With all the fabulous beaches in NYC to choose from, we often overlook how amazing a day spent by the lake can be–especially on a warm summer day in New York! And this stunning lake western New York, near the city of Buffalo, was just named one of the best in the U.S. for water sports–so we know just where we’ll be heading for our next summer getaway!
Now we already know that USA Today loves to poll their readers in order to uncover the best gems around the world–whether it be the best lake in the U.S., the best amphitheater in America, or the best food festival in the nation–and they recently had their expert panel nominate their top picks for the best lakes in the country for unforgettable water sports experiences, and readers then voted for their favorites.
The results are in, and the readers have named New York’s Lake Erie as the seventh best lake in the U.S. for unforgettable water sports experiences!
Situated on the border between the United States and Canada, Lake Erie lies to the south of Ontario and to the north of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. The lake received its name from the Erie people, a Native American people who lived along its southern shore. The tribal name “erie” is a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan, meaning “long tail.”
It was formed by “huge glaciers that advanced and retreated across the area, carving out the lake and creating its shorelines and formations. The early Erigan River helped to create the east-west position of Lake Erie as the glaciers moved across the region.”
Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake by surface area and the southernmost of the five Great Lakes in North America–it has a surface area of 9,990 square miles. It’s also the eleventh-largest lake by surface area globally. Though while the lake is large in surface area, it’s also the shallowest and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes.
During the 1960s, Lake Erie was declared a “dead lake” due to eutrophication and pollution, where algal blooms depleted oxygen levels and killed off much of the lake’s life. The lake has certainly seen significant improvement since then, though it still experiences issues like periodic algal blooms and dead zones.
The Lake Erie Shores and Islands region is visited by approximately 11 million people each year, eager to explore the area’s wide variety of world-class activities, attractions, restaurants, overnight accommodations, and more.
Water sports enthusiasts can spend a full day on the water–and then some–paddleboarding, kayaking, boating, parasailing, jet skiing, cruising on a river boat, fishing, and more. Lake Erie also offers hundreds of miles of shoreline to explore and sandy beaches to swim in between both Canada and the U.S.
Just be careful if you do decide to take a dip in Lake Erie’s waters–there are centuries-old reports of a lake monster, often called Bessie, that’s said to inhabit Lake Erie. Sightings refer to Bessie as a 20 to 40 foot long serpent-like creature with a dog-like head, large fins, and human-like arms. But lake monsters aside, Lake Erie was also named the sixth best lake in North America and the tenth best lake in the U.S. for swimming.
USA Today writes:
From Toledo to Buffalo, Lake Erie is loaded with historic cities all along its shores — and this large concentration of settlements has fostered an impressive outdoor adventure scene for aquatic explorers. A paradise for fishing in particular, this sprawling water feature is packed full of bass, salmon, trout, and a wealth of other marine animals, and as an added bonus, there’s no shortage of fascinating shipwrecks for divers to explore.
The top ten best lakes in the U.S. for water sports are as follows:
1. Lake Murray, South Carolina
2. Lake Martin, Alabama
3. Big Bear Lake, California
4. Lake Mendota, Wisconsin
5. Lake Cumberland, Kentucky
6. Lake Havasu, Arizona and California
7. Lake Erie, New York, Ohio, & Pennsylvania
8. Lake Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, & Wisconsin
9. Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri
10. Lake Superior, Michigan, Minnesota, & Wisconsin
See the full study.
For more fabulous summer destinations, here are some great swimming holes, waterfalls, and small towns near NYC.