Torch Lake

Torch Lake runs nineteen miles from Alden's west shore north to the Chain of Lakes' reach near Eastport, and at over three hundred feet at its deepest point, it holds more water than any other inland lake in Michigan. The reputation rides on one particular stretch: the sandbar near the Torch River Bridge, where a marl bottom holds the water shallow and turquoise enough that first-time visitors assume the color is a filter. On a July Saturday, boats raft together there by the hundreds — coolers out, music running, the lake's entire social calendar compressed into one anchorage reachable from Rapid City on foot. That's the postcard. The rest of the lake runs quieter and more agricultural. Central Lake and Eastport sit on the cherry side of Antrim County — King Orchards' u-pick rows and Brownwood Acres' Sunday flea market both work off the same Montmorency crop that built the region's economy before tourism did. Bellaire, the county seat, holds the density: Short's Brewing's original pub opened here in 2004 inside a converted hardware store, four years before the company built its production facility in Elk Rapids and grew into one of Michigan's defining craft breweries. Torch Lake Cellars' hillside tasting room and Grass River Natural Area's boardwalk trail sit within a few minutes of that same downtown. What ties it together is the Chain of Lakes itself — Torch connects through the Clam River to Lake Bellaire, Clam Lake, Elk Lake, and Skegemog, fourteen lakes and rivers navigable end to end by a boat willing to clear the channels. Rapid City anchors the south end, where the river narrows down before opening onto the sandbar. Alden holds the quieter west shore, its Saturday farmers market and century-old mill-house spice shop running on their own schedule. The lake changes character by the mile; the water color barely does.