Breakers
Also known as North Canal Township Park, this is one of two beaches at the north mouth of the Portage Canal, the other being at McClain State Park. The cool thing about this beach in particular is that you can drive your car right up onto it. Due to its accessibility, it's not unusual to see bonfires all the way down the beach on summer nights. If you have a saw or axe, you can easily find enough wood for your fire by looking for downed trees in the clear cut right before you get to the beach. There's also a pretty long break wall that's worth checking out. Similar to Freda during the winter, lake ice creates huge ice hills on the beach and along the break wall that are worth checking out.
During the winter however, the park is closed and not plowed. You'll need to park at the end of Houghton Canal Road and walk in in that case. Be careful if you decide to walk around on the ice since it will cleave off into the lake during warm weather and take you with it.
To get here from Houghton, head west downtown, go through the yooper loop and take M-26 west for 2000 feet. Turn right onto Houghton Canal Road and continue for about 10 miles. Right before you get to the end of the road you'll see two roads that branch off to the left. Take the first one. You can drive all the way to a parking lot on the beach. If you want park further down the beach, follow the dirt tracks that head southwest.
