Shoepac Lake State Forest Campground Boat Launch

There's no concrete ramp here — just a carry-down access point off the campground shore. You can muscle a canoe, kayak, or small jonboat in without too much trouble, but forget about trailering anything. If you need a proper launch, you're looking elsewhere.

There's technically one trailer parking spot, but with no launch lane it's really just a wide spot near the water. It'll fit your truck if you're dropping a cartop boat, but that's about it.

Shoepac fishes well for northern pike and bass by Lower Michigan standards. Some decent-sized pike cruise the shallows. They used to stock trout here but stopped — it's mostly warm-water species now.

This spot is more campground than boat launch. Rustic sites, big and spread out, very quiet. The Sinkhole Pathway trailhead is right nearby, and Tomahawk Lake and the flooding are within easy reach. It's a basecamp, not a marina.

Kayaks, canoes, and light jonboats are the move here. The shoreline is wadeable for launching small craft, but the bottom can be soft in spots. A rope swing off the bank gives you a sense of how the bank drops — it's swimmable depth close in, which helps for dragging a hull out.