5th and 6th Lakes (Kepler and Bradley Lakes)

June 1st 10:00 am Kepler and Bradley Lakes are part of the parks system and hence they will charge you a daily fee to either camp or just to go fishing. But fortunately we were there before the office opened and hence didn't have to pay. I decided to swim Kepler Lake first and like Matanuska Lake it is deep around 75 feet at its deepest part. Since it is deep the water temperature had to be in the high 50's. It took me about 8 minutes to warm up. If you plan to swim this lake start about 25 yards from the bridge. This area is very shallow and has a very muddy bottom. We didn't have a lot of time today so I placed Morgan on the Bridge so that she could keep and eye on me. The public access is right between both lakes thus I had to swim across and back both lakes. On the way back across Kepler I was a little bored so I decided to count the number of freestyle strokes it took. The result was a total of 475 strokes. Total time was 33 minutes. Once I reached the shore I climbed out and walked over to Bradley Lake. The first thing I noticed was that Bradley was warmer and it should be since the depth is only 30 feet. Once I reached the end of the lake I decided to count the number of strokes on the way back. This time it took only 333 strokes and a total time of 22 minutes and 25 seconds. For a total time of 55 minutes and 25 seconds, thus the longest swim to date. Overall the lake was pretty clean as long as you avoid the section on Kepler side near the bridge. Unlike the Kepler side Bradley side has more gravel.