National recreation area covering 13,500 acres of Lake Superior woodland and glacier-cut lake shoreline measuring 35 miles with island sandstone cliffs as tall as 300 feet in height plunge down into the lake and a 23-mile perimeter trail skirts much of the island's shoreline

How to Get There

Overview

The Grand Island National Recreation Area is a national recreation area in Hiawatha National Forest under jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service. Located offshore from Munising, Michigan, the Grand Island National Recreation Area covers approximately 13,500 acres (55 km2) of Lake Superior woodland. Grand Island's glacier-cut lake shoreline measures approximately 35 miles (56 km) in length. The island's maximum dimension is 8 miles (13 km) from north to south.

Geology

Grand Island's geology is an extension of the sandstone strata of the adjacent Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Island sandstone cliffs as tall as 300 feet (91 m) in height plunge down into the lake. A 23-mile (37 km) perimeter trail skirts much of the island's shoreline.

Tourism

Grand Island National Recreation Area is served during summer months by a tourist ferry and island tour bus. The ferry ride, which is less than 1 mile (1.6 km) long, shuttles between a dock on M-28, northwest of Munising, and Grand Island's Williams Landing. During the summer months, the ferry makes several trips to the island each day.

A small portion of Grand Island, the Thumb, remained privately owned as of 2012. The Thumb contains the historic 1868 Grand Island East Channel Light or 'East Channel Light', on the eastern ship channel from Lake Superior into the port of Munising. The lighthouse remained in operation until 1913. The privately owned lighthouse can be viewed from Sand Point on the mainland, within the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, or may be viewed from the water.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Grand Island National Recreation Area", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0