10th Echo Lake

Sunday June 5th, Morgan and I went to Echo Lake located off the Glenn Highway across from Kepler-Bradley Lakes. There is a public parking area above the lake. Be careful it is a step down hill trail (20 yards) until you meet up with the trail that goes around the lake. We walked to the end of the lake and found a trail that would take us to the lake. Most of the shore line on this lake is privately owned. Bring bug dope lots of mosquito's. Water temperature near the shore was 61 F, but it felt much colder. The water seemed pretty clean and didn't smell. Since this is a small lake I had to swim across and back. Total time 16:20 and 250 freestyle strokes to cross this lake. On to the next lake -- Canoe

Echo Lake info found at http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/Statewide/LakeData/index.cfm/FA/main.lakeDetail/LakeID/341

9th Loberg Lake

June 5th, 2010 since we ran out of gas and not much left on the trolling motor we decided to go to Loberg Lake on the way home. Loberg is located next to T & J Gravel just off the Parks Hwy access via Truck Road. This lake is small thus we didn't use a boat to guide me. The water temperature 62.5F. the first section has weeds then it drops off quick then as you get close to the other shore it gets shallow again. Overall a good little lake and offers some good fishing. Total swim time 11 minutes.

For more information check out the follow web page: http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/Statewide/LakeData/index.cfm/FA/main.lakeDetail/LakeID/351

Until the next swim!

#8 Lake Lucille

Today June 5th weather good, temperatures high 50's with light winds. Decided to swim Lake Lucille, located near downtown Wasilla. John and I decided to try using his small motor (1950's) so that we can get back faster after swimming across. The water temperature was 62 F and according to John's GPS I would need to swim 1.6 miles to reach the other side. Like the protocol for the other lakes John led me across the lake. I soon found out that this lake is shallow. Majority of the swim today I could see the light colored mud bottom inter mixed with weeds, it reminded me of swimming in Costa Rica without the fish. When we were about half mile from the shore I got to watch a float plane come down and land just off my right shoulder. Remember I am only seeing the plane when I take a breath other than the plane pretty uneventful swim. Total time was 40 minutes and according to the GPS total length of 1.61 miles. On the way back we took off the trolling motor and used John's gas motor. On the way back we decided to see if we could see Sarah Palin's house and her new 14 foot fence. Sure enough it is just to the right of Lake Lucille Inn. As I am entering this blog I am also watching the Belmont Stakes Horse Race and guess what Sarah Palin is at the race to watch the horse First Dude named after Sarah's Husband Todd run the race and is a 6-1 favorite to win. Back to the lake when we got abotu .25 miles from the shore we ran out of gas and switched back to the trolling motor to get back to shore. We wanted to go to Finger Lake but without gas and little left on the trollong motor I decided to go to Loberg Lake. (see next post) For more information about Lake Lucille visit this web site: http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/Statewide/LakeData/index.cfm/FA/main.lakeDetail/LakeID/145

Other notes; if you plan on swimming this lake do it early I would suspect that this lake will be full of weeds in August. Also, you should know that this lake has been on DEC bad lakes list for many years for its poor water quality.

Update on the horse race First Dude led the whole race until the final stretch were he just couldn't keep it going and ended up third. I will just leave it at that!

Take Care

June 4th - Weather Delays

No swimming today, still rain and cool temperature. Will try tomorrow, if weather decides to cooperate.

No Swim Today

June 3rd, 2010 with wind gusts to 20 miles per hour and rain I decided to put off swimming today and will wait until better weather.

Take care

7th - Wasilla Lake

June 2nd - Decided to swim Wasilla Lake today even though it isn't a stocked lake. Mogan wasn't available so I enlisted one of my fellow teachers (John)from Mat-Su Career & Tech High School to follow me in the boat. It was the perfect day to swim one of the longest lakes that I would have to swim. Tempertures in the high 60's and no wind. Water temperature was 64 F. Wasilla Lake is located off the Parks Highway in down town Wasilla. Wasilla Lake is made up of two lake and upper and lower with a small canel connecting the too lakes. In the middle of canel it can't be more than 4 feet deep. The public access is locted by the swimming beach on the side of lake near Pizza Hut. Float planes have been known to land here and the pilot would walk up to get a pizza. While swimming across the lower lake had the opportunity to watch several seagulls and loons swim or fly by. Actually only could watch them when I took a breath. Lake seemed to be pretty clean only few weeds in the canal. Of course John was trying to video tape me swimming through the canel but ran the trolling motor into to shallow of water and had to stop and clean the blades thus the video didn't happen. The first half of the upper lake was clean of weeds but the second half is much shallow (4-6 foot deep) and hence as we got closer to shore the more weeds i had to swim through. Total time 53 minutes and according to the GPS it was just of 2 miles as the crow flies. But if you have ever swam in open water you know that you don't swim straight. Thus, I would estimate my total swim distance more like 2.25 miles. Once across now it was time to enjoy the boat ride back across the lake. Unfortunately the battery was dieing and John decided to oar and it took us 70 mintues to get back to the truck. In future swims that John goes with me on we will bring a 2 hp motor so that we can get bck across the lake quicker. Overall good experience.

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.