It's an easy paddle on a lazy river up the Big Sable River from the beach at Lake Michigan to the dam.
We put in just below the bridge near Lake Michigan at Ludington State Park. There’s a sheltered area where the river empties into the lake that’s surrounded by sand that’s easy to launch from. You can paddle upstream to the dam at Hamlin Lake and back. Since it’s a lazy river that too was easy paddling. The trickiest part was that the water level was so high we had to duck under the bridges. The last time we were here we saw gigantic lake trout in the river. We were looking forward to seeing them again but missed them this time.
There’s also a canoe trail you can kayak at the state park.