River, Lake, Or Ocean?

Discussion in 'Travel & Vacation' started by Ken Anderson, Jul 24, 2018.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,326
    Likes Received:
    42,620
    Growing up in Michigan, we had several choices if we wanted to be on the water, except that we didn't have an ocean nearby.

    We did have Lake Michigan. However, that was not my favorite as a child, for a couple of reasons. First, there were always too many people there. The only area of Lake Michigan with a beach nearby was Wells Park in Menominee, but you had to walk a half a mile out into the lake before it even reached chest level, so it wasn't very good for swimming. Mostly, families with small children went there.

    We had several smaller lakes, of which Shakey Lakes was my favorite. The park area was a peninsula, almost an island, made up of, I think, five connected lakes. It included a beach area for swimming, a boating and water skiing area, as well as camping areas, and a rougher, more undeveloped area that was good for fishing or, as a high schooler, for partying. On a summer weekend, it would be fairly crowded but not as bad as Wells Park, and it was significantly less busy during the week.

    There were also several other lakes of various sizes but if you've never lived in an area where there were a lot of lakes, you might think that undeveloped lakes would be the perfect place to camp or to swim. However, they were generally surrounded by swamp and heavy brush, and inhabited by all manner of snakes and other critters. So, while there were a lot of lakes that I enjoyed exploring as a child, or which I might go boating in, it would take a lot of work to clear an area sufficiently for swimming or relaxation.

    When you think of beaches, you shouldn't forget that, along lakes or rivers, the beach sand is generally trucked in and dumped there.

    Then there were the rivers. We had a small river (Little River) that bordered my dad's land, but that was really more of a creek that wound all over the place. We had a cleared area where we'd play as children, but it wasn't deep or wide enough for swimming.

    The Menominee River had a few cleared swimming areas where we would often be the only people using. These were at wider spots where there was a part of the river along the shore where there wasn't much of a current. Once you got into the current though, the Menominee River might carry you downstream a few miles before you could cross it, and most of my friends didn't dare try to cross it.

    The Cedar River was more wild, brushy, and rocky. My mother lived near the Cedar River when she was a child and at one time there were cleared swimming areas there. We even found concrete steps leading down to the river at one place, but the banks had grown up in weeds and brush. Although we rafted the Cedar River, it wasn't a place to swim or hang out.

    When I moved to California, I became acquainted with the Pacific Ocean. For the purposes of recreation, I wasn't impressed. You couldn't swim in the ocean like you can in a lake. You pretty much swim out and let the waves bring you back in again. Huntington Beach was wall-to-wall people on most days. It seemed like you couldn't drown because the people on either side of you would hold you up.

    I preferred Laguna Beach because there were fewer people there, but it was further away so I didn't go there often.

    I lived on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach for a while. Cherry Beach was across the street from me but it wasn't much of a beach, in my opinion. Some days, it was hugely crowded, though. Otherwise, it was okay for cooling off but mostly I just walked along the beach.

    While I was living in Anaheim, I found Fullerton Lake. It had a beach area and there were seldom very many people there. I guess most people preferred the ocean. Looking for it online, it appears that they may have changed its name to Laguna Lake but it was known as Fullerton Lake then.

    Here in Maine, I don't swim as much. The Atlantic is always cold, and Maine has very few beaches, since the shores are rocky and mostly steep.

    We do have a lot of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams. In Maine, a pond might be several thousands of acres. I don't know that there is any particular convention as to when something is a pond or when it is a lake, so I am thinking it's whatever the person who first named it decided to call it. A lake has to have a surface area of at least ten acres, I know, but many of Maine's ponds are much larger than that.

    Baxter State Park is just outside of Millinocket. It has Togue Pond, which has a swimming area that is fairly popular among locals. It's about 40 feet deep so it isn't as icy cold as most of our lakes and ponds are. There are other lakes in Baxter State Park, adjacent to the camping areas, but they are much deeper and colder, plus the bottoms of them are all rocky and not very comfortable for swimming or wading.

    Kids swim in Millinocket Stream, which cuts through the middle of town. Every now and then, one of them drowns because the volume of water coming through the stream can change rapidly when they open one of the dams, as well as the strength of the current. While the paper mill was in operation, the mill owned the dams and they would sound a warning before they opened a dam. Since the mill closed, there are no warnings. The town built a community pool a few years ago but kids prefer the stream. I suppose there's too much supervision at the pool.

    A group of community organizations cleared Jerry Pond, on the other side of town, a few years ago, and I have heard that it isn't a bad swimming area now. It's been about ten years since I have been swimming there and, at that time, you could swim for about a half hour before the leaches found you. I am told that the leaches are pretty much gone now, however.
     
    #1
    Don Alaska and Terry Page like this.
  2. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
    Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2018
    Messages:
    11,062
    Likes Received:
    20,453
    We have no swimming beaches on the ocean, either, although we have lots of beaches. The ocean/salt water beaches here are mostly used for clamming and fishing. We have more lakes than the rest of the country combined, so there are many beaches and swimming areas on lakes that are pleasant. The deeper lakes stratify, so that the top 5-10 feet are warm enough to swim in since the cooler water sinks and the warmer water rises to the top. There are also hot spring/lakes in many areas that get quite warm even at -40 F. We have a small lake behind our house, and our children used to swim in it, but it is cold spring fed and quite shallow, so it is never comfortable to use for swimming. Several of or friends have lakes on their property that are good for swimming on those rare days when it is warm enough (air temp) to do so. Swimming in the ocean IS possible if you are on the leeward side of islands or in protected bodies, such as the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico...or the leeward side of Maui....
     
    #2
  3. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2015
    Messages:
    19,089
    Likes Received:
    18,917
    Lake Michigan was cold except for in Indiana...the dunes....also very empty back when I was young.

    Lake Geneva was also nice ...not sure now if that was in Illinois or Wisconsin.
     
    #3

Share This Page