The boat launch with the deepest channel. The trail to the gorge. The farm stand that takes Venmo. The icon you've heard of and the one you haven't.
A 3-acre township park on Pub Dock Road with 75 feet of buoyed swimming beach, two rentable pavilions, picnic tables, restrooms, and a boat launch that runs a separate $20 trailer fee. Open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily from mid-May through Labor Day. Parking itself is free, which isn't a given on this lake, and the small size keeps it from ever feeling like a state-park crowd.
A 1,502-acre preserve on the Alden Highway between Alden and Bellaire, with seven miles of trail including a mile and a half of boardwalk over a northern fen and cedar wetland. Kayaking covers the Grass River, Lake Bellaire, and Clam Lake from the same put-in. The nature center runs daily 10 to 4 May through October, weekends only the rest of the year, and a natural playground for ages two to five opened in 2025.
A family orchard on M-88 since 1980, growing 180-plus acres of Montmorency tart cherries alongside Balaton cherries, apples, raspberries, and stone fruit. U-pick runs through the whole season — strawberries into cherries into apples — and the donut fryer and cherry cider garden turn a produce stop into a half-afternoon with kids. A play area sits right next to the cider garden, built for parents who'd rather not chase toddlers between rows.
The retail Country Store for the cherry-products maker behind Cherry Butter and Kream Mustard, on East Torch Lake Drive north of Central Lake. Weekend-only hours — Saturday and Sunday — built around a Sunday flea market and fried cake-batter donuts served 9 to noon. The shelves carry the full line: cherry BBQ sauce, preserves, mustards, and the juice concentrate that built the company's name well beyond Antrim County.
Saturdays, 2 to 6 p.m., downtown Alden next to Higgins Store — produce, baked goods, and local crafts running mid-May through Columbus Day weekend. The market shares its Monday evenings with the Alden Car Cruise, 4 to 7 p.m., if a Saturday doesn't work with the trip. Small enough to walk in fifteen minutes, worth the stop anyway for whatever's peaking that week.
A Torch Lake fixture for more than thirty years on Crystal Springs Road, five minutes north of the sandbar — tritoon, jet ski, and speedboat rentals alongside a deli slinging broasted chicken, a full liquor and wine selection, tackle, and Torch Lake apparel. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. It's the rare place that covers the boat, the lunch, and the six-pack for the ride back in one stop.
The state-maintained launch at the Torch River Bridge — two lanes, a skid pier, a carry-down spot for kayaks and paddleboards, and a vault toilet after a recent round of upgrades. A Recreation Passport or $12 launch fee gets you in. This is the direct route to the sandbar by water, which also makes it the busiest ramp on the lake on any warm summer weekend.
Family-run since 1949 at the mouth of the Clam River, where it empties into Torch Lake — more than 285 wet and dry slips, indoor storage for upward of 800 boats, and a dealership for Bennington, Sylvan, Premier, and Yacht Club Marine. Gas and pump-out service run alongside a store stocked with both food and boating supplies. A live webcam on the river runs around the clock for anyone checking conditions before the drive up.
A marina on Cherry Avenue with direct water access to the sandbar — covered wet slips to 40 feet, a non-ethanol fuel dock, and a rental fleet of seventeen tritoons and ski boats running $399 to $499 a day. In-season hours run April 15 through October 31, 9 to 5 daily, and the SpeedyDock app handles launch-time reservations from a phone instead of a dockside line.
A nonprofit sailing program running out of the Torch Lake Yacht Club's grounds on Larson Road — group classes, private lessons, and chartering, with need-based scholarships for local kids. The yacht club itself is members-only, but the sailing school's enrollment is open to the public during class hours, which is the actual way most non-members ever get onto that stretch of shoreline.
A DNR-maintained launch at the lake's north end near Eastport — the put-in for the open main body of Torch Lake rather than the river and sandbar scene thirty minutes south. Quieter on a weekend than the Torch River Bridge site, and the better choice for anyone fishing the deep water rather than rafting up on the sandbar.
The village's own public access point in downtown Alden, a short walk from Alden Mill House and the Saturday farmers market. It puts you into the lake's west-shore basin rather than the south-end river system, which makes it the better launch for anyone staying on this side of Torch Lake instead of driving around to Rapid City.
A spice shop on Torch Lake Drive that's been custom-blending seasonings since 1984, built around Chef Geno's Miracle Blend and now stocking more than thirty other house blends alongside kosher flake salt, kitchen gadgets, and gift boxes. Open weekdays only, 10 to 5. It's the stop locals send visitors to before they ask for a lake house souvenir that isn't a t-shirt.
Torch Lake sits at the center of a chain of fourteen connected lakes and rivers threading through Antrim County — Elk Lake, Skegemog, Round Lake, Lake Bellaire, Clam Lake, and the Clam and Torch Rivers among them — navigable end to end by a boat that can clear the channels. A full run takes the better part of a day. Locals treat it less as a destination than as a standing excuse to keep going.
A former rail depot on Coy Street turned museum by the Helena Township Historical Society — train cars, a model railroad, and a family history center inside the building where the market and car cruise now share the grounds. The depot interior isn't available for private rental, though the township office handles reservations for the grounds themselves. A short, specific stop rather than an afternoon commitment.
A 5,500-acre resort spread across four villages a few minutes from downtown Bellaire — five golf courses (Cedar River is the one locals rank first), Schuss Mountain's ski runs in winter, and more than 275 lodging units across the property. Not on Torch Lake itself, but close enough that a lake week and a Shanty Creek round of golf or a lift ticket routinely share the same trip.
A shallow shelf running nearly two miles at the south end of the lake near the Torch River Bridge, where the water reads Caribbean-turquoise over a white marl bottom. Hundreds of boats raft together here on a July Saturday or the Fourth of July, music and coolers included. No boat needed to see it — the Lake Street public access point in Rapid City gets you there on foot in five to ten minutes, water waist-deep most of the way.