flat, firm path to North Bar Lake is about 750 feet. The first stretch is described as accessible, though detailed measurements are not available. Reaching Lake Michigan means another roughly 600 feet over soft, steep sand, with wide wooden steps in parts. It is a very different walk from the packed approach. There is no potable water at the access, and pets are not allowed here year-round.

Canoes and kayaks have carry-in access. You can paddle about 400 feet across North Bar Lake, then make a short portage to Lake Michigan. Power-driven boats are prohibited from April 1 through October 31; outside that season, motors are limited to two horsepower.

The low, grass-covered ridge is what makes this stop distinctive: it separates two very different bodies of water in a short span. For a photo that explains the place, include the ridge with water on both sides. From the Lake Michigan shore, look back toward the inland lake rather than framing only open water.

North Bar Lake is the deeper water that remained in a former Lake Michigan bay. Empire Bluffs once bounded the bay to the south and Sleeping Bear Bluffs to the north. Shore currents carried sand along the coast and deposited it in the quieter water until a sand bar separated the bay from the big lake and shallower areas filled in. The same process helped form several inland lakes in the region.

Rain can raise the inland lake enough to push a channel through the sand to Lake Michigan. Waves and wind then move the sand back, opening and closing the outlet over time. The link between the two waters is a shifting feature, not a permanent channel.

Storms can also expose historic shipwreck material in the Manitou Passage shoreline sands. A site may be visible only for days or weeks before moving sand covers it again. Leave anything you find undisturbed.

The low dunes support native dune grass, wormwood, sand cress and Pitcher’s thistle. That thistle flowers just once, when it is about seven years old. Stay on established paths; the plants and the thin dune cover are easy to damage.