 |
North America's Loveliest Lakes
Rob Baedeker September 4, 2009
10 picturesque ponds in the U.S., Canada and Mexico
Article Controls
See our slideshow of North America's Loveliest Lakes.
The road to Tahoe is more heavily traveled these days—millions come each year to play on its waters, or in the nearby casinos and ski resorts. But the lake's sublime beauty still inspires the same kind of awe that Twain described more than a century ago.
Like Tahoe, many of the bodies of water on our list of lovely lakes lie in a delicate space—their beauty draws admirers, but too many tourists can diminish the unspoiled quality that made the lakes so enchanting in the first place. At Canada's Lake O'Hara, an emerald gem in the Rockies, the Canadian national park service has found a way to ensure the lake doesn't become overrun: It's accessible only by limited-seating bus trips, or by an 11-kilometer hike.
See our slideshow of North America's Loveliest Lakes.
Amy Winkelman, a business and technology consultant who lives in Portland, Ore., describes similarly protective feelings about a spectacular lake in southern Oregon. "Crater Lake is one of those special places Oregonians treasure and feel very protective of," she says. "We want to both sing its praises, but fear it becoming too popular and losing the peacefulness you can find there."
A lake's loveliness, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. And while our list is admittedly subjective, it represents a range of tastes, from secluded alpine waters like Lake O'Hara or Montana's Holland Lake, to the moss and mist-shrouded backwaters of Caddo Lake on the Texas-Louisiana border.
Our list includes lakes that were formed by natural forces, like melting alpine glaciers, but it also features waterways that resulted from human intervention, like the sandstone-lined shores of Utah's Lake Powell. Created by the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, Lake Powell remains as controversial as it is beautiful.
See our slideshow of North America's Loveliest Lakes.
Mike Walton, a painter from Salt Lake City, often uses the wealth of beautiful rivers and lakes in his state as subjects in his work. And while he loves the natural beauty of places like Bear Lake, on the Utah-Idaho border, he says the dramatic scenery of Powell is undeniable: "Lake Powell is the scourge of naturalists, as it damns the Colorado river and epitomizes development in the desert. It is, however, an amazingly beautiful place."
It's also a haven for house-boaters, who drift lazily along its 186 miles of cool, blue depths. In fact, this sort of recreational opportunity is, for many travelers, what makes a lake lovely. At Minnesota's Rainy Lake, recreation comes in the form of world-class bass fishing, and at Lake Champlain, which straddles New York, Vermont and Canada, sporty lake-goers can encircle the water on the Lake Champlain Bikeways, a 1,300-mile network of routes that meander through spectacular lakeside scenery.
From world-class waterskiing, to rustic, waterside lodges to cool, crystalline waters, these 10 North American lakes present picturesque playgrounds for travelers of all stripes.
See our slideshow of North America's Loveliest Lakes.
Be a fan on Facebook.
Follow us on Twitter.
