If there were a game show with “Name all of the Great Lakes” as the deciding question to win, I would have lost a few months ago. Before we came into this area for the first time, I only knew there are several of them – but I wasn’t exactly sure how many, let alone where they were all located.
One of the wonderful things about our current lifestyle is that we are able to actually experience places we’ve previously only learned snippets about via books, TV or the Internet. In this case, we spent several weeks this summer (and a couple last summer) getting to know – and actually touch – all of the Great Lakes. Now we have no excuse to NOT know them all well!
So, can YOU name all of the great lakes before reading on – no peeking!
And a couple of bonus questions:
Which Great Lake lies entirely within U.S. boundaries?
Which state is bounded by the most (and how many) of the Great Lakes ?
I’m sure all of our friends who are/were teachers or historians got the answers, right? Here are a few fun facts I gathered during our visit in the region:
- The Great Lakes consist of five separate lakes, and together they form one interconnected body of fresh water. Four of them are bounded by both the U.S. and Canada – Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Only Lake Michigan is entirely within the United States.
- Think “HOMES” to enumerate the lakes:
H = Huron
O = Ontario
M = Michigan
E = Erie
S = Superior
- The Great Lakes contain 20% of the earth’s fresh surface water system, about 6 quadrillion gallons of water.
- Water from the lakes would cover the 48 contiguous states to a uniform depth of 9.5 feet.
- The Great Lakes and the islands within them have more than 10,000 miles of coastline – equivalent to three trips between California and the East Coast.
- There are about 25 million Americans who call the Great Lakes basin home, and about 8.5 million Canadians.
Here are a few tidbits I picked up about each lake, from the long list I read at the Soo Locks Visitor Center:
Lake Ontario –
- Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes and ranks 17th largest in the world.
- Its average depth is 283 ft, with the deepest point at 802 feet.
- Surface area is 7,340 square miles, with 712 miles of shoreline.
- Despite its smaller surface area, Lake Ontario holds almost four times as much water as Lake Erie.
Lake Erie –
- Lake Erie is the 4th largest Great Lake in surface area, and the smallest in depth. It’s the 13th largest lake on the planet.
- The water in Lake Erie replaces itself in only 2.6 years, which is notable considering the water in Lake Superior takes almost two centuries to replace itself!
- Lake Erie is the shallowest on average – at 62 feet – with the deepest point at 210 feet.
- It is the warmest of the Great Lakes.
Lake Michigan –
- Lake Michigan is the 3rd largest of the Great Lakes and ranks 5th largest in the world.
- The world’s largest freshwater dunes are along Lake Michigan’s shoreline.
- As mentioned, it is the only Great Lake located entirely within in the United States.
Lake Huron –
- Lake Huron is the 2nd largest of the Great Lakes, and ranks as the 4th largest lake in the world.
- There are more than 30,000 islands within Lake Huron, including the world’s largest freshwater island – Manitoulin Island.
- Including island shorelines, Lake Huron has the longest shoreline of all the Great Lakes, at 3,827 miles.
And the grandest of them all…Lake Superior –
- Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes and ranks as the largest lake by surface area in the world.
- Water from all of the other four Great Lakes would be needed to fill Lake Superior, plus three more refills from Lake Erie!
- Contained within Lake Superior is a whopping 10% of the world’s fresh surface water.
- 200 rivers empty into Lake Superior, but there’s only one outlet – through Saint Mary’s River.
- The water in Lake Superior replaces itself only once every 190 years – think about that for a minute!
Finally, the answer to the last bonus question – Michigan is bounded by four of the great lakes. The only lake it doesn’t touch is Ontario.
Although naming the Great Lakes won’t make me a Slumdog Millionaire nor a lake expert, I can easily name them now – with a vivid picture of each in my mind. I hope you passed the quiz and learned something new!
Lowes Travels 
Well presented…interesting facts and great pictures!
Lovely photos! And no, I could not name them all without your help!
Nice. Thanks.
Good job teacher. Having grown up only thirty minutes from Lake Michigan, I do know my Great Lakes LOL 🙂
I have always associated you with Colorado and not the midwest! 🙂
Since we have toured that part of the country already, I did know my Great Lakes as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this post MonaLiza and learned a few things along the way. Love your header shot! 🙂
Thanks Luann, our lifestyle gave us a lot of opportunity to know and experience first hand some amazing bodes of water. I am proud I can name them now too!
Aren’t we wandering nomads blessed to see this great country, and my, what we are learning along the way. 🙂
Totally agree! We continue to give thanks.
Well, I failed the test with flying colors! My excuse is that we haven’t yet traveled in that part of the country. Fun post, ML — this will be my study guide for when we make it to the Great Lakes. 🙂
I knew it Laurel, for like you we are westerners, that is why i would not win that game then. I sure hope you can make it up north and get amazed at these lakes.
The Great Lakes are amazing. I wish everyone had the opportunity to visit them. We, also, were amazed that it took 190 years for Lake Superior to replace all its water. But then it is huge and so deep! Glad you are having a wonderful time exploring this region:)
I agree with you Pam, I do wish everyone has a chance to at least view these amazing bodies of water.
Gorgeous photos of the great lakes.
Since Paul and I grew up in Ohio, we had to know the names of the great lakes by the time we were in second grade. HOMES is what we both learned. Thanks for other facts. I have forgotten many of them.
Oh thank you. As we are both from the West, we only know there are Great Lakes, being there helped a lot in being amazed and etching it on our memories.
We’ve only spent time at Lake Erie and Lake Ontario but hope to explore the others in the next couple of years. Thank you for your post reminding us all of these truly Great Lakes!
Even being there you can’t still fathom that you are actually looking at lakes not oceans. And like you said, they are truly amazing Great Lakes!
I didn’t pass either…hope to get to that part of our country one day…
Beautiful photos of the Lakes Mona Liza!
Once you visit this area Gay, it will forever be in your memory.
LOVE your header!! What a terrific picture. Since we were there this summer I did pass the test but I learned some things I didn’t know. Great post!
Thanks, as you may have noticed I like to pose 🙂 Being at the great lakes do help us remember them.
I got the first question right. Surprised myself. Himself was no help. He was saying Minnesota, Washington, Windermere! I didn’t know any of the other facts. Great post. You’ve really done your homework!
Im also proud I can name them now!
4/5 I got confused with Michigan.
I even hate History!
Whenever I play quiz games on my cellphone apps, great lakes questions always come up. 🙂
You made me think there’s more than 5 great lakes.
That Lake Erie shot, you should submit that for publish.