Torch Lake is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the

Northern Lower Peninsula Northern Michigan (also known as Northern Lower Michigan and colloquially within Michigan as "Up North") is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The region, which is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which are ...

of the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. At long, it is Michigan's longest inland lake, and at approximately 29.3 mi² (76 km²), it is Michigan's second largest inland lake, after Houghton Lake. It has a maximum depth of and an average depth of , making it Michigan's deepest inland lake, as well as the state's largest by volume. Surrounding it are several townships including Torch Lake, Central Lake, Forest Home,

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

, and Milton in Antrim County, and Clearwater Township of neighboring Kalkaska County. Several villages and

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

lie along its shore, including

Alden Alden may refer to: Places United States *Alden, California, a former settlement * Alden, Illinois *Alden, Iowa * Alden, Kansas * Alden, Michigan * Alden, Minnesota * Alden, Oklahoma * Alden, Pennsylvania * Alden, New York ** Alden (village), New ...

, Eastport, Clam River, Torch Lake, and Torch River. It is a popular lake for fishing, featuring

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater Salvelinus, char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Sup ...

rock bass The rock bass (''Ambloplites rupestris''), also known as the rock perch, goggle-eye, red eye, and black perch, is a freshwater fish native to east-central North America. This red-eyed fish is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (bi ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

muskellunge The muskellunge (''Esox masquinongy''), often shortened to muskie, musky, ski, or lunge, is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae. Origin of name The name ...

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

ciscoes The ciscoes (or ''ciscos'') are salmonid fish that differ from other members of the genus ''Coregonus'' in having upper and lower jaws of approximately equal length and high gill raker counts. These species have been the focus of much study rece ...

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the Fish migration#Classification, anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-wa ...

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

and whitefish.

History

Torch Lake was originally formed at the end of the Last Glacial Period, along with neighboring

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

. Receding glaciers carved the surface of the Earth, and melting glaciers filled the new basins, which are now known as the Great Lakes. Torch Lake (along with other long lakes in the region like

Lake Leelanau Lake Leelanau ( ) is a lake that is located in the Leelanau Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The lake is divided into two basins, usually referred to as ''North Lake Leelanau'' and ''South Lake Leelanau'', which are divided by the Lak ...

and Elk Lake) were originally bays of the young Lake Michigan. However, sandbars formed at the northern end of these lakes, separating them from Lake Michigan. The name of the lake is not due to its shape, rather, is derived from translation from the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

name ''waaswaaganing'' meaning "Place of Torches" or "Place of Flames", referring to the practice of the local Native American population who once used torches at night to attract fish for harvesting with

spears A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to t ...

and nets ( Lac du Flambeau in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

is named after the same Ojibwa term). For a time, it was referred to by local European settlers as "Torch Light Lake", which eventually was shortened to its current name.

Geography

Torch Lake is part of a watershed that begins in northern Antrim County with Six Mile Lake, which is connected by the

Intermediate River Intermediate may refer to: * Intermediate 1 or Intermediate 2, educational qualifications in Scotland * Intermediate (anatomy), the relative location of an anatomical structure lying between two other structures: see Anatomical terms of location * ...

with

Lake Bellaire A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

. The Grass River flows from Lake Bellaire into Clam Lake, which in turn drains into Torch Lake via the short Clam River. Torch Lake itself is drained by the Torch River, which flows into

Lake Skegemog Lake Skegemog ( '), formerly known as Round Lake and Skegemog Lake, is a lake in Northern Michigan. The lake is part of the Elk River Chain of Lakes, itself part of the Lake Michigan watershed. Within the lake is the tripoint of Antrim, Grand T ...

, which opens into Elk Lake. Elk Lake flows into the east arm of

Grand Traverse Bay Grand Traverse Bay ( ) is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the west coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is separated from the rest of Lake Michigan by the Leelanau Peninsula. The bay is some long, ranges from wide, and up ...

Elk Rapids Elk Rapids is a village in the U.S. state of Michigan. The village is the largest incorporated community in Antrim County, with a population of 1,529 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Elk Rapids Township, in the southwest of Ant ...

. This watershed is popularly known as the Chain of Lakes. The lake itself is entirely within Antrim County. However, the southern shore of the lake serves as part of the actual border between Antrim and Kalkaska counties. The lake is located about 17 miles northeast of

Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County. The city's population was 15,678 at the 2020 census, while the four-county Traverse C ...

Activities

The lake is known for nature activities including hiking, canoeing, fishing and diving. Owing to the low amount of boat activity, it is a nature-lovers paradise. Noted for its exceptional beauty; its waters are unusually clear and exhibit a bright turquoise hue, often resembling Caribbean waters. This quality has made the lake a popular spot for the development of resorts and second homes with notables including

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter. After establishing himself in the Music of Detroit#Hip-hop, Detroit hip-hop scene, he broke through into m ...

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

and

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

owning vacation homes on the lake. At the south end of the lake is a

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

, locally known as the Torch Lake Sandbar. This sandbar is a popular summer tourist destination, especially around the

Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...

References

External links

*
Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay
{{authority control Lakes of Antrim County, Michigan Lakes of Kalkaska County, Michigan Lakes of Michigan

History

Geography

Activities

See also

References

Further reading

External links