The Five Great Lakes Swim Adventure in Grand Rapids starts at 5:00 AM, so plan your travel and accommodation accordingly if you're coming from out of town. This swimming event takes place on July 15, 2026, at 1170 Oakburn Ave SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The race is free to enter, making it an accessible option for swimmers looking to compete without entry fees. With an early morning start, arriving the night before is practical for getting adequate rest and managing the pre-dawn logistics. Grand Rapids offers various lodging options within reasonable distance of the venue to suit different budgets and preferences for athletes traveling to the event.
From the Race Organizer
Swimming in all Five Great Lakes in the same day Note: This is mostly the info from 2026, which took place on 15 July. There will be some updates as we go along. Five Great Lakes – 2027 The Hotels and Breweries version. Note: The spots we are stopping have street addresses, GPS coordinates, and what3words.com links. 20 July 2027 Leave home, head for Simcoe, Ontario. (Note: If you want to leave a car so you can carpool the Canada portion, there's a carpool parking lot off the Wadhams road exit about 7 miles before Port Huron on I-69 https://what3words.com/briefer.flop.paintbrush) Good stops I Intend to do on the way: (Three hours from GR) Lunch at Refined Fool Brewery in Sarnia. 1326 London Rd. In 2023 we found a great beer called Van Full of Weirdos. https://what3words.com/thudded.lame.streaks Seemed appropriate. (179 Miles from GR) Point Lands Park in Sarnia. 99 Seaway Rd. https://what3words.com/scales.shell.promise There’s a scale model of the Great Lakes. It looks much cooler on a satellite zoom in than it does in person. If you have a few extra minutes in Sarnia. Otherwise, skip it. (We stopped here in 2024. While kind of cool, it’s better to see on Google Maps than in person.) At 5PM, meet at the Blue Elephant Artisan Brewery 96 Norfolk St S, Simcoe, ON N3Y 2W2, Canada https://what3words.com/commercially.unless.triplet (122 miles) (The night before) Awesome place. Nice people. We can reserve a room there. Call 519 428 2886 and tell them how many people you have coming. Pretty cool place, decent food and beer. When we figure out how many of us there are, we’ll let them know. Stay in Simcoe for the night. We stayed at Travelodge but there are other possibilities too. About 15 minutes to Port Dover Beach. LAKE ERIE Port Dover Beach 2 Walker St, Port Dover, ON N0A 1N0 https://w3w.co/drone.rinks.respectively 42.78326° N, 80.20304° W (9 miles) Plan to be there at 5am. You’ll start in the dark but use the green blinking light on the lighthouse to the left to sight. Then turn around and use one of the lights on the shore to the right. It’ll be light soon. Done swimming and on the road well before 7am. Drive 2 blocks north and... stop at Tim Horton for a bathroom break and breakfast on the way out of Port Dover (2 blocks from the swim site). Just over an hour to… LAKE ONTARIO Confederation Beach Park 580 Van Wagners Beach Rd, Hamilton, ON L8E 3L8 https://w3w.co/repeats.bolt.waving 43.25373° N, 79.75881° W (45 miles) (Just before you get there, right after Barton Street, there’s a Tim Horton’s on the left if you need a bathroom break. There’s not much for restrooms at the swim site.) Swimming before 8am. Nice benches there we can sit on to change. Leave town by 8:45. A little over 2 hours to… LAKE HURON Canatara Park, Lake Chipican Drive, Sarnia,ON https://w3w.co/wisdom.oldest.airbag 43.00631° N, 82.40193° W (150 miles) Beautiful beach. Swim from 11:30 to noon. Decent washrooms if we want to change there. Note—swim to the right first. The current definitely pushes us west toward the river. We walked to the right (east) to the end of the beach and then swam to the right for a few minutes then made a U-turn to swim back west to the washroom building where our cars were parked. Head back to the USA. Take the first off ramp when you get across. Grab some lunch at … OUR OLD PLACE CLOSED. PICKING A DIFFERENT SPOT! FOR 2027 we'll figure out something faster. Maybe a place we can order something at a counter so we don't wait for waiters and bills. Save a bit of time. 2026 wasn't as good as we hoped. THIS IS OLD NOTES. I'LL UPDATE THIS PARAGRAPH. Palms Krystal Bar & Grill/Chicken in the Rough, 1535 Pine Grove Ave, Port Huron, MI 48060 https://what3words.com/calculating.units.prefer (7 miles) (Black and Blue Brewery is permanently closed. We'll try a new place.) Don’t miss the FIRST exit after you get off the Bluewater Bridge after entering the USA. Otherwise, you’re headed the wrong direction and it’s a long before you can get off) Keep it short. We’ll try and get on the road by 1:30. (Skip this stop and get fast food along the way if you want to save a little time.) About 4 hours to Biere de Mac Brew Works in Mackinaw City. 14277 Mackinaw Hwy, Mackinaw City, MI https://what3words.com/putting.info.politics (290 Miles) Regroup here. Have a quick, short beer, then over to LAKE MICHIGAN Mackinaw City First Beach. E Wilderness Park Dr, Mackinaw City, MI 49701 https://w3w.co/iron.exhibitors.hormones (3 Miles) Turn left out of Biere de Mac, then turn left at the first road, Trails End Rd and follow it all the way to Lake Michigan. , We’ll try to be swimming shortly after 6pm and get on the road by 7. (last year it was more like 7:30). Cross the bridge. It’s less than an hour to LAKE SUPERIOR Brimley State Park 9200 West 6 Mile Road, Brimley, Michigan 49715 46.41661° N, 84.55833° W. https://w3w.co/clapper.beast.insurer (54 Miles) Swimming by 8:30, done before sunset. If there’s a problem with Brimley State Park (they had a no-s
