This is what open water swimmers saw at Emigrant Lake in late May 2020
Some swimmers are now enjoying the lakes, which are starting to warm up — if you call 60° – 66° warm! Below are places where others are swimming. Come join them!
- Several people, with Matt Miller, swim at Emigrant Lake. They swim Mon-Wed-Fri starting at 7 am at Songer Wayside. A couple of them plan to swim Tuesday and Thursday as well.
- For those in Medford or farther north, another group in the Shady Cove area has started swimming at Lost Creek Lake at Stewart Park. It sounds warmer and cleaner than Emigrant! (NNE of Medford)
Emigrant Lake
They plan to swim on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and will be meeting in Shady Cove at 8 am and heading to Stewart Park.
Squaw Lake – some swimmers were swimming here starting in mid-May. The water was cold, at 59°-61°, but the swimming was great!
Squaw Lake -Matt Miller, Zoey Dodson, and Matt Osborn at gorgeous Squaw Lake
- Ralph Mohr swims at Saunder’s Lake with a 0. 2 mm wet suit.
There has been a group of local Masters swimmers and triathletes, fully wet-suited, swimming in Saunder’s Lake for the past three weeks (4-5 weeks now). They are actually having fun as they swim from the picnic area to a Lindal Homes-style house and back, and then go under the RR trestle (wide and deep) and up the lake a bit. Most are swimming at least 30 minutes, while some are swimming up to an hour. They’ve actually had fun as they swim from the picnic area to a Lindal Homes-style house and back, and then they go under the RR trestle (wide and deep) and go up the lake a bit. Most are swimming at least 30 minutes up to an hour. Jayna Tomac said she liked Saunders Lake better than Eel. I think mainly because of the variety of the houses on the back section of the lake and the fun of the RR trestle.
- Eel Lake opened Friday May 15. Ralph Mohr did not see any swimmers there Saturday and only about five fishing boat trailers. Tugman Campground is closed and the campground and toilets are currently blocked with yellow tape.
- For those of you in the Portland area there are a few places to swim open water.
Clackamas Cove is located behind the Oregon City Shopping Center. Tankers have Cove swims on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6:00 PM. Boat traffic is non-existent and the water temp is 64°.
Cedaroak boat ramp in West Linn. Tankers are swimming Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6:30 AM at Cedaroak boat ramp. There are boats and some jet skis at the Cedaroak boat ramp.
- Mingus Park Pool Management said that Mingus opened June 8. The first week’s schedule is a trial to separate swimmers due to COVID-19. There will be one swimmer per lane, 45’ of swimming.
The pool hours for lap swimming are good. Monday- Friday, 5 AM – 2 PM; Saturday and Sunday, 7-2. To reserve a lane, contact the pool at 541-267-1360 during lap swimming times.
- The Superior pool has been open since Friday, the 5th of June, and several people have gotten back in the water for the first time in a very long time! Word is that there were 6 people who swam together at Superior on June 8, at 6 am.
With two OMS open water events still tentatively scheduled for this summer; these swimmers plan to be ready for the challenge.
Applegate Lake