I am looking for recommendations of what lakes are good to swim in near Martinsburg, WV, south central PA, western MD and western VA. I'm working on my bucket list and would greatly appreciate any help. The timeframe would be the first weeks Kcto Dr. Thank you so much!
I have had great fun using Google Earth to find lakes or shore launches that are accessible by car. One of my favorite launch spots for paddling out to the LI Sound was found on Google Earth.
USMS is rather small in my area and I was not able to find an OWS group nearby, probably a dozen pool masters teams, but few lake swimmers who get together. However there are 3 triathlon clubs with whom I can swim in local lakes. Look into triathlon practice meetups.
I was looking for Open Water swim events within a 2 hour drive of my home and came across this website: rays-notebook.info/.../Mid Atlantic.html. The Lake Royer swim at Fort Ritchie is in the Geographic are you describe. I was recently near there on a hiking and cycling trip at the area is very scenic. I ended up not doing the swim event due to schedule conflict, but it looked like a nice place. You could also look at https://www.vtsmts.com to see what open water they use for their triathlons. I think there were some lakes in the Shenandoah area. I don't know that these locations have public swimming when a formal race is not going on, but it might be a starting point. I live in Delaware and all of our better open water swimming is either near/on the Chesapeake Bay or the Atlantic Ocean. Our ponds a vile pea soup color and definitely not worthy of a bucket list.
I was looking for Open Water swim events within a 2 hour drive of my home and came across this website: rays-notebook.info/.../Mid Atlantic.html. The Lake Royer swim at Fort Ritchie is in the Geographic are you describe. I was recently near there on a hiking and cycling trip at the area is very scenic. I ended up not doing the swim event due to schedule conflict, but it looked like a nice place. You could also look at https://www.vtsmts.com to see what open water they use for their triathlons. I think there were some lakes in the Shenandoah area. I don't know that these locations have public swimming when a formal race is not going on, but it might be a starting point. I live in Delaware and all of our better open water swimming is either near/on the Chesapeake Bay or the Atlantic Ocean. Our ponds a vile pea soup color and definitely not worthy of a bucket list.
Thank you so very much. I really appreciate the links. I have never been to Delaware. Your state is on my bucket list to visit and also my bucket list to swim in! I don't think I will make it on this specific trip though, but hopefully in the near future. I am not an ocean swimmer so near you that would leave Chesapeake Bay. I have had a couple of friends trying to convince me to do the bridge swim, so maybe I will have to seriously think about that.
Anyway, thanks again! Happy swimming!
