Give me the New York lake of my Texas youth!

May 25, 2008 1:52 PM

Seeking swimming hole at lake around NYC like the ones I used to go to as a kid in Texas.

I'm looking for the kind of lake where you drive up with a car full of food to a spot with a grill and a muddy-banked lake for swimming. Nothing fancy, just not one of these lakes-with-beaches things that seem so prevalent around here. A little hiking to get to the spot would be okay. Doesn't need to be near public transportation, would rather it not be super crowded. Preferably about an hour's drive from NYC.

posted by youcancallmeal to Travel & Transportation (8 answers total)

More like 2 hrs. but Minnewaska State Park near New Paltz has two beautiful mountain lakes with beaches - Lake Minnewaska has a small beach & swimming area with parking lot and picnic area closeby. Lake Awosting is further in - a nice hike on a fire road, but is among the most beautiful mountain lakes anywhere and has a huge rock beach that slides into crystal clear cold water. There was recently a forest fire up there but I don't think it affected the lakes (it's a big park).
posted by gyusan at 2:52 PM on May 25, 2008

You can check out this thread. Frankly, "about an hour's drive from NYC" and "not super crowded" are mutually exclusive, especially when it comes to swimming.
posted by one_bean at 2:55 PM on May 25, 2008

Response by poster: I saw the other thread and most of those seem to have beaches. Which I don't want. No beaches. Beaches bad. Swimming hole good.
posted by youcancallmeal at 2:58 PM on May 25, 2008

I haven't the foggiest idea how far the Finger Lakes are from the city ... and I haven't been here since I was a kid in the 70s, but I do remember it being great fun. It couldn't have been too far away because I remember driving there and back on the same day.
posted by notjustfoxybrown at 4:29 PM on May 25, 2008

Do you know about SwimmingHoles.org, which lists several spots in NY and was written up in the New York Times a couple of summers ago?
posted by cocoagirl at 5:30 PM on May 25, 2008

It couldn't have been too far away because I remember driving there and back on the same day.

The Finger Lakes are approximately 300 miles from NYC.

Kent Falls State Park has wading with no beach, but the part I have been in is quite shallow and wouldn't qualify as a swimming hole. In the hopes of saving you research hassle, I can tell you that the other Litchfield County parks listed on that page that offer swimming are of the beach variety.
posted by gnomeloaf at 6:00 PM on May 25, 2008

There is a fabulous swimming hole at West Point. It's on the campus, way up in the trees, and feels really secluded. No, you can't drive your car up to the edge, but if you have a bike, it's pretty easy to get there from a Metro-North train station.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:46 PM on May 25, 2008

500 miles! Man ... OK, I'm clearly remembering that wrong. It was still fun.
posted by notjustfoxybrown at 8:32 PM on May 25, 2008