It is located on the border between the United States and Canada and specifically, it touches Lake Ontario to the north, east and south and Lake Michigan to the west.
The name “Huron” derives from that of the native tribe of the Hurons, whose few remaining descendants are now living in the Québec area.
The lake has two large inlets, the Georgian Bay in Canadian territory and Saginaw Bay which belongs to the state of Michigan.
Its tributaries include the Saint Marys River (which carries the waters of Lake Superior) and the Strait of Mackinac, which connects it with Lake Michigan.
Its waters then drain towards Lake Erie via the Saint Clair River, Lake Saint Clair and the Detroit River.
Inside the Huron there is also the largest lake island in the world, called Manitoulin, which belongs to the Canadian province of Ontario and also many other smaller islands.
The first Europeans to reach Lake Huron were the French in the 17th century and later in that century, the French Jesuit missionaries founded the first settlement, on Georgian Bay, named Sainte-Marie-dans-les-Hurons.
The lake hosts an intense commercial activity, in fact it is mainly navigated by boats called “lakers” which are narrow and oblong and that normally transport iron from the Lake Superior area towards Lake Erie.
All navigation is normally interrupted from December to mid-April, due to ice, which makes it impossible.
Like all Great Lakes, Lake Huron has undergone drastic changes over the past century because, although it originally housed a community of native fish, dominated by lake trout, due to the introduction of several new species and overfishing, the trout was basically eradicated in the past century.
The lake trout was then introduced again in an attempt to rehabilitate the species but with no success.
In recent years, in fact, the survival of the lake's native species has continued to be endangered, precisely by the constant introduction of new invasive species.
The lake is known because its waters hide more than a thousand wrecks, including presumably the first European ship to sail the Great Lakes.
I left with a friend to take a short holiday here and we drove to Parry Sound, Ontario.
We didn't have any maps and we decided not to use our navigation systems to be more adventurous but the road was magnificent, lined with trees, lakes and mountains all around.
We even got to see a lot of Inuksuks.
Inuksuk means “that thing which behaves as a human” and it is a small pile of stones in the shape of a snowman that the First Nation people used to make to indicate their passage.
It is a tradition which has very ancient origins, but First Nation people continue to do it today to show that they have been there.
We stopped in a small village to do some shopping for the week and there we got to discover the magnificent Lake Huron.
We took advantage of the provincial park even if it meant hiking a long trail.
It was a good, charming stroll along the lake though and since the lake is beautiful, it was worth it.
From the trail we could see that the lake is full of wild geese on the beach in the evening and we had a good night's sleep camping around the lake.
We then decided to drive along the coast to visit it. It is a beautiful drive between forests, lakes, and native reserves.
We also took a break at a native reserve.
There was a craft store and a pretty church in the shape of a tepee, this represents the campfire and the circle of life.
A mixture of Native American traditions and Catholic faith coming together during the colonization period.
