Maslowski Beach
Ashland, WI
Maslowski Beach is Ashland's main swimming beach, at the west end of town where US-2 meets Chequamegon Bay. The sand slopes gently into shallow water, which makes it one of the warmer swims on Lake Superior. There's a playground, pavilion, restrooms and changing rooms, and an artesian well where locals fill jugs with cold spring water.
Shallow, warm-for-Superior water and good facilities, though US-2 traffic runs right behind the beach.
How we score beachesBring empty jugs. The artesian well by the beach runs year round, and plenty of Ashland residents drink nothing else.
A lot at the beach off US-2.
A short, flat walk from the lot to the sand; the Waterfront Trail starts here.
The shallow bay warms by July, well ahead of the open lake beyond the Apostles. In winter the bay freezes and ice anglers set up shanties off the beach.
More Great Lakes beaches

Sleeping Bear Dunes Beach
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Freshwater Lake Michigan surf below towering sand dunes, some over 400 feet tall, with water clear enough to rival a coastline and a hike back up the dune to burn it off.
New Buffalo City Beach
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Warren Dunes State Park
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Warren Dunes State Park in Sawyer has roughly three miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and some of the tallest dunes in southwest Michigan. Tower Hill rises about 260 feet above the lake, and climbing it and running back down is a rite of passage. On a hot July Saturday the beach feels like a small city.
