Talk:Huron river chain of lakes

Accuracy?

I find this article problematic. I've been boating that part of the Huron River since the 1950's. I think it's a stretch to claim Ore Lake is part of that chain. The distance between the inlet/outlet of Ore Lk from the Huron R. to Strawberry Lk is several times the distance between any adjacent lakes actually on the chain. And it wasn't always true that the river between Ore and Strawberry was navigable except by canoe. (That stretch now seems to be 'gentrified', and readily navigable.) Ore, Zukey, Tamarack and Little Portage are NOT "on" the Huron River. It looks likely that both Big Portage and Ore were once "on" the river ("on" meaning having an inflow from and a (different) outflow to the river, at least. Also, Loon Lk, directly South of Gallagher isn't mentioned? Google Earth doesn't identify Little Portage, Little Whitewood, and last I heard Base Line Lk. was spelled Baseline, but I've seen it both ways. Google tags (Big) Whitewood as Whitewood Lakes (note the plural). I suppose times change and what was once accepted 'knowledge' has been rightfully pushed aside for what is now accepted. Several of the lakes can't be found listed on Lakes of Michigan wiki article. Google Earth identifies "big" Portage Lk as "Portage" (note there are several of these (not very creatively) named lakes in Michigan). The larger lakes Zukey and Portage have marinas but there are lots of boat ramps. I doubt the (strange) claim here that traffic goes one direction (??) AND starts from Little Portage. Citation please! On busy days, the power and pontoon boats cruising N to S and S to N are almost bumper-to-bumper, but they originate both in the lakes, from the marinas and boatramps, and from the many, many homes along the river itself. In my youth, Tamarack could NOT be reached even by canoe from Baseline. The canal between Tamarack and the Huron R. inlet to Baseline was dug. (and I believe the mud puddle that Tamarack was was dredged as part of the real estate effort- I know it wasn't more than waist deep when I fished it (and lots of it less). But, things change. They seemed to have done a good job at creating value. But I digress. By the way, it has been possible to get to/from Kensington Lake (and parts further upstream) by canoe for decades. Speaking of navigable, this article has a strange claim that Tamarack and Ore aren't accessible by "normal" watercraft"! Wow! Does that mean my 15 ft sailboat is ok, but my 50 foot pilothouse isn't? Inland (freshwater lake and river) boats are generally smaller than the larger boats found on larger bodies of water (i.e. great lakes, large reservoirs (lk tahoe)) but it isn't useful to call a particular draft "normal" since it depends on the depth (and extent) of local water. OK. So I just looked at USGS (US Geological Survey) and found out some 'authoritative' facts. Little Portage is on the Portage River (which feeds into Portage Lake (not "Big Portage"). Base Line spelled 2 words there. Gallagher Lk not marked, all between Strawberry and Base Line seem to be Whitewood Lakes (?). And finally, Strawberry Lk. doesn't exist! It is designated there as Zukey while what I think of as Zukey has no label (!!). FWIW. I'll check to see if I can send them a 'bug report'... 71.30.91.96 (talk) 04:04, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

I forgot to mention that the Huron River Water Trail is a prominent feature (at certain zoom magnifications) of the USGS National Map (TNM) and these lakes would be part of the HRWT-Upper Reach. fwiw.71.30.91.96 (talk) 04:28, 1 May 2023 (UTC)