The fifth Great Lake..Lake Ontario..

The fifth Great Lake has international borders--Canada & Northern New York.
The 14th largest lake in the world.

It would be remiss of me to ignore this fifth Great Lake simply because it has no Michigan 'side'; but many Michiganders have traveled through Canada to cross this Lake over to upper New York.

Simultaneously many here in Michigan have crossed that ferry by the 1,000 Islands; or perhaps visited Niagara Falls both the American Falls & "The FALLS--the Horseshoe Falls--Ontario".

Named Lac Ontario from the French; Canada's most populous province--Ontario--was named for the lake.

As the second map above indicated--it is bordered on the north & southwest by the province Ontario, Canada;
It is bordered on the south by the state of New York--northern coast;
The name Ontario is from the Wyandot [Huron] language meaning
"the Shining Waters".

This fifth Great Lake is the last lake  in the chain of lakes, and serves as the outlet to the St. Lawrence River.

Lake Ontario is the easternmost of the Great Lakes and the smallest in surface area.
Having the lowest mean surface elevation--Ontario drains from Lake Erie;
the St. Lawrence River serves as the outlet. The Niagara River is the primary source.
Other major rivers that drain into Lake  Ontario are:
..Don River; Humber River; Trent River; Cataraqui River; Genesee river; Oswego River; Black River; & the Salmon River.  {Those Rainers who are from this Province may know these particular rivers; Any having photos are welcome to offer them in a comment]

On the Canadian side--the cities of Toronto and Hamilton anchor the area called
'the Golden Horseshoe'; while on the American side, the shore is basically rural with the exception of Rochester.

The ports on the Canadian side include:St. Catherines, Oshawa, Cobourg and Kingston, near the St. Lawrence River outlet.
American ports are much smaller and are: Oswego and Sacket's Harbor.  The city of
Syracuse is 40 miles inland and connected to Lake Ontario by the NY State Canal System.Z

Personal experiences revolve around Canadian cities of Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton and where ever the ferry docked from the crossing by the 'Thousand Islands' situated within the St. Lawrence River. Time constraints did not allow for a visit to
"Wolfe Island" which is accessible from both sides--Canada & the U.S.

The above information is gleaned from Wikipedia's 12 page report.
visit:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Ontario 

A fun web site: http://www.GreatLakesPirateFest.com  has this info page; it is for children, but adults can learn from it also:

 

To see more about the Niagara Falls visit:  http://www.niagarafallslive.com

There is an area where you can click on the 'live cam' as well as information on the three set of Falls:
..American Falls
...Bridal Veil Falls --American Falls;
...the Canadian "Horseshoe" Falls;


 
     

  [stretched this map to enlarge some areas; note Buffalo on the right and some areas on the Canadian side--the toll bridge is in the upper right side]
Clearly marked are the Niagara Falls on the left side of Goat Island.

There is a web site that promotes recreational & charter fishing from Rochester, NY: visit: http://www.lakeontario.org/ 


As this series draws to a close there is one final site where you can discover facts about all 5 of the Great Lakes; Lake St Clair; St Lawrence River; & States & Provinces involved;
...once on the site, Navigate via the left side listings:
visit: http://www.great-lakes.net/

Plan a trip to a Lake;
See a Great Lake;