Just because it's after Labor Day doesn't mean we can't keep swimming and northern Minnesota offers some great places to do it
Posted by Zach Johns on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 Under: Swimming
I felt completely weightless.
Above me an eagle soared, riding the thermals above the great pines that lined the shore. Nearby, a loon swam seemingly enjoying the sunset that was turning the sky orange behind me.
It was a moment of pure relaxation.
Then my oldest son splashed me in the face, sending half the lake painfully into my sinuses!
Northern Minnesota is indeed the land of sky blue waters. And while most people think of our beautiful waterways as fishing or paddling destinations we often overlook the most basic of all outdoor water recreation: Swimming.
It is seriously the one thing I really look forward to in the summer. When I hike, I often turn into a dripping ball of sweat and waking-up in a steaming hot tent is one of the most miserable experiences in camping. But immersing myself into one of our pristine lakes or rivers - now I can deal with that when it’s 90 degrees!
Besides the aforementioned McCarthy Beach (which is often recognized as one of the premier beaches in the nation) our state park system features many great swimming holes.
Two years ago, my kids and I spent a couple of days at Zipple Bay State Park on Lake of the Woods. It was a pretty windy day and the waves were big and Superior-like. Tons of fun to play in! The water was warm and the sandy beach extended far beyond the shoreline. We swam to the point of exhaustion and collapsed into our tent.
During our travels through our State Park system, however, I have found that we are quite spoiled here in the northeastern corner of the state. In fact, when I planned our last big park-bagging trip in the southwest last summer, I purposely planned each park that we would camp at to have a swimming beach. Almost all of them were green and scuzzy, however, and not up to our “northland standards.”
When I asked a park ranger if they were experiencing an algae bloom or something she remarked, “No that’s just how our lakes are down here. Not crystal clear like your neck of the woods.”
I’m not saying there aren’t great places to swim in other parts of the state. In fact, at both Flandrau State Park near New Ulm and Buffalo River State Park near Morehead, we found a very unique, yet refreshing phenomenon: Sand-bottomed swimming pools! Yes, filtered, chlorinated pools that were covered with sand like a beach! A very “cool” concept we found when visiting both parks during the heat of August.
But back to the Northland: It is impossible to overlook the largest swimming hole of all: Lake Superior. Many people don’t like swimming in the big lake, claiming it’s too cold, but my kids and I adore playing in its giant waves. For the most part we avoid swimming on the north shore as it tends to be very rocky and deep, but the SOUTH shore - that’s where the summer action is!
Park Point in Duluth is the “South Beach of Minnesota,” but if you want to get away from the crowds, head to Wisconsin or Michigan.
Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island is home to a fantastic sandy beach near a very nice campground. Most summer weekends, my boys and I usually hang out on the sand in Herbster or Cornucopia, Wis., but one of the greatest times we ever had in the lake was at Fort McLain State Park in Michigan.
We spent hours rolling in the surf until we had to pull five-year-old Jackson in, his lips blue and trembling into the park’s shower building to warm-up. “I WUV body surfing!!!” he exclaimed as we got his core temp back up.
Some of the most sacred times you can have swimming are in the backcountry. I love just putting-on my life jacket and simply floating while in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. One day I hope to be surprised as a moose rises out of the lake with me on its gigantic rack. Hasn’t happened yet, but someday.
Although, I’m sure I’m more likely to be hooked by one of my party’s errant casts.
Finally, my favorite form of swimming of all: River swimming. There’s just something about feeling the current flow over you, with you or against you. It's even better when there is a little whitewater. Now you should always be careful when swimming in a river - beware of strainers or rocks or very strong current.
But when you can find a nice safe spot in a river it becomes paradise - especially if there is also a small waterfall to massage your back.
On the south shore there is Amnicon Falls if you don‘t mind the occasional crowd sharing the waterfall.
There are many such places along the Superior Hiking Trail where you can enjoy some good river swimming, but I know a spot on the SHT that is indeed Eden.
It’s only about a mile from the trailhead and there is a nice campsite right on the river. Just upstream from the campsite is a little place I have deemed “the Jacuzzi.” It features a little waterfall which underneath has a perfect rock bench.
It’s positioned so perfectly that you sit on that rock and the falls come down right on your shoulders and back just like a jacuzzi. The aerated water even sends up continuous bubbles and the whole thing is so relaxing and set in a gorgeous, fern-covered rocky canyon you would swear you’re in the garden of Eden.
Okay, fine, I’ll give you a clue! It’s on the Superior Hiking Trail somewhere between Duluth and Canada.
Happy hunting and happy swimming! Now you know why I revealed most of my favorite swimming holes after Labor Day. Hopefully by next summer you will have forgotten all about this column.
In : Swimming
Tags: swimming swim bwca "minnesota state parks" jacuzzi "superior hiking trail" hiking trail "lake superior" mccarthy beach northern water "zipple bay"
Zach Johns is an alpine skier, backpacker, paddler and all-around nature lover who lives on Minnesota‘s Iron Range. Originally from Osceola, Wis., Johns attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth so he could ski every day and be close to the trails of his beloved North Shore. There, he earned a degree in Communication and was editor of the student newspaper. However, the real education he gained at UMD was in honing his outdoor skills. He took courses in subjects such as backpacking, winter camping, rock climbing and canoe tripping. By the time he graduated, that was all he wanted to do. In January of 1997, he moved to the Range where he met a group of die-hard skiers dedicated to making turns at Giants Ridge every single day of the winter (when they weren’t out skiing the big mountains of the west.) Throughout the late nineties he built a very impressive ski resume, taking several trips to Utah, Montana, Wyoming, California, British Columbia and Alaska. During the off-season, he took to the hiking trails. In 1997, he hiked the entire Superior Hiking Trail during the single season (what had been completed until that time) and in following years, took trips to Yosemite, Glacier and the Grand Canyon. He also made two attempts to climb King’s Peak, the highest mountain in Utah, but failed to summit both times. In 1999, he attempted the infamous 43-mile Kekekabic Trail through the heart of the BWCA and limped out after only ten miles with a hernia. He did finally complete the Kek in 2005, during one of the hottest weeks on record. Besides hiking, he also continued dabbling with paddling, making several canoe trips to the BWCA and became an enthusiastic (yet very novice) whitewater kayaker. He is now a father of two sons, Nick and Jackson, who accompany their father on nearly all his adventures. Both were skiing fairly soon after they could stand and from 2006-2011, the three hiked in every state park in Minnesota, 195 miles of hiking in 65 parks. Since becoming a dad, Johns has suddenly realized that you can’t just be out there skiing, hiking, paddling, etc. without also working to protect the very things you love. With that in mind, he founded an adventure club at work to get co-workers outside who might not otherwise be inspired to go. The club has gone on hiking, paddling, winter camping and cycling trips and annually go on a trash pick-up hike to celebrate Earth Day. He believes that once you get people out into beautiful wild places, the more likely they will be to protect them. He has also done a lot of volunteer work for the Superior Hiking Trail Association including adopting a backcountry campsite which he and the boys maintain twice a year. It is of extreme importance, he believes, to introduce children to the outdoors early. Not only is it good for them, but they will be the ones protecting these places once we are gone. Future plans? There are a few local goals to check-off including hiking the Border Route Trail in the BWCA and Isle Royale. Mostly, it’s just to take the boys hiking and camping in more of our national parks, skiing the big western mountains, and more of their usual seasonal cycle: Giants Ridge in the winter, Superior’s North Shore in the spring, South Shore in the summer and back to the North Shore in the fall.
