There had been mention of a Montgomery cruise in the North Channel of Lake Huron some time next summer. In the interest of providing fodder for winter pipe dreams, I have uploaded a crude chart of the area. I say "crude" because I patched together three screen shots from the American Raster Navigational Chart (RNC) of Lake Huron. Since the North Channel is in Canada, the American chart details of the area are very sketchy and are intended only to give a feel for the area. (Canada does not make their RNC's available for free). I added a few labels for major/famous geographical features for the purposes of discussion. There are more islands than you can shake a stick at and many of them are uninhabited and owned by the Crown so you may go ashore for a hike. Some have summer cottages on them, however. This should be considered a wilderness trip, although there are a few small villages around the perimeter, and at the height of the season there may be quite a few fellow boaters. My last trip up there was at the beginning of the season and most nights I had the anchorages to myself despite comfortable, mild weather. Some of you may have read that trip tale (with pics) a few years ago: http://www.todspages.net/NC04a-NorthChan2004.html The file format is "PNG Plus" (.png) so that I can edit the thing later. Your internet browser should be capable of viewing that kind of file. Later on this winter I'll send out another e-mail with more information to start an e-mail group for anyone who thinks they might be interested in such a trip, either actually or vicariously, so as not to clutter up this list. There is a tremendous amount of very hard rock up there, so attention to navigation is recommended (unlike my navigation on the Buzzard's Bay trip this last summer). A fishfinder is helpful...to an extent. In many places the bottom rises so rapidly (wall of rock) that warning from a fishfinder would come too late. In some areas, the water is very clear (I've seen the bottom over thirty feet below). In others, near the mouths of rivers, the water is very dark with tanin and visibility is only an inch or two. A dinghy or kayak would make a great way to spend an afternoon, poking around the shallows. Anyway, here is the overview of the area: http://www.todspages.net/images/NorthChannelOverview.png It is a large file, about 6 megabytes, so if you have a slow connection (as I do), it could take a while to load. Thanks, Tod Mills M17 #408 BuscaBrisas