America’s Great Loop: Complete Route Guide for First-Time Loopers

The Great Loop of America is not any specific river, canal, or coastline. It is a system of waterways that create a looping route covering about 6,000 miles in the eastern part of America and Canada. It involves the use of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Chesapeake Bay, New York waterways, Canadian waterways, the Great Lakes, inland rivers, and the Gulf Coast.

As a new looper, the main challenge is not only about being knowledgeable regarding the course of the loop. There are several other things that you should be aware of in terms of how the waterway loop operates.

The interactive America’s Great Loop map from GPS Nautical Charts is useful for seeing how these waterways connect. Its charting coverage also includes detailed inland-river and Erie Canal information, with charts available for offline use.

Where Does the Great Loop Start?

There is no officially designated starting point. One can start from any point along the way, and where one starts determines the time of year when one will be doing the journey.

Chicago, Florida, and the Chesapeake areas are popular starting points, but it’s not necessary to have a specific starting point, such as a marina or waterway markers.

However, for easy planning of the journey, it makes sense to think of the Loop in terms of its different sections.

The following is how one can visualize the basic loop journey:

Florida → Atlantic Coast → Chesapeake Bay → Delaware Bay → New Jersey/New York harbor → Hudson River → New York canals → Great Lakes/Canada → Lake Michigan → Chicago → Illinois River → Mississippi/Ohio/Tennessee/Tenn-Tom System → Mobile → Gulf Coast → Florida

This route is just an idea of how it will be; it’s not a specific course one must follow. There are many different courses available in New York and Canada, and also depending on air draft, there are different courses one can take to leave Lake Michigan.

1. Florida and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway

Many Loopers start in Florida and cruise up along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) along the Atlantic Coast.

This cruise goes from Florida through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina to Virginia. The ICW is then connected to the Chesapeake Bay.

This part of the journey is quite safe relative to offshore cruising but still requires good navigation skills. It can be influenced by tides, shoals, bridges, traffic, and varying depths of waters.

Then comes the Chesapeake Bay before the next leg of the journey takes you to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and then to Delaware Bay.

What first-time Loopers need to be aware of

Bridge schedules will come into play when going on the ICW. You also have to make provisions for fuel, anchoring, or marinas based on your cruising speeds.

The ICW isn’t just one continuous stretch of water. Conditions vary greatly from one stretch to another.

2. New Jersey, New York Harbor and the Hudson River

From here, your voyage will take you southwards to Cape May and northwards from there in the state of New Jersey. This may be done using portions of the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway or through the Atlantic Ocean.

Next, the voyage enters New York Harbor.

In this region, the loopers navigate up the Hudson River to Troy, New York. From here, the canal system in New York State takes care of your route to the Great Lakes and Canada.

This is among the places where the air draft of your vessel comes into particular importance.

3. New York Canals and the Canadian Route

It is one of the major decision points in the Great Loop as there is no universally accepted way of going from the Hudson River into the Great Lakes. It all depends on the air draft of your boat.

With a 15-foot bridge, you can go to Lake Erie via the Erie Canal. A 17-foot clearance will allow you to take the so-called Triangle Loop through Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence Seaway to Lake Ontario. An alternative route will be via the Erie Canal and Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. But for that, that route requires the boat to clear 21-foot bridges. These are just guidelines for planning your trip and not an alternative to looking up the latest bridge heights prior to your departure.

After entering the Great Lakes in the Canadian leg, you can go via Lake Ontario, Trent-Severn Waterway, Georgian Bay, North Channel, and Lake Huron until you reach U.S. waters again via Lake Michigan.

Another thing to remember is that the New York canal system is seasonal. The Erie Canal usually opens by mid-May, as per AGLCA. But this is announced every year, and you can end up waiting if you are early.

4. Great Lakes: Lake Ontario to Lake Michigan

The passage continues from Canada to the Great Lakes.

Some of the prominent waters found in this passage are Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, the North Channel, and Lake Michigan.

While the Great Lakes are inland waters, it is important not to take them as narrow rivers or canals since wind can create high waves in the area and everything can turn out bad very fast.

Finally, the passage ends in Chicago.

Chicago is probably one of the most important geographical points in the entire Great Loop journey since it marks the link between the Great Lakes and the inland river system.

5. Chicago to the Inland Rivers

Exiting the Chicago area places the boat on the Chicago River/Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal or an accompanying connection heading out to the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers.

From here, the trip travels down the Illinois River until reaching its connection to the Mississippi River.

In the inland-river system, things are very different from the Great Lakes experience. Towboats, barges, locks, fluctuating water levels, and a lack of recreational services in some sections of the river will be experienced.

From the Mississippi River, the journey may take place along the inland river system to reach the Ohio and Tennessee rivers and ultimately the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, more commonly referred to as the Tenn-Tom. The specific route along the river system is something that is determined by planning, not necessarily a specific route, depending on the waterways' conditions.

6. Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile

The Tenn-Tom connects the inland river system with the Gulf Coast.

This section includes numerous locks, so lock procedures become a normal part of the trip. You should understand how to approach a lock, communicate with the lockmaster, secure your boat and manage lines before entering this section.

Navigation also changes from the open-water feel of the Great Lakes to a more structured river environment.

Eventually, the Tombigbee River carries the route toward Mobile, Alabama.

7. Mobile and the Gulf Coast

Mobile is the way out from the inland waterways into the Gulf Coast.

After leaving Mobile, the loop goes along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Florida. Here we will cover Alabama and the Florida Panhandle and then go round Florida's Gulf Coast.

The hurricane planning is especially significant for this part. According to AGLCA's season planner, travel along the Gulf Coast is traditionally made in winter in order to bypass the peak of the hurricane season; besides, your insurance policy might restrict you in geography and dates.

Do not trust blindly in the general cruising calendar. Look through your insurance policy, weather forecast, marinas, and hurricane conditions before going into the Gulf.

8. Crossing Florida and Finishing the Loop

Having gone through Florida's Gulf Coast, Loopers face some choices of routes. The first choice can be the Okeechobee Waterway crossing the whole state from the Gulf side to the Atlantic one.

After that, Loopers need only to get back to the place of starting.

Completing the loop is generally described as crossing your wake: returning to the route and crossing the track where your loop began. The starting point does not have to be a particular marina, which is why Loopers can begin and finish at different locations along the route as long as they complete the required circuit.

Boat Height Is a Route-Planning Issue

Among the initial measurements a potential looper should consider, the air draft of the boat is one of the primary ones.

AGLCA specifies that the lowest fixed bridge on the basic loop occurs at 19.6 feet, around mile 300.6 on the Illinois River/Chicago area connection.

Your own clearance is subject to antennas, radar arches, Bimini tops, and any other equipment. AGLCA suggests that your great loop boat should not draft more than approximately 5 feet. The Trent-Severn Waterway is maintained at about 6 feet of depth, while the Rideau Canal is maintained at about 5 feet; therefore, the deep-draft boat will face certain restrictions.

The clearance is also important when deciding how to cruise Chicago. In order to cruise the Chicago River through the city, you should have clearance for 17-foot bridges. Those boats that do not satisfy this requirement have to use the Cal-Sag Canal south of Chicago to connect with the Illinois River.

Make sure to measure your boat's clearance and draft when making your decision on route, rather than relying solely on the manufacturer's measurements.

How Long Does the Great Loop Take?

No schedule is set.

AAGLCA reports that some Loopers make the loop in a single season, whereas others take several seasons to complete different parts. It mentions that the approximate distance is 6,000 miles and that most people make the loop in a single year or even longer.

Following the one-year loop takes into account the season. In the warm season, one will navigate through the north, whereas in the cold one, he will be navigating in the south.

These routes are done taking into account the weather conditions. For example, northern canals and marinas close in the winter, and the Gulf and Atlantic areas need special hurricane planning.

Navigation: Why Detailed Charts Matter

It would not be wise to rely on one navigational aid on the Great Loop passage.

The depths, bridges, channels, locks, and possible dangers all have to be considered. The application i-Boating of the company GPS Nautical Charts gives you access to highly detailed maps of the Great Loop area. It gives you HD maps of the inland rivers, bathymetric maps of areas like the Erie Canal, and offline maps that can come in handy where there is no cellular service.

As for those who are going on the Great Loop for the first time, it is better to make this journey step-by-step rather than plotting it as one huge route of 6,000 miles. The Great Loop passages are available on the charts of GPS Nautical Charts i-Boating, such as the Erie Canal and Illinois River.

Final Thoughts for First-Time Loopers

The Great Loop of America can better be regarded as a sequence of distinct cruising territories than as a single boating journey. The Atlantic ICW calls for bridge and tidal scheduling considerations. Chesapeake and New York segments include big ports and canals. Canada and the Great Lakes offer bigger water bodies and weather seasons. The point of transition from lakes to rivers and locks is at Chicago, whereas the Tenn-Tom route moves towards the Gulf.

Prior to departure, you need to ensure that you know the draft and air draft of your boat; get knowledge about locks; schedule seasonally closed routes; consider weather forecasts; and keep up-to-date navigation maps.

Most importantly, you need to plan some extra days to adjust the course depending on the circumstances. The Great Loop requires careful planning; however, this journey should not be considered as one that assumes all points on the way as non-negotiable. A proper route plan provides you with additional choices in case weather changes, water level, bridge schedule, or other mechanical problems make your initial route plan impossible.

Planning the Great Loop? Get comprehensive charts and route coverage with GPS Nautical Charts.