The great lake state
You can remember the Great Lakes by HOMES. H is for Lake Huron. O is for Lake Ontario. M is for Lake Michigan. E is for Lake Erie. And S is for Lake Superior. Michigan includes 38,575 square miles of Great Lakes water area and 3,126 miles of Great Lakes shoreline. Michigan has more fresh water coastline than any other state. Michigan is the only state that touches four of the five Great Lakes. Forty of Michigan's 83 counties touch at least one of the Great Lakes. Anywhere in Michigan, you are within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes.
Michigan's Water
Michigan has the second most square miles of water behind only Alaska. Michigan has the highest percentage of its area covered by water. Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of inland waters. You are never more than six miles from one of Michigan's inland lakes or streams.